Watch Gavin Sartain & Ben Mortlock international highlights-

11/10/2009
England National team (1st match vs Israel highlights
included)

English National team

Courtesy: The FA.com (see this page to have a look at the match
highlights)

Constantly
learning

England Futsal Team

Saturday, 10 October,
2009

Futsal Head Coach Peter Sturgess remains positive after game
with Israel.

England 1-3 Israel
International Futsal
Friendly
Point 4, Hereford
Friday 9 October

England Futsal Head
Coach Peter Sturgess was in positive mood on Friday evening, despite seeing his
team turned over by Israel at the Point 4 venue in Hereford.

The Three
Lions squad have been together all week in training ahead of their two games
with Israel and Sturgess believes he has seen enough from his players both in
training and in the game that there could be a bright future for English
Futsal.

If anything, Sturgess’ team maybe peaked too early on Friday when
captain Luke Ballinger slotted them ahead in the sixth minute after a fine move
through midfield, but an equally stunning equaliser from Lior Cohen two minutes
later brought things level.

Israel then took the lead with two more
quickfire goals in the 16th and 19th minutes from Adam Cohen and Marko Hazan to
go in at the break with a commanding lead.

The second half saw no goals,
but both teams came close and there was some exciting Futsal on show for the
lively crowd in attendance.

"We started really well and took the lead,
but what we’re not used to doing at international level is taking the lead and
holding onto it for long periods," explained Sturgess after the
game.

"For us to take the lead and cause them some problems was a great
positive for us, but what we didn’t do was hold that lead for long
enough.

"When you get in front in international football, you have to
keep that lead."

The two teams will meet again on Saturday for a second
game and Sturgess will be looking to find out more about his team in that
meeting, but he has been pleased with his players so far.

"The lads have
actually taken quite a bit of confidence from the game, so we hope to build on
that," he added.

"I’ve been happy with the whole week and the commitment
of the England Futsal team is never in question, it’s just how quickly we can
get to grips with this great game of Futsal.

"We have another training
camp in November and then we travel to Libya to play them and they’re the
African champions so that will be a real test."

Ben Mortlock has played for Nicol Magpies and El Dogo’s in Grimsby Futsal League.

Gavin until recently refereed Monday premier League.