30/09/2026
YMCA FUTSAL LEAGUE, term 3, 2026, week 9 – FINAL
The finals night for Term Three of our popular Taranaki YMCA Suchy & Co Realty Futsal League for 2026 was, as predicted, a real humdinger.
With No.1 versus No.2 and No.3 against No.4, etcetera, all the way down the 10-team rankings, the night was always going to feature some extremely close matches.
The No.1 side in the standings, Lads Indoor, were last night up against the only other side to unbeaten all term, Egmont Deisel Services (EDS), and so what a mouthwatering encounter that was likely to be. It was a winner-takes-all final clash for these two teams and it didn’t disappoint.
Things got quite tasty, with a few too many free kicks given out for my liking, but we guess it was passionate stuff.
In the end it was a 2-1 for EDS and that meant they successfully defended their title at YMCA Futsal champions, but it really could have gone either way. The irony was that an often-depleted EDS had employed Liam McCann as a ring-in keeper many times this season, even though he was “on the books” of Lads Indoor.
So then, without McCann to play in goal for them last night, but rather playing as goalie for their Lads Indoor opponents, it provided some interesting dynamics. Had the fox become the game-keeper?
It mattered not and McCann did a superb job for the Lads last night, although EDS seemed to have all the answers. Thankfully EDS had star player Phil Hood was on hand and that was possibly the difference between the two sides.
With the win, EDS took the league win for Term Three (the sole team unbeaten in the nine weeks) and the Lads will no doubt be wanting revenge next term. We can’t wait for the “payback”.
The match-up between Andy’s Army and Pacific United FC last night was another much-anticipated clash.
No.4-ranked Pacific had beaten the No.3-ranked Army boys 5-0 a week earlier and so their respective positions had switched on the point table, with Pacific moving up to third and the Army boys dropping to fourth. But that all changed last night when the Army beat Pacific 5-2, a convincing turnaround from the week before.
So, in the final analysis, Andy’s Army finished third and Pacific United dropped back to fourth for term three’s final standings.
The No.5 ranked Not Bullies were unlucky to lose 3-2 to No.6-ranked Angry Beavers last night and so their final positions also changed, with Beavers finishing the term fifth and Not Bullies winding up sixth of the 10 teams in our league.
The clash was actually level at 2-2 with a few seconds to go, but then top player Cam Matheson struck with a remarkable late goal to sn**ch the win for Beavers.
In the battle of the cellar-dwellers, Footloose beat Clutch Durrage 6-0 and so moved up from ninth to eighth in the final standings, while Old Boys were beaten 4-1 by FC Bada Bing last night and dropped from eight to ninth.
PLEASE NOTE:
The points table is arranged in this fashion: Top positions are determined firstly by points earned; then by superior goal difference; then by most wins acquired; then by most goals scored; then by most 'fairplays' acquired (and these are now awarded in only exceptional circumstances) and, finally, by fewest "yellow card" sanctions.
PLEASE NOTE TOO:
Three (3) yellow card sanctions result in the deduction of two (2) competition points and three (3) fairplay awards will result in the addition of one (1) bonus competition point. A red card is an immediate loss of three (3) points and the player involved must also miss the following week's competition. It pays to play fair.
Regards
Andy "The Ref"
