The futsal squads come out on top against Accrington Stanley and Sheffield United
Rotherham United A 2 – 1 Accrington Stanley A
A very cagey game as expected between second in the table and third place. Rotherham United defended well at times not giving Accrington many opportunities in front of goal with some passionate defending. This coupled with the Rotherham United goalkeeper Jay Ford making some great stops and blocks made it a very good match for the neutral. Even with the early pressure from Accrington it was Rotherham who scored first with a good attacking distribution from Ford, who looked to stretch the game with the run in behind from Dan Siddall, who took a beautiful touch inside the defender to riffle home a driven volley.
Accrington dominated the second half with great possession and chances on goal, but with some slack finishing from the Rotherham boys the game ended 2-1. The game had some great football played with solid performances from Kasey Scott, Joe Briggs and Connor Green who all defended well and always looked for the counter attack.
The Head Futsal Coach, Chris Kirby, had this to say about the ‘A team’ game ‘The lads have defended well, I was very conscious of the first game of the season which we lost from leading at half time and, with that in mind, I wanted the lads to keep switched on to get the 3 points and not be disappointed, which they did! Overall, reflecting back, I would of liked to of seen us take our chances better, which will be something we will work on in the training ground for the next game against Huddersfield.’
Rotherham United ‘B’ 2 – 1 Sheffield United ‘B’
Sheffield United started the game well and dominated possession; however, this didn’t affect the Rotherham boys, who kept a well organised and tight defensive shape. As the half went on it was much more of the same, with both teams looking to penetrate with no avail due to good defending from both teams. Dan Hoades, who was starting his first appearance in goal for Rotherham, pulled off some great saves to keep the score 0-0 at half time.
The second half came and it was Rotherham to kick off, with some clever play from the restart Rotherham found themselves 4v3 attacking at goal. The ball fell to Luke Easton who had a shot well saved, but it fell to Joe Hobson on the edge of the box, who calmly passed one defender and slotted it home to give Rotherham a 1-0 lead. Within 7 seconds of Sheffield United’s restart the game was 1-1 and all in the balance. Dominic Walker started to get his foot on the ball and dictate play with cleaver rotations from Jake Heeley the dominance started to show for Rotherham, who went and took the lead with a solo goal from Easton. Rotherham Defended brilliantly after going in front even with the pressure from Sheffield United mounting.
Rotherham Head Futsal Coach Chris Kirby had this to say regarding the performance; ‘The lads have been working really hard in training and their understanding of shape and defending has again been top class in recent weeks. The problem has been scoring goals, which I hope we have turned the corner after our first 3 points of the season. We will get in and analysis the game and take things on board into training and the friendly training game arranged for next week. Things are looking good for the Futsal team!’
Next fixture is on the 12th December 2012;
v RUFC ‘A’ v Huddersfield ‘A’ 10:00am KO
v RUFC ‘B’ v Sheffield Wednesday ‘B’ 10:55am KO
If you are interested in applying for the 2013 /14 Futsal scholarship then please send an expression of interest to education@rotherhamunited.net
If you would like to know more about the RUCST, go to: www.rucst.co.uk