Teesside University Futsal Club have a long way to go to reach the BUCS Futsal finals in Sheffield in March after stumbling to Leeds Met and Edge Hill.  Despite being the better side on the day, and leading in both games, Teesside couldn't finish them off and suffered on the tiny York pitches.

Teesside dominated Leeds Met once again and were 1-0 up at half time through captain Kilbride on his birthday.  The second half saw Leeds Met take a 4-1 lead, Rashid's headed own goal putting the nail in the coffin.  Teesside went with a flying 'keeper and got two goals back, but with matches only 15 minutes each way real time, there just wasn't enough time to get back into it and it finished 4-3.

Up next were Edge Hill.  Teesside once again took the lead, but bad defending and bad finishing allowed Edge Hill to tip the game on its head and it finished 5-3.  Teesside restored some pride with a 6-3 win over MMU Cheshire, and with Liverpool University not showing up, Teesside finished the day with 9 points.

The final group position only determines who meets who in the playoffs.  Teesside now sit in joint third with York seconds on 9 points and face York seconds in the final group game before the playoffs start on 21st February.  Third place in the group A will pit them against 6th in group B and a final playoff against the runner-up of group B.  4th place will see Teesside take on 5th in group B and a final match against one of the teams that beat them today.

Either path will be difficult, but Teesside's biggest opponent is the size of the pitch and the length of the matches, said coach Damon Shaw.  "You could put Spain in these conditions and they'd struggle to play futsal!  On a full size pitch and with proper length games I am sure we'd be comfortably top of the group.  However, we've got to do the business on the small pitch if we want to reach the finals.  We're not out of it, and we're still confident we'll be there and nothing really changes with today's results."

Teesside are back in action on 21st February, while Boro are away to Grimsby next week aiming to put their defeat to Tranmere behind them.