Futsal NSW Premier League Round 7 Preview
Round seven of the Futsal NSW Premier League pits top-two Boomerangs versus Inner West Magic at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre, Campbelltown Quake play Dural Warriors at Minto Indoor Sports Stadium, Phoenix host Enfield Rovers at Ryde Sports & Community Centre, and Mascot Vipers meet Mountain Majik at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre.
Inner West plays its round-three catch-up game against Phoenix on Thursday night, while Dural tackles Mascot on Friday night to rebalance the table. Check the footballnsw.com.au website for kickoff details.
It’s a heavyweight bout when leaders Boomerangs face Inner West Magic at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night. Boomerangs are on fire with 34 goals to their names from six unbeaten games (nine different scorers). They’ve already knocked off Dural and Campbelltown and only a 5-5 draw with Mascot has offered any resistance in a blitzkrieg start to the summer. They now face an Inner West side trying to establish themselves after a creaky start has them placed mid-table with three wins from five outings and a paltry 13-goal return.
A resurgent Campbelltown Quake play Dural Warriors in a battle royale at Minto Indoor Sports Stadium on Saturday night. Campbelltown have dusted off the cobwebs to rack up successive victories over Mascot and Inner West and roar back into the playoff picture. Dural have run up four unbeaten games to snare second place (six points behind Boomerangs but with a game in hand), leveraging a Scrooge-like defence that’s conceded just nine goals in five matches, which could be interesting considering Quake and Warriors have already uncovered 17 goalscorers between them.
Phoenix Futsal Club host Enfield Rovers in an important contest for both bottom-of-the-pile sides at Ryde Sports & Community Centre on Saturday night. A couple of close defeats has Phoenix and Enfield hungry for maximum points to kickstart their season, so this should be an all-in battle for the win. The biggest discrepancy between the teams is that Rovers have scored double the amount of goals (19 to Phoenix’s 10) but they’ve also conceded twice as many (32 to Phoenix’s 17) to really throw the result up into the air.
Mascot Vipers meet Mountain Majik at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night. Both sides have endured shaky starts to the season and another loss will only deepen the dent, while a win could be enough to boost either side back into the finals race. Whatever the inclination, some sloppy defence hasn’t helped the Vipers or Majik cause and they’ll need to plug the gaps if they want to make an impact in this summer’s Premier League.
-By Dan De Nardi
