Courtesy: This is Nottingham/Nottingham Post


Gedling bounce back to secure national futsal success in Birmingham

Saturday, July 07, 2012

GEDLING School ended a difficult two years in which they were in special measures and suffered falling numbers with a national success in the FA Youth Futsal competition.

Organised in conjunction with the Nottinghamshire Schools' FA and the Nottinghamshire FA, they won the Under 14 girls' section of the national finals in Birmingham.

Their road to the final began in March when the squad won the Nottinghamshire title which qualified them for the East Midlands regional competition.

A depleted squad from the school still managed to finish as runners-up to Solar School (Grimsby) and thus they became one of two teams in the East Midlands to go through to the national rounds.

The ten teams from five regions met at the Birmingham Futsal Centre. Futsal is a form of the small-sided game usually staged in a special indoor facility although it can be adapted to any indoor space or can be played outside.

The teams in the Under 14 girls' section were divided into two groups with five teams playing each other in 11 minute matches.

Charlotte Steggles made the headlines for the Nottinghamshire school scoring nine goals in total during the tournament but this was a real team performance in which every player made a contribution.

Steggles started her goal run in a 2-2 draw against King Egbert School (North-East and Yorkshire), scored two more in a 2-1 win over Bluebell Rovers (West Midlands) and another brace when Gedling beat Walderslade Girls' School 4-0 (South-East Region).

Tiffany Elliott also scored twice in this convincing win.

Gedling's final group game saw then defeat the London Region representatives, Highlands School 2-0 thanks to another double from Steggles to qualify for the semi-final.

Here they knew they had a tough task as they again met Solar School who had pipped them for the East Midlands title but yet another goal from Steggles gave them a 1-0 revenge victory, though they had goalkeeper Chloe Wood to thank for saving a penalty in the last minute.

In the final, Gedling met Bishops of Hereford School and were unlucky in the early stages when a shot from Elliott skimmed the bar before she also hit the post.

But just as penalties were beckoning, Elliott's long-range shot found the left-hand corner to end Gedling's successful day.

In addition to this national victory, Gedling's U14 squad won the Nottinghamshire Schools' U14 Shield and finished fourth in an international tournament in Holland at Easter. The successful squad was:

Chloe Wood, Sren Morris, Sarah Perkins, Charlotte Cresswell, Charlotte Steggles, Tiffany Elliott. Chloe Lineker, Rebecca Firth, Alana Crawford, Faye Wheatley, Abbie Flowers, Leah Foy.




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