Futsal Navy Blues relentless run continues

Monday 20 March 2023

Picture:

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - The Futsal Navy Blues remain unbeaten in their Ford Futsal SuperLeague campaign following an 11-1 win over Hawke’s Bay Futsal and 5-3 win over Canterbury United in Day 2 of their National Series 1 at Trusts Arena in West Auckland on Sunday afternoon.

After a bit of a slow start and some fantastic saves from Hawke’s Bay goalkeeper Liam Percy-Fysh the Futsal Navy Blues finally got on the scoresheet through Bahram Ahmadi after six minutes before the lead was doubled by Adam Paulsen after a brilliant shimmying run tricked the defence before slotting it home after 12 minutes.

Josh Margetts extended the gap to three after some brilliant build up play from Dom Hawkins in the late stages of the first half.

The second half was a goal fest with Art Twigg getting himself on the scoresheet in the 22nd minute followed by a quickfire second for Josh Margetts and a surprise speculative goal for Eduardo Exposito Espinosa saw the scoreline swell to 6-0.

Hawke’s Bay who had created their chances finally found themselves on the scoresheet when Mustafa Can slotted past Vaughan Somerville to give some hope of returning some respectability to the scoreline.

Any talk of a late comeback was put to bed the same minute as Sam Twigg combined well with his brother Denny Twigg to set the latter up for his first goal as an Auckland City player. Denny Twigg was in for his second within a minute as the score swelled to 8-1.

Art Twigg was in again for his second of the day soon after before the Futsal Navy Blues hit double figures with a Hat Trick to Josh Margetts and a late goal to Shaun Morgan. For Hat Trick hero Margetts he felt the team is in a good position “It was good we are definitely in a good position in the league at the moment and we just need to keep the momentum going scoring goals and a good performance from the lads”

In the day’s second game a serious knee injury to Shaun Morgan soured a competitive 5-3 win over Canterbury United on Sunday evening.

The Futsal Navy Blues fell behind within the first minute before Art Twigg found an equaliser a few minutes later before finally hitting the front through Eduardo Exposito Espinosa approaching the halfway point in the first half.

Canterbury were level again in the final few minutes of the half as the Futsal Navy Blues gave away a penalty which was converted by Dragons skipper Hemi Innes before Thomas Picken and Art Twigg brought the Futsal Navy Blues lead out to two goals in a frantic end to an end to end first half.

The second half began with a sour note as Shaun Morgan buckled under a challenge and sustained a serious knee injury which led to him being stretchered from the court before Bahram Ahmadi fired in the Futsal Navy Blues 5th goal of the game

The Dragons secured a 3rd goal in the final couple of minutes to set up a tense finish with the Futsal Navy Blues holding on for a 5-3 win.

Head coach Nic Downes’ summed up his thoughts on the game talking to Brendan Telfer on the New Zealand Football YouTube channel’s live stream of the match he said “It was tight the whole game we probably would have liked it to be a little more comfortable, they scored first we did well to come back one more goal for them changes the complexion of the game and it’s chaos” He also expressed his thoughts for Shaun Morgan “We’ve got a pretty serious injury which is unfortunate.. Emily the Physio has been with Shaun for the rest of that game we will check in and see how everything is going”

The Futsal Navy Blues are back in action against the same opposition first thing in the morning facing Canterbury United at 9:30am before facing Hawke’s Bay United at 2:00pm both matches at Trusts Arena in Waitakere.

Ends 


MATCH DAY 1 - SUMMARY 

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC’s Futsal team remain unbeaten after day 1 of National Series 1 of the Ford Futsal Super League following a 2-2 draw with Capital Futsal and a 4-0 win over Southern United.

A slow start in the first half saw Capital take the lead through Micky Malivuk after 15 minutes and in an even half found chances limited with the scores left at 1-0 after the half time break.

The Futsal Navy Blues found some momentum in the second half when Dom Hawkins found an equaliser and Thomas Picken lashed home a free kick to put the Futsal Navy Blues in front.

Goalkeeper Mike Antamanov had a big game as well with the Futsal Navy Blues in foul trouble he saved a 10 metre penalty and made many big saves as Capital chased an equaliser.

Heartbreakingly Capital found that equaliser in the dying stages of the match when deploying the fifth attacker it was Tyler Eriksen the 5th man lashing the ball home with 7.77 seconds left on the clock to secure his side a point.

For head coach Nic Downes it was an intense end to end game he said “It was pretty end to end a high tempo game which was to be expected with the two top of the table teams meeting we knew it was going to be a tight game but a 2-2 game it was tight in the end”

In the day’s second game on Court 2 the Futsal Navy Blues romped to a 4-0 win over Southern United with first half goals to Sam Twigg and Thomas Picken and second half goals to Dom Hawkins and Picken. ‘

The Futsal Navy Blues are back in action Sunday when the National Series 1 continues with matches against Hawke’s Bay Futsal at midday and Canterbury United Futsal Dragons at 6:00pm you can catch every kick of the ball live at the New Zealand Football YouTube channel and on Auckland City FC social media platforms.


Ford Futsal SuperLeague - National Series One

Match Day 1


Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague National Series One
Saturday 18 March 2023
Auckland City FC 2 (Dom HAWKINS, Thomas PICKEN)
Capital Futsal 2 (Micky MALIVUK, Tyler ERIKSEN)

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague National Series One
Saturday 18 March 2023
Auckland City FC 4 (Thomas PICKEN 2, Sam TWIGG, Dom HAWKINS)
Southern United 0

Ford Futsal SuperLeague - National Series One

Match Day 2

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague National Series One
Sunday 19 March 2023
Auckland City FC 11 (Josh MARGETTS 3, Denny TWIGG 2, Art TWIGG 2, Bahram AHMADI, Adam PAULSEN, Eduardo Exposito ESPINOSA, Shaun MORGAN) 
Hawke's Bay Futsal 1 (Mustafa CAN) 

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague National Series One
Sunday 19 March 2023
Auckland City FC 5 (Art TWIGG 2, Eduardo Exposito ESPINOSA, Thomas PICKEN, Bahram AHMADI) 
Canterbury United Dragons 3 (Hemi INNES, UNKNOWN 2) 

Ford Futsal SuperLeague - Northern Travel Series

Match Day 1

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague Northern Travel Series
Saturday 11 March 2023
Bay of Plenty Surge 4 (Arran CARTER 3, Mario RAMOS)
Auckland City FC 8 (Thomas PICKEN 4, Bahram AHMADI 3, Shaun MORGAN)

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague Northern Travel Series
Saturday 11 March 2023
Waikato Rapids 2 (Max ERIKSEN 2)
Auckland City FC 9 (Aalok PAUDEL, Art TWIGG 2, Eduardo Exposito ESPINOSA, Bahram AHMADI 2, Sam TWIGG, Dom HAWKINS, Stephen ASHBY-PECKHAM)

Ford Futsal SuperLeague - Northern Travel Series

Match Day 2

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague Northern Travel Series
Sunday 12 March 2023
Auckland City FC 9 (Eduardo Exposito ESPINOSA 2, Dom HAWKINS 2, Bahram AHMADI 2, Thomas PICKEN, Sam TWIGG, Stephen ASHBY-PECKHAM
Bay of Plenty Surge 1 (Thomas McMILLAN)

Match Result
Ford Futsal SuperLeague Northern Travel Series
Sunday 12 March 2023
Auckland City FC (Thomas PICKEN 2, Dom HAWKINS, Adam PAULSEN, Sam TWIGG, Denny TWIGG, Josh MARGETTS,
Waikato Rapids (Casey SHARPLIN 2)

 

NORTHERN LEAGUE R3

Monday 1 April 2024, Kiwitea Street, 3.00pm

AC
vs
TC
Player Profiles
Table
Position P W D L F A Pts
1 TC1100403
2 AC1100303
3 MN1100303
4 BO1100213
5 WS1100323
6 ES1010221
7 WC1010221
8 BU1001230
9 ES1001120
10 AU1001030
11 EB1001030
12 ME1001040

Full Ladder

Friends of Football
Photo Gallery
Facebook
Twitter
Auckland City FC Social