Toligma swiftly into stride

Toligma Chisinau made a fine UEFA Futsal Cup debut as they scored 20 goals and won all three games on their way to finishing top of preliminary round Group B.

Final-day drama
However, it all came down to a final-day showdown between Toligma and Andorran group hosts Granvalira FC Encamp. A 3-2 win for Toligma took them into Main round Group 5 in Hungary from 10-13 October, where they will play hosts Futsal Club Gödölloi, 2005/06 semi-finalists FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Raba of Latvia. Third place in the mini-tournament went to Switzerland's first representatives, Uni Futsal Team Bulle, who defeated England's Doncaster College DEAF FC 5-4.

Comfortable wins
Matchday 1 had produced a comfortable 7-0 win for Toligma against Uni, Iaroslav Subotin, Sergiu Tacot and Vitalie Bulala scoring in the first half and Alexei Mardari, Ian Iacovenco, Oleg Hilotii and Vitalie Plamadeala adding goals in the last seven minutes. Encamp then defeated Doncaster 7-2. Jofre Llort Samso and Miguel Blazquez Cerdeira both struck twice and Pere Babot added another to make it 5-0 to Encamp at the break, but Doncaster matched their opponents in the second half with two Alistair Dalziel goals, the first a penalty, against strikes from Sergio Becerra Almeida and Francisco Martinez.

Repeat victories
Next for Doncaster were Toligma, and at the ten-minute mark it was 2-2 as Christopher Maylor and John Atkinson had struck equaliser in response to goals from Subotin and Dorin Coceban. But Plamadeala and Iacovenco scored for Toligma before the break and after the break Tacot scored twice and Plamadeala, Coceban, Mardari and Iacovenco also found the target to make it 10-2 as Doncaster's Ben Lampert, Jon Smith and Maylor all saw red. Encamp kept their hopes alive with a 6-2 victory against Uni, having been four up at the interval through Carlos Barbosa Dias, Babot and two Cerdeira goals. David Meyer pulled two goals back, but after Uni's Laurent Rumo was given a secondyellow card, Babot and Samso increased Encamp's advantage. However, it was to prove in vain two days later.

Linares proud
None the less, Granvalira coach Josep Joan Linares was impressed by his side. "I'm proud of my players," he said after the defeat against Toligma. "We were very close but we knew Toligma were the strongest side in Group B. We are aware of our limitations but this is the best team we've ever had for the UEFA Futsal Cup."