Canterbury Take Titles

Canterbury may have won both divisions at the titles but it was certainly not one way traffic.

The mens division was the most keenly contested of the tournament with all 6 sides evenly matched. Otago and Canterbury won their way through to the final but were made to work all the way.

Canterbury were fortunate to sneak a 3-2 victory in the opening game over Vikings NZ Youth after being down 0-2 with 8 minutes to play. They then went into half time against the North Island at nil all before finally gaining some momentum in the last 15 minutes to run out victors 6-0. This was feature of their play right throughout the tournament as they ground out victories rather than dominating sides.

Otago started slowly also and were unlucky to draw with Vikings NZ Youth after the youth scored an equaliser with just seconds on the clock. They then drew with Canterbury in round robin play but over came slow starts against North Island, South Canterbury and Otago Dev to register solid victories to see them through to the final.

The final was another very close encounter between to very solid sides.
Otago keeper Leon McCarthey picked up a red card in the last round robin game and had to sit out the final putting them on the back foot. But this seemed to galvanise the side as they jumped out to a 3-2 half time lead with goals to Sam Enright, Dan Williamson and stand in keeper Matt Woodhead.
Canterbury picked up goals through a penalty to Brendan Snelling and a 10m penalty to Ryan Batty. Otago then jumped out to a 4-2 lead through a well taken goal to Michael Sannum before Canterbury ground out goals to Ryan Batty (2) and Josh Cremen to sneak the victory.

In reality there is probably very little between both these sides and the results could be reversed on any given day.

Of the 4 other sides the Vikings NZ Yth side played extremely well only suffering a single loss to Canterbury. Sth Canterbury continued to improve at this tournament with many of their players returning from the youth tournament in January. Sth Canterbury finished with 2 wins and a draw with their only losses being to the two grand final sides Otago and Canterbury.
The Otago Development side showed there was real depth in South and many of the players will push for A team selection in the future. The North Island made their first appearance at a Vikings tournament and certainly showed enough that they will be a force in the future. While not winning any games they certainly held their own in every game with half time scores of 1 all, nil all, 2-1, 2-1 and 2-1 in all of their games.

The Womens division proved to be just as close as the mens and all 4 sides having a realistic chance of making the final. Canterbury took on Otago in the final and jumped out to a solid 4-0 lead thanks to goals to Rebecca Banfield (2), Tina Bosscher and Rebecca Nichols. A well organised defence prevented Otago from applying any real pressure although Otago's Brie Barclay did slip her marker midway through the first half to give them their only real chance in the first half.

Otago came out in the second half and applied good pressure and created some great opportunities early on with no reward. Canterbury struggled to find their rhythm and then conceded a goal after a cross from Charmaine Arras found it's way into the back of the net. Canterbury replied soon after with a goal to youngster Kate Duncraft to stretch the lead to 5-1 and then wound down the clock for a solid victory.

Otago showed enough throughout the tournament to pressure Canterbury in the future with players like keeper Rachel Wilson, Drew Weeda and Charmaine Arras leading the way. The Canterbury Development side and the Southern Stars Invitational showed that those players will press for higher honors in the years to come. Both sides defeated each other during the tournament and ran Otago close while not being over awed when playing the Canterbury side.
The most encouraging feature of the sides was the style of Futsal they played with all the womens sides playing some very controlled Futsal throughout.

Now the players will wait for the Vikings NZ Men and women selections with many players putting their hands up for representative selection.







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com