After an introductory match in the Roses competition last year, Lancaster and York met again on the Futsal pitch this year. This time it was for points. Lancaster are still a growing club having only been founded last year. York are a much more established team, and this showed last year in their 9-4 victory in fixture. This was going to be a good marker to see the amount of progress Lancaster had made in previous year.
Right from the kickoff one could see that the match was going to be a tactical encounter as there was a clear distinction between the approaches of the two teams. The main difference was that York, when in possession and attacking, would substitute their goalkeeper off for an additional attacker. Obviously this would leave York’s goal wide open when they had the ball, meaning a vulnerability to the counter attack was present throughout.
York opened the scoring through a couple of clean passes which meant Yu could calmly place his shot, and the ball, into the bottom right corner from the left-hand side. Not long after, Lancaster responded in fine style as Daniel Kommu fired a beautifully weighted shot from his own half, which just evaded the retreating defenders and nestled into the net. Again, York took the lead after a point blank finish from Revill, whose performance was a bit of a mixed bag, which came from a cross which was fired in from the left. Lancaster, through Freddie Miller, levelled the match once more as he reacted first to a ricocheting ball and power it into the bottom left corner. Nothing could separate the teams at the half, all-square at 2.
The second period of play saw York strike first once more as Toseland poked the ball home after a cross from the right hand side. After taking the lead York slowed the pace of the game right down, and with it taking the air out of the home crowd. That was until Michael Waller punished the York players for their lethargic build-up play when he stole the ball away from one of the defenders and slotted ball into the empty net with ease. The teams were even once more at 3 goals apiece. York began to exert a large amount of pressure and one could feel the momentum on their side as they continued to press the Lancaster goal, creating a number of chances, Lancaster keeping them out though. A smartly called timeout helped break this momentum. An additional five minutes of play were contested yet neither team could break the deadlock, meaning the match ended in at 3-3 draw.
Overall, a draw was a fair result on the balance of play. Lancaster may regret some of their missed opportunities, particularly toward the end of the match. However, as I discussed earlier, Lancaster’s performance showed they are making great strides as a club. One to look toward in the future.
