West London Varsity: Men’s futsal – St Mary’s 7-9 Brunel

In an unprecedentedly thrilling Men’s Futsal game at West London Varsity, Brunel ran out 9-7 winners over St Mary’s after being behind 7-4 at one point. The game started off very well for the hosts as they went into a 3-0 lead, much like the earlier men’s 1’s football game.

Again coincidentally, the visitors then managed to claw back two goals to make it 3-2 at half time, with their first goal in particular well worked and cannoning in off the crossbar. There were fouls galore from St Mary’s as well as they tried to contain the resurgent Brunel following the Simmies early lead.

The subs were rolling, the ball was skidding and the goalie was keeping St Mary’s in with a string of good saves from Men’s 2’s keeper Alfie Cooper, including three penalties, keeping St Mary’s in it as the half went on, but to give credit to Brunel’s keeper, so did he for the visitors.

It would be in the second half however, where all the excitement was to be had. Almost immediately following the restart, St Mary’s made it 4-2 as Brunel started to chase the game before quickly making it 5-2.

They were on top of the world as Sports Gazette’s Joaquin Vial grabbed an assist for St Mary’s sixth, shortly after Brunel managed to make it 5-3. St Mary’s started to dominate in a game where control was alarmingly short in supply as Brunel’s keeper once again managed to keep the Uxbridge-based university in the game once again.

They made it 6-4 thanks to a well worked freekick routine that resulted in a first time shot going past Alfie in goal. What happened next was the first in a two-part sequence that made the second half very exciting.

After a player was tripped over and subsequently stepped on, a fight including members of the crowd, with one St Mary’s student reportedly spitting at a Brunel player in the process. It took a good five to ten minutes for everything to calm down before the game started up again, however St Mary’s will be wishing that it didn’t.

After the game resumed, St Mary’s went 7-4 up thanks to a left footed shot at a tight angle from Bijan which resulted in St Mary’s last goal of the match as Brunel scored another five goals.

Those goals were unanswered by anyone from St Mary’s as Brunel’s keeper made some good saves and they ultimately won the game 9-7, with their eighth and ninth goals coming in the last 45 seconds to secure the victory for Brunel.

The Sports Gazette is providing the official cover of the West London Varsity follow the live blog for updates