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Baltic hang on to take the Serie A Championship	Monday, 21 Aug 2006

Play-off results Championship Final: ----- Baltic Utd..............9 - 5 Doncaster 3rd/4th play-off: ----------- Helvecia do Brasil...7-10 Birmingham 5th/6th play-off: ------------ Kickers.................9 - 0 York Baltic United finally shook off their habit of coming second in the big competitions in beating Doncaster to take England's first ever national league futsal title, raising the trophy for the Futsal Premier League Serie A National Championship tilte. The play-off day featured the top three teams from the northern and southern conference, with play-off games 3-6 place rankings in addition to the Championship Final itself. Baltic slowly took control of the game after a predictably cagey start, as both teams looked to feel each other out. Goals in the 7th and 9th minute from Godelis and Lescinskis gave them a lead they would never lose. Doncaster played some tidy futsal, with good movement and crisp passing, but lacked the final punch required to break through a well organized Baltic defence. Godelis struck again in the 15th no minute, and it finished 3-0 at the break. Doncaster needed to come out fast in the second half, but it was Baltic who ran away with the game, running up 4 goals in 12 minutes to take the lead to 7-0. Doncaster looked very down and out, but thanks to an amazing individual performance by Danny Hogan, the comeback suddenly looked on. Doncaster scored 5 goals in 7 minutes, Hogan scoring 4 of them. With Baltic also in 5-foul trouble, Doncaster had all the momentum and Baltic were on the ropes. At 7-5, Hogan hit the crossbar from a 10-metre penalty, missing a chance to make it 7-6. They pressed harder still with 2 minutes still on the clock, but leaving themselves vulnerable to the counter-attack, saw David Treigys sink the killer blow to make it 8-5. With only a minute to go, it was all but over. Baltic put in a 9th in the dying seconds and the game was over at 9-5. A valiant effort from Doncaster, they will no doubt be kicking themselves. They came alive all too later and will rue letting Baltic run away to such a big lead. Baltic rejoiced at avenging the loss to Doncaster in the FA Futsal Cup final in 2005, and go on record as the first English national league champions. The FPL Serie A 2007 kicks off in January, repeating the format of a northern and southern conference. The play-off for 3rd and 4th looked good on paper, with London's Helvecia do Brasil facing off against the much improved Team Birmingham. Birmingham looked very up for it straight from the start, and controlled much of the early play. Two goals from Nehem Haq in the 3rd and 6th minute obviously rattled Helvecia, who were a little slower to get into any kind of rhythm. Paulo Silva pulled one back for Helvecia, only to have Mohamed Kadir strike back to put Birmingham 3-1 in front. Yuri Medeiros scored two in quick succession from Helvecia to tie the game after 18 minutes, but they then blew all the hard work in letting in two goals in two minutes to go in 5-3 down at the break. In the second half, both teams had their share of the play, and both created plenty of scoring chances, although overall Birmingham looked the tighter unit. Kadir scored his second in the 26th minute, but Marco Pereira struck back quickly for Helvecia to keep ity close. Leban scored his second just minutes later, taking it to 7-4 Birmingham, inching them closer to victory. Time was running out for Helvecia, but then two in quick succession from Henruque Wandymark made it 7-6 in the 32nd minute. With everything to play for, the two slugged out the last 8 minutes. Birmingham finally got the comfort goal they needed in the 38th minute, with Kadir scoring his third. Kadir's hat-trick and overall performance merit man if the match award. Saddiq then settled the win beyond doubt just a minute later, and despite an OG before the end, Birmingham took third place in the Championship rankings, and deserved the 10-7 win. In the first game on the day, Kickers proved too much for York in the play-off for 5th and 6th ranking, cruising to a 9-0 win through 5 goals in the first half and 4 in the second. York did squander several clear chances, in the first half in particular, and could have done better to account for themselves. Once Kickers were ahead and could relax, it looked an uphill battle for York. Overall there was a class of difference, with Kickers controlling the play from start to finish. A hat-trick for Fernando Sliva merits mention, but it was an overall excellent team performance by Kickers that made the difference between the two teams. The stage is now set for the start of the 2007 season, which kicks off in January. Gemtec Centre in Hull will again be the venue for the northern conference, with the south continuing at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Baltic will be keen to make it two in a row, but the performances of several other teams shows there are plenty of teams up for the challenge.

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