Futsal Premier/State League Round 6 Preview
Some great match-ups shape round six premier league as Campbelltown host UTS Northside, Mountain Majik meet Enfield, Phoenix play Dural, and Mascot face Inner West.
Rovers are eight league games undefeated (four short of Dural’s incredible run last summer) to claim outright command of the points table, three ahead of Warriors (10) with Inner West (9), Campbelltown (8), UTS (6) and Mountain Majik (6) in hot pursuit.
It’s the first time they’ve met but both Campbelltown Quake and UTS Northside will be desperate for the points at Minto Indoor Sports Centre. UTS are just two points behind fourth-placed Quake and have already showed they can match it with the big boys after their state league triumph last summer. Campbelltown’s form has been checkered to start the season and could be ripe for the plucking this weekend as they struggle to find the back of net – their 16 goals only better than (gasp!) Dural (14) and Majik (9).
Mountain Majik meet in-form competition leaders Enfield Rovers at Valentine Sports Park and boy will they need to pick up their game. Enfield are unbeaten in eight straight premier league contests, including dismantling three-time champs Dural 3-2 last weekend to carry brute force into the clash, while Majik’s spells have been less potent this summer – a league-low nine goals in five games fizzling in comparison to a Rovers high 28. The Mountaineers did win their most recent meeting, 7-5 last December.
Watch out Phoenix as a rattled Dural Warriors come to Ryde Sports & Community Centre. While Phoenix celebrated a first victory in 16 league games (a tight 8-7 win against Mascot), Dural misfired in a 2-3 loss to Enfield to rock their campaign for a fourth title. Phoenix have suffered six straight losses at Ryde (equal with City’s 2012/13 horrid home run and one shy of Mascot’s all-time home win-less streak of 11 over the past three summers) and face a Warriors troop hungry to get back to winning ways.
Mascot Vipers have a tough ask in bringing Inner West Magic undone at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre, but they’ve always caused plenty of trouble. Inner West have won four and drawn two of their past seven meetings with Mascot but only one contest stretched past a two-goal margin to indicate how evenly matched the clubs are. Despite being fourth Magic boast the league’s second-best offensive and defensive outputs and will be tough to beat this weekend – Vipers with it all to do.
State League round 6
State league round 6 features a Dural Sport & Leisure Centre doubleheader with lowly Parramatta Pumas versus undefeated frontrunners Western Wolves and highflying Sydney City Eagles versus unbeaten Eastern Suburbs Hakoah.
Botany Bay Pirates host Sydney Futsal Club in a midpack stoush, Raiders tackle South Coast Taipans in an important clash (top-three in club championship), well-placed Boomerangs welcome bottom-side Mount Druitt Town Rangers to Canberra’s mpowerdome, Sutherland Shire face International Football School Futsal at Menai Sports Centre, while West City Crusaders have the bye.
