Courtesy: The FA.com


Kaunas in control

by Matt Hardy

Monday, 23 January, 2012

The FA Futsal League Division Two kicked-off this weekend.

Kaunas FC powered their way to the top of The FA Futsal League South Division Two after a convincing first day of second tier action.

After three wins and a draw in their first matchday at Crystal Palace, Kaunas hold a three point lead as they prepare for the second round of fixtures in Swindon’s @Futsal Centre this coming Sunday.

A 5-1 thumping of Reading was the pick of Kaunas’ results, with a 3-3 draw with Gloucester Futsal Revolution the only blip on an otherwise faultless day. Closest rivals Maccabi GB were put to bed in the day’s final game, with a hard fought 4-2 victory to hand Kaunas the early advantage in the Division Two title picture.

Maccabi also drew 3-3 with a very stubborn Gloucester team, but convincing wins against Reading and the University of Plymouth guaranteed them second spot as they left the Crystal Palace centre.

Gloucester left Palace unbeaten, but three draws saw them fall behind the leading pair and that is something they’ll be looking to set right in Swindon next week.

In Division One, Helvecia beat London United 5-1 in the day's early kick-off to pile pressure on league leaders Genesis. An 11-4 victory over Spartans maintained the leaders advantage by just three goals.

FC Enfield were thrashed 15-1 at home to Baltic to leave them routed to the bottom, while Kickers and West London shared the spoils in a 3-3 draw.

In the Midlands, leaders Oxford Lions thrashed Team Newbury 26-1 to increase their lead to six points. The Lions led 11-0 at half time but showed no signs of slowing their menacing form in the second half by adding a further 15.

Loughborough closed the gap on Team Bath’s second spot with a dominant 11-2 victory over Team United in a game that the clubs Twitter feed described as the Midlands classic. Their cause was aided by Periklies Antoniou’s Cardiff side holding Birmingham Tigers to a 4-4 draw to leave Loughborough five points clear of the rest of the field.

In the north, Manchester were forced to work hard to maintain their advantage at the top of the table as they beat Tranmere Victoria 3-1 at the National Cycling Centre. Second placed Middlesbrough cranked up the pressure with another dominant performance, beating Liverpool 15-3 on Merseyside.

Damon Shaw and his team had watched the leader’s game at the Velodrome earlier in the day where goals from Ilya Ovechkin, leading scorer Sam Richardson and Eduardo Bentacor had given Manchester a win in a frustrating encounter for the home side.

Samu Gallego (3), Theo Furness (3), Robbie Bettson (3), Pete Bulmer (3), Mikey Roberts (2) and Marc Caballeria all found the net for ‘Boro as they exploded back into league action following a round off on the eighth.

Crewsadors beat East Coast 8-6 in the clash of the bottom two to move above Ronnie Johnson’s Liverpool. Johnson’s side have slid down the table after a disappointing run of three straight league defeats.




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