
Photo [Aiden Hawker]
BUCS FUTSAL: Superb Saints Narrowly Miss Out on BUCS Glory
Read about the St Andrews Futsal inspirations as they impressively conclude the final fixtures of their BUCS Championship…
The BUCS Futsal calendar has been in full swing since the semester began with the men’s 1st in action for three consecutive weekends. With a shot at the Scottish title and progress in the nationwide BUCS cup up for grabs, it has been a series of season-defining weeks.
First up was the penultimate round of Scottish League 1A matches in which the saints faced three crucial fixtures in their quest for the title. In the first game of the day, which also happened to be the Saints’ first fixture since early December last year, the Saints came up against a well-organized and clinical Stirling side. The Saints experienced something of a winter hangover and fell to their second BUCS defeat of the season, losing 8-4. However, there was no time to recover with another clash against rivals Edinburgh 2’s. This time the Saints made a quick start and overwhelmed their opposition running out 8-2 victors. The day concluded with a match against a much-rejuvenated University of the West of Scotland, who just wouldn’t let the Saints out of range, constantly pegging our boys back. Injuries began to take their toll to the point where the Saints were left without a single sub. Nonetheless, they managed to battle through, and after a late flurry of goals won 9-6 leaving the team 2nd with one round of fixtures remaining.
The final round of fixtures took place at Ravenscraig Sports center in Glasgow and provided an excellent backdrop for St Andrews to make their final push for the title. With just two matches scheduled, the Saints knew that in order to have any chance of coming out on top, 6 points would be required along with a vastly improved goal difference. With this in mind, the Saints ruthlessly disposed of the West of Scotland recording their largest victory of the season to date, a 10-0 win. However, due to other results by the time the Saints second and final fixture of the league came around hopes of overturning Stirling as champions had disappeared, leaving the Saints to fight for second place in their last fixture against Strathclyde 1’s. The Saints made a promising start by taking an early lead and even managed to hang on till half time despite considerable pressure. Nevertheless, after the break, the unrelenting pressure finally broke down the resilient defense, with Strathclyde then leading 4-2. With just minutes on the clock, the decision was taken to switch to fly-keeper which unfortunately backfired and lead to three goals in three minutes taking the final result to 7-2, a score which masks the closeness of the actual match. Nevertheless, with that result, Strathclyde 1’s managed to jump St Andrews into second place leaving the saints in a disappointing but nonetheless extremely respectable 3rd place.
Therefore, whilst the Saints may not have quite reached BUCS glory, this season the team’s results represented a vast improvement from previous years which is a testament to the hard work and commitment of all involved with the club. Furthermore, the performances in BUCS demonstrate the side’s ability to genuinely compete with some of the top futsal sides in Scotland and across the UK and therefore should be a source of great optimism heading into next season. With the continued grit and determination that characterized the team’s BUCS performances this season, there is little doubt that the future of Saints Futsal is a promising one.
We simply cannot wait to see what they accomplish in the future.
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