Tom Henigan
The futsal first team opened their BUCS season with a tough matchup against a strong Loughborough side.
UoN had already started their season in the National Futsal league with one win and one draw from the opening two fixtures. This, though, was their first match of the season in the BUCS Northern Premier Division.
Loughborough were always going to be a tough test given that they are also participants in the National Futsal League, so this matchup was between arguably the two best university teams in the country.
The game started badly for UoN. Loughborough took the lead early on in front of the David Ross crowd and it got worse from there. After UoN missed a few chances to equalise, the visitors punished their opposition by doubling their lead. Then, with a counter attack, a third goal was added before a nice team goal from the purple side made it 4-0 with only ten minutes gone. At this point the game seemed lost. UoN hadn’t been able to stop Loughborough’s momentum, and the visitors had utilised their keeper better when they brought him into play.
Four goals down, the hosts had a big chance to pull a goal back, but the shot was cleared off the line somehow. That miss was punished yet again by Loughborough who continued to be clinical as they latched onto a mistake at the back, making it 5-0 with just over two minutes to go in the half. Between the fourth and the fifth goal, UoN had grown into the game but hadn’t taken their chances. But not long after the fifth goal went in, the home crowd finally had something to cheer about as some good work from Ruben Wapnick forced a save from the keeper, and Finlay Mills followed up to reduce the deficit to 5-1 with the first half ending at that score.
This was an even matchup with both sides showing high quality in their play
The boys in green and gold went into halftime with a lot of work to do. The first ten minutes had shocked them but despite what the scoreline read, this was an even matchup with both sides showing high quality in their play. UoN just had to be more clinical in the second half and cut out their mistakes if they wanted to make a miraculous comeback.
The second half started just how the hosts wanted. They came out red hot, pulling another goal back after a lovely turn and finish. Not long after, UoN came close again, but their shot was cleared off the line for the second time, and with the score at 5-2, the hosts were dominating the game. With all the momentum, it looked like a comeback similar to Varsity 2023 could be on the cards but a sloppy error from a free kick gave the ball to Loughborough, and with keeper Dyland Meranda up the pitch for the set piece, the visitors took advantage of the mistake with a lovely finish from their own half. With the score now at 6-2, and less than fifteen minutes left on the clock, it seemed a comeback was out of reach.
A long-range strike cut Loughborough’s lead down again
UoN controlled the ball for the rest of the game, hitting the post twice and getting unlucky not to find a third goal. That was until with three minutes left when a lovely ball roll and finish made it 6-3 to give a glimmer of hope. A minute later, a long-range strike cut Loughborough’s lead down again and the hosts were two goals away from a monumental comeback with the full force of the crowd behind them.
Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t to be. Throwing men forward, UoN left themselves susceptible to the counterattack and that’s exactly how Loughborough got their seventh goal with forty-two seconds left. A late consolation goal meant the final score was 7-5 to the visitors, a disappointing start to UoN’s futsal season in the BUCS division.
It was far from a poor performance from the boys in green and gold. After the first ten minutes passed, they were the better team, but they simply left themselves in too big of a hole, being four down halfway through the first half. Going into the half 5-1 down there was little hope against such a strong side. UoN showed great fight and would have had the visitors nervous in the last few minutes but there was too much to do against very strong opposition for the comeback to be complete.
Tom Henigan
Featured image courtesy of Jorgen Hendriksen via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @uonfutsal via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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