Author: Kevin Rowe

The UEA Futsal club travelled to York to play the annual 'Ashes' competition, in hope of showing their opponents how much they have progressed in the last year.

This year, UEA took 2 teams while York fielded 4 teams, 2 of which were made up by former committee members of their club. The tournament took a league format and each team played one another on a single occasion. The two UEA sides were a good mix of experience and new blood, and the tournament kicked off with UEA Futsal A facing York Presidents A and UEA B facing York A. The sides achieved mixed results with UEA Futsal A gaining a 3-0 win while the B team collapsed to a 2-0 defeat. Fortunes improved for UEA in the next round of games with the first team recording two 1-0 victories and UEA B winning 3-1.

Next up was the crunch game, UEA taking on UEA. If the 'A' team took the points, it was likely they were to go onto win the tournament, while UEA B desperately needed a win to continue their winning form. The game was a thriller, and an excellently worked goal involving Andy Hide and Stephen Robinson ended UEA A's hope of a flawless tournament. The 'B' team were high in confidence and beat York B by 3 goals to 1 in admirable fashion with the experience of Tom Donnelly, Nick Williamson and Andy Wilson shining through. The final games would prove vital as both UEA teams were still in with a shot for the title and although UEA A fought well and went a goal up in their final game against York B, a defensive error in the dying seconds led to the points being shared. Unfortunately for UEA, the B-side also suffered the same setback with a last minute equaliser cancelling out their 3-2 lead.

The tournament finished with UEA A coming second place, losing out by a single goal. The excellent goal difference was down to outstanding defensive work and a superb display by goalkeeper Dominic Kloos - the German shot stopper! UEA B also narrowly missed out, coming third only on goal difference also. Their strength lay with the attackers who notched 10 goals, although a commanding performance by Jeff Knott, supported by Chris Brice, could not prevent them conceding 7 goals. Overall, UEA was very pleased with the performance and York now recognises UEA are a quality futsal side and the matches will prove good practice for the upcoming tournaments in Essex, Sheffield and Belgium.