The FA Futsal League kicked off last weekend and Middlesbrough Futsal Club had the honour of kicking off the first-ever match in the Northern League at home to FC Barsa (named after manager, Kevin Barr) from Leeds.
The first official National Futsal League is made up of three regional leagues - North, Midlands and South - with the top two teams from each division progressing to the play-offs at the end of September to contest for the national championship and a place in the UEFA Futsal Cup.
Middlesbrough stormed into pole position in the league with a 10-1 rout over FC Barsa. Holmes, Mortlock, Burgess, Leyshon and Amos started the historic fixture and their possession game began right from the start.
Boro’s rotation was good and led to several early chances, with Barsa’s 'keeper making a string of saves to deny an opening goal. Four of Boro’s starting five have been playing Futsal for three years and it was the most experienced player and Boro captain, Ben Mortlock, who scored the opening goal after four minutes, as a strike from distance beat the 'keeper and went in off the inside of a post.
Barsa were stunned and a minute later the lead was doubled through David Herbert. At the other end, Rob Oxley of Barsa fluffed their best chance when he got around the back of Boro’s defence.
Mortlock grabbed his second before Burgess picked out Kwaku Saifah with a superb lofted pass, which Kwaku volleyed into the roof of the net. Jonathon Prosser rounded of a perfect half of Futsal when he slotted into an open goal for his second goal in as many matches to give Boro a 5-0 lead at half time.
The second half started as a somewhat sloppy affair, as the Teessiders were pinned back by the team from Yorkshire and when a loose ball was pounced upon by Masood Khalighi to give Barsa a lifeline, Boro had to regroup.
They turned on the style with seven minutes remaining, starting with a goal for Leyshon, his 17th of the season. Mortlock then completed his hat-trick as he jinked past a Leeds defender and buried a powerful shot to make it 7-1.
Ben Amos, having hit the bar and post already, then got off the mark for the National League season before Herbert doubled his account. To crown the domination over Leeds, Boro’s 'keeper Curtis Holmes, who had been superb between the posts, fired a smashing shot into the top corner to take the final score to 10-1 and put the Teessiders top of the National League.
Other results in the FA Futsal League North saw Tranmere beat Hull 9-6, Manchester lose 3-2 to Grimsby, Boro’s next opponents, Sheffield FC overcame Sheffield and Hallamshire in the local derby by 5-2.
Boro manager Damon Shaw was quick to applaud one of the Teessiders’ best performances of the season, where defensively and on the attack, things seemed to fall into place.
“We’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time, and all the lads knew exactly what it meant for us,” he said.
“Everyone put in 100 per cent effort and should be proud of their display. We’ve made a great start with a great result and a solid performance and we’re only going to get better.”
Boro’s next league game is away against Grimsby, to be played at the Gemtec Arena in Hull on Sunday 16 March. The two teams met just over a year ago and Boro won 9-5, but with much more at stake it’s likely to be a totally different game.
Team line-ups:
Middlesbrough: Holmes, Herbert, Mortlock, Amos, Prosser, Hamblin, Burgess, Leyshon, Saifah, Kilbride.
Barsa: Davidson, Khalighi, C.Barr, Smeathers, Fox, Oxley, Black, O.Barr, Talibrow, Honeyman.
For more information on Boro Futsal check out the club’s website www.BoroFutsal.co.uk