Courtesy: Sportsbyte Sunderland


Sunderland Womens Futsal side aiming to end season on a high

Sunderland Womens futsal team are looking for their first victory of the season when they complete their campaign this afternoon.

After experiencing defeats in their first two games of the season, albeit one a walkover to Leeds Metropolitan University Womens 1st due to not being able to field a team and a 10-2 defeat away at University of Manchester Womens 1st last time out, Sunderland currently sit bottom of the table.

The side also lost three points due to the Leeds result, meaning they’re on minus three points and six behind second bottom Manchester with three games to play.

However, their last three games are all scheduled for this afternoon at Northumbria’s Sports Central complex.

Captain Laura Hockaday believes they can get the wins they need to take them above Manchester. “We know we weren’t good enough in our last game and it’s even more frustrating when we know that we can play much better than we did,” she said.

“But we will learn from our mistakes last time out and hopefully it will all come together and give us the positive results that we need.”

Most of the Futsal players come from the Womens 11-a-side BUCS football team, and they currently sit top of their Northern 3B league, after picking up three wins out of three and scoring 24 in the process.

Hockaday believes the unity and togetherness from the football team will shine through in Northumbria.

“A lot of the girls play together quite a bit due to both the football and futsal,” she said. “So I know we have the spirit there, and I’m confident it will help us to the wins.”

Sunderland kick off their first game against hosts Northumbria University Womens 1st, which is then followed with a game against rivals Newcastle University Womens 1sts, before finishing their season against Durham University Womens 1st.

Even two wins may be enough to take them off bottom as long as they avoid a heavy defeat in their other game as Manchester have finished their season.

SportsByte will keep you right up to date with the scores and results throughout the afternoon.




Courtesy: Sportsbyte Sunderland


Sunderland Women’s Futsal lose out to Northumbria in first game of the day

The University of Sunderland’s Women’s Futsal team lost the first game of their North East triple header to hosts Northumbria at Sports Central this afternoon.

Sunderland crashed 13-2 to Northumbria and will need to win their two remaining games to have any hope of finishing off the bottom of the table.

Goals from captain Laura Hockaday and Cara Moran were scant consolation against a rampant Northumbria.

Sunderland are completing their 2012 season today with round robin matches against Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham.

Before the game, Sunderland captain Laura Hockaday admitted her side were in for a tough afternoon, saying: ”I don’t believe we will win all three games, but we should win a couple.”

One down, two to go for Sunderland and their next match is against Durham at 16.45



Courtesy: Sportsbyte Sunderland


Sunderland Women’s Futsal continue losing streak as Durham come out on top

The University of Sunderland’s Women’s Futsal team slumped to another defeat after losing out to an impressive Durham side.

Durham came out on top with a staggering 16-4 scoreline and having lost earlier in the day to Northumbria, Sunderland have one game left today to salvage a win and earn three points.

Although the result seems bleak, there were still a lot of positives for Sunderland to take from the game. The tricky skills of Laura Hockaday combined with the impressive left foot of Cara Moran made for a mouth-watering attacking force.

Unfortunately, Sunderland’s defence just wasn’t good enough and they were punished by a Durham side who were at their most deadly on the counter-attack.

After the game, Sunderland goalkeeper Danielle Farrell admitted, “We were beaten by a better team.”

Sunderland’s final game of the season against Newcastle has just kicked off, and the Wearsiders are desperate for the win.

It won’t lift them off the bottom, but having started today on -3 points it would at least get them back to zero.




Courtesy: Sportsbyte Sunderland


Sunderland’s Women’s Futsal team end North-East triple header winless

The University of Sunderland’s Women’s futsal team ended their North-East triple header yesterday with another loss, this time to Newcastle University.

The 6-4 defeat brings an end to the BUCS futsal season and the league table makes grim reading for Sunderland.

The Wearsiders finish bottom of the BUCS Northern 1A Division, winless and on -3 points after forfeiting a game earlier this season.

Sunderland’s performances slightly improved throughout the day. After earlier defeats to Northumbria 13-2 and Durham 16-4 respectively, this Tyne Wear derby match was by far the closest game.

Both opposition’s goalkeepers were on fine form and Sunderland captain Laura Hockaday ended the day on a personal high with a hat-trick.

Sunderland goalkeeper Danielle Farrell said: “It was a tough game as everyone was knackered by the end of the day. We did ok today.

“But we only had our first training on Monday as we’ve been concentrating on the football league all season. The truth is that we didn’t have the same quality throughout our squad, like the other teams.”

But Farrell admitted that it has been difficult for the team, who mostly play for the 11-a-side BUCS Women’s team.

She said: “We’ve never concentrated on futsal, as its just the uni football team that fill in for the tournaments. I don’t think a separate futsal team will ever form, the interest isn’t there.”






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