Courtesy: www.stuff.co.nz

Mainland take early Futsal lead

Mainland Futsal sit top of the pile after Series One of the Futsal National League held in Napier over the weekend.

Mainland, featuring Futsal Whites Ryan Batty and Atta Elayyan, recorded four wins from their five outings at the Pettigrew Arena in Taradale with all four victories featuring come-from-behind efforts.

Mainland’s sole defeat came on Saturday at the hands of the defending champion Auckland side who sit in third place, a point behind Capital Futsal who were once again led by the attacking threat of Futsal White Miroslav Malivuk who finished the weekend as the competition’s leading marksman with eight goals.

Waikato Bay of Plenty Futsal round out the top four having taken two wins from their opening five matches.

Mainland Futsal coach Ronan Naicker – who also serves as a Futsal Development Officer for Mainland Football - says a strong team focus was the centrepiece of his side’s performance over the weekend with game one against Futsal South setting the tone.

“We haven’t had the best preparation leading up to it having to change coach but the main strength we had was that we were a unified team and that showed on the court,” Naicker said.

“All the games we won we came back from behind and it was the team spirit that dragged us back into it when previously we would have folded.” “The key one was the first game because we were trailing 4-1 with about eight minutes to go in the game and we came back to win 7-4.”

With Futsal Whites player Daniel Burns unavailable due to injury and the late change to the coaching staff, Naicker said the Mainland side outdid even their own expectations.

“It was always going to be building series for us and to get the results we did was phenomenal and I don’t think anyone expected it, including ourselves, so we’re more than happy with how it went.”

With 175 goals in 20 matches, a record for a single series in the competition, New Zealand Futsal Development Manager Dave Payne says work being done by the competition Technical Study Group – including Futsal Whites coach Scott Gilligan - is paying dividends.

“We’ve had Scott working with each team on developing attacking and pressing defensive strategies of the teams in the competition and I think we saw evidence of that approach bearing fruit with the number of goals and the way in which teams were playing the game,” Payne said.

“It’s exciting to see that progression as we continue to strengthen our Futsal National League which will in turn provide more players capable of making the step up to international play with the Futsal Whites.”

Series Two is in Wellington November 6-8 with the third and final leg of the competition in Auckland on December 5-7.

Click here for results, standings and goal scorers table from Series One of the Futsal National League.






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