Scunthorpe Futsal advanced to the next round of the Soccer AM cup with three wins out of three games in a hugely successful trip to Leeds.
The first game of the tournament was a lot more one sided than the 3-2 score line suggests as Scunthorpe made a winning start to the day.Zak Shipman, Ryan Challenger and Zach Meadows bagged the goals in a game where Scunthorpe managed 21 shots, ten more than their opponents.
United kept hold of the ball well for the entire match, whilst Accrington looked to use a counter attacking tactic at the Leeds Futsal Arena.
The first goal of the game came from the influential Shipman, who was a threat on the ball as he had the most shots by any player in the game with eight. He was assisted by a pass from Ryan Bonser and Shipman placed the ball into the corner from just inside the Accrington half.
The rest of the first half was dominated by Scunthorpe but they couldn’t turn their dominance into more goals and were made to pay for their failure to score when Accrington equalised early in the second half.
The equaliser came from a quick counter attack which only took two quick passes and an assured finished was enough to beat goalkeeper Zach Beedle.
A swift response from manager Gav Cooper’s side saw Bonser produce his second assist of the match as he laid a first time lay off on to Ryan Challenger who powered the ball into the top corner.
After the goal, Accrington generated their best spell of the game with Beedle having to produce several good stops. The second equaliser of the game came after some sustained pressure from Accrington and their striker finished from close range.
The United winner came after Bonser produced a driving run down the wing and, despite being brought down, the referee played a good advantage to allow Meadows to strike home Scunthorpe’s third. It made it a hat trick of assists for Bonser and earned his side all three points in their opening fixture.
The second fixture was a feisty battle against Nottingham Forest which required a late Scunthorpe comeback to pick up a 5-3 victory. With only six minutes remaining the Scunthorpe side trailed 3-2 but managed to score three quick fire goals to settle a heated clash that saw three yellow cards.
It was Forest who took the lead in the first half after they capitalised on a defensive error to grab the first goal of this end to end affair.
They quickly doubled their advantage as Scunthorpe were still registering how they had let the first in and their striker smashed the ball home as he caught the United defence unawares.
Just before half time Ryan Bonser continued his terrific day as he added to his three assists in the first game with a goal of his own.
The second half began with a scuffle inside the Forest penalty area which resulted with Bonser and the opposing goalkeeper being booked and from the resulting set piece Bonser struck in his second and produced a passionate celebration in front of the Forest ‘keeper.
A freak third goal from Forest followed shortly afterwards as a free kick inside their own half somehow found the back of the net. A booking for Zak Shipman halted proceedings momentarily but he issued a rallying cry to his team mates to try and find a response.
With six minutes to go Bonser produced some more quality to secure his hat trick and bring the tie level and just a minute later he put his side into the lead with his fourth of the match. All seven of Scunthorpe’s goals had Bonser either scoring or assisting so far but he was then substituted by manager Gav Cooper, which allowed Meadows to score his second goal of the afternoon to secure a 5-3 win.
It was two wins out of two for Cooper’s side and four goals and three assists for Ryan Bonser.
The third and final game was a comprehensive 9-1 win for Scunthorpe as they overpowered a struggling Burnley side to make it a perfect day of results for the Futsal side.
There were six different goal scorers for Gav Cooper’s side, with the first of the game going to Zak Shipley. Oliver Burton, Matty Welsh, Ryan Challenger and Ryan Bonser all struck before the half time break in the most comfortable first half imaginable as the players continued their attacking brand of football.
Zach Meadows scored a brace quickly after the interval to take his tally for the day to four and Shipley rounded off the scoring with two powerful finishes to also take his total to four.
It was a nice way to round off Scunthorpe’s successful trip to Leeds as they made it three wins out of three in the Soccer AM Cup, scoring a total of 17 goals in the day.
The next round is at Birmingham International Futsal Arena.