Derby return to the top with victory

By Paddy Finnemore

A hat-trick from captain Pawel Tomczak helped Derby Futsal get back to winning ways and a return to the top of the National Futsal Series tier 2 table with a 7-2 win over Leicester.

Tomczak has been in fine form this season and has now scored seven goals in his four games this season and is proving a real handful.

This result meant Derby recovered from their 7-5 defeat to York and have now gone above them to the top of the tree with Sunday’s victory.

Leicester was the one to the go-ahead in the game, a wayward pass near the Derby goal gave Sam Nelletamby a tap in. A poor start with only two minutes played but still plenty of time to recover.

Derby equalised eight minutes later. Tomczak got his first of the game with a powerful penalty right down the middle. From that moment, The Rams were dominant, Alec Barnden hit the post and Matt Richardson had a shot flashed past the post, only a couple of examples of the numerous chances Derby had.

With just seconds before the halftime buzzer, our captain Tomczak got his and Derby’s second of the game. A good move from him and Sam Huntingdon to get out of a tight space, then it was all Tomczak, a great run cutting in from the left and a smart finish in off the post. Derby with a thoroughly deserved lead at the break.

Two minutes after the restart it was that man again, Tomczak secured his Hat-trick after a great pass by Jamie Gregory, who was making his debut found Tomczak, who finished powerfully leaving the keeper no chance.

Derby’s fourth came three minutes later, Huntingdon was involved again, great work down the left getting past his man and delivering a wicked cross to find Liam Hunt who keeps his goalscoring run going after a goal against York.

Leicester got their second in the 34th minute after a wonderful pass by their captain Jamie Hallas found Ben Louder who just got there before Cameron Hall who was making his first appearance of the season. 

John King was also making his first appearance for The Rams this season and got on the scoresheet. He and Richardson combined to score the fifth. A great pass inside from Richardson gave the ball to King and he finished with aplomb into the corner.

Richardson then got on the scoresheet himself. With Leicester pushing to try and get back into the game, they were playing the fly system which meant when Richardson won the ball back, he could turn and shoot very accurately into the open net.

Derby’s seventh and final goal of the game came through great work again by King going around two defenders, but then an unfortunate deflection for a Leicester player meant an own goal to secure the game for The Rams and earn the victory. 

All eyes will be on next week with a huge game against Trent Valley where derby will be hoping to build on this result.

After the game, head coach Matt Hardy gave his thoughts on the game. Starting with how impressed he was with the captain, “It was a really good performance from everyone but especially from Pav (Tomczak). He’s a goal scorer week in week out, he has shown us all season that he is a great finisher and was great in front of goal again today.”

Hardy then spoke about how important it was to bounce back after the disappointment against York, “I was disappointed after York with the behaviour of the group and felt a little let down in all honesty, that in my absence we let ourselves down in that way.

“We spoke about it, and we’ve worked really hard as a group to ways we can improve that.”

“To respond with a professional display like we did today was fantastic and capped an excellent three-week work since York.”

Looking forward to the next game against Trent Valley, Hardy knows it is a huge game. “Trent Valley is obviously another big game for us now. They are a really talented young group who are improving every week and creeping closer to that first win.”

“We have to make sure that is not against us on Sunday. We are top and have the best defensive record in NFS two. A win will keep us top over Christmas, which is a great start to our season.”

“It is no secret that promotion is our aim this season and Sunday will be about character, discipline, professionalism and performance levels that you would expect from a team challenging as we. As long as we approach the game in that matter, I have full faith in our squad to get a result.”