Futsal Premier/State League Round 9 Preview

Futsal NSW Premier League round 9 pits Inner West Magic play Enfield Rovers, Dural Warriors host Mascot Vipers, Campbelltown Quake tackle Mountain Majik, and UTS Northside meet Phoenix.
What a competition it’s shaping up to be with Enfield (19 points) leading Campbelltown (18), Dural (16), Inner West (15) and Mountain Majik (12) in the finals race. The winning margin this summer is the closest between teams since 2009/10, and the 27 goals per round the lowest its ever been in NSW Futsal history.
Magic (141 points) also took a hold of the club championship over the weekend, shifting further ahead of Warriors (128) and Rovers (125), with Phoenix 33 points behind UTS at the wrong end of the table.
A red-hot Inner West Magic play frontrunners Enfield Rovers in a round nine blockbuster at Valentine Sports Park. Inner West pulverised Dural 5-1 last weekend and will be pumped up ahead of their Enfield clash. Magic’s won one of seven meetings with Rovers but it was a riveting 4-4 draw last time they met. Both sides have lost just once all season and this will be a cracker of a match given the points table circumstance!
Campbelltown Quake against Mountain Majik in a huge game at Minto Indoor Sports Centre. Second-place Quake have won three on the trot and Majik have won three of four to nestle just outside the top-four. They’ve lost just once at Minto in eight league rounds and beaten the Mountaineers in two straight encounters, but Majik have found 10 different scorers (24 goals combined) to Campbelltown’s six (for 31 goals) to show a differential in offensive weapons.
A shell-shocked Dural Warriors host Mascot Vipers at Dural Sport & Leisure Centre. Three-time champs Dural suffered their worst home defeat in five years last week in a 1-5 loss to Inner West but they’ll need to be careful against a new-look Mascot side that’s improving with each game. The Warriors have won nine straight league clashes against Mascot, who haven’t won on the road in nine tries (seven straight losses equal with Sydney City and the Vipers side from 2011/12). This should be interesting.
UTS Northside meet last-placed Phoenix at Sydney Academy of Sport & Recreation in what could be the last throw of the dice for the newcomers. They’re a long way behind the top-four but the competition has been a bit crazy this summer to leave any possibility open. UTS edged Phoenix 3-2 in their only ever meeting at Ryde in October, and this promises to be just as close.
Futsal State League Round 9 Preview
NSW Futsal State league round nine is a sizzler with leaders Boomerangs travelling to Penrith Valley Regional Sports Stadium to tackle West City Crusaders, unbeaten Eastern Suburbs Hakoah meet fifth-placed Western Wolves face at Emerton Leisure Centre, and Parramatta Pumas host a revved-up Raiders (five straight wins) at Dural Sport & Leisure Centre.
Fourth-placed Sydney City Eagles face South Coast Taipans at University of Wollongong Sports Hub, in-form Sutherland Shire welcome Botany Bay Pirates to Menai Indoor Sports Centre, Mount Druitt Town Rangers meet International Football School Futsal in a wooden-spoon battle at Kevin Butts Stadium, while Sydney Futsal Club has the bye.
It’s really intense in the club championship with Sutherland (140), Hakoah (138), Eagles (137), Taipans (135) and Boomerangs (133) embroiled in a five-way battle for promotion to premier league.