Futsal Premier League Round 2 Review

Halloween provided its share of frights for Futsal’s state hierarchy  as Dural laboured to a 3-1 win over Mountain Majik, Mascot stunned Enfield 5-3, Inner West host UTS Northside and Campbelltown outgunned South Coast 8-5.

The thrilling results left unbeaten Warriors, Magic and Vipers in a three-way tie for first, one win ahead of Quake and Rovers. Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.

Enfield Rovers 3 (Giovanni Leuzzi, Anthony Tomelic, Lachlan Wright) Mascot Vipers 5 (Leonardo Pinto, Tuan Cao, Andrea Gallina, Puria Bashadoust, Takuya Murayama)

Dural Warriors 3 (Vic Koutsoufis, Blake Rosier, Glen Kelshaw) Mountain Majik 1 (Joshua Margetts)

Inner West Magic 4 (Daniel Fogarty 2, Cristian Ciampa, James Mawein) UTS Northside 3 (Grant Lynch, Jun Arima, Nathan Amore)

South Coast Taipans 5 (David Stojic 3, Daniel Ferraro, Matthew Mazevski) Campbelltown Quake 8 (Mark Symington 3, Dean Lockhart 3, Daniel Martinez 2)

Vipers beat Rovers

Mascot rose to an historic 5-3 defeat of Enfield in a ripper of a contest at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night, Vipers breaking through for their first victory over Rovers in 10 premier league matches.

Enfield opened fire with several early chances and the temperature rose higher with the introduction of Lachlan Wright to the Rovers attack, but they found an inspired Mascot keeper Soner Omac in outstanding form in front of goal and somehow the score remained a 0-0 deadlock.

Enfield’s Giovanni Leuzzi missed a guilt-laden chance in front of an open goal midway through the term, Mascot’s Jun Kato rattled the post from a metre out following a well-taken Vipers freekick and Rovers glovesman John Manisalco produced a couple of reactive stops to keep an action-packed game scoreless.

And while Mascot enjoyed some good possession closing in on halftime the breakthrough came Enfield’s way as Patrick Pace laid off to Anthony Tomelic on the right and his rifled centre found its mark in Leuzzi who hammered home into an open net to lift Rovers 1-0 in front.

The lead doubled a minute later when a fired-up Tomelic danced down the left and cannoned his shot past a hapless Omac to give Enfield a 2-0 advantage at the break, the frustration clearly showing in the Vipers nest with Leonardo Pinto yellow carded for a careless challenge on halftime.

A revamped Mascot bit into their deficit just minutes into the restart when a deft Kato touch found Pinto open and he drilled it past Manisalco to trail 2-1, and a feverish Vipers drew level moments later after Tuan Cao’s cleverly-placed strike also ended up in the onion bag.

The spicy affair escalated when Mascot’s Edilson Silva got booked for taking out Wright at halfway, the wily Futsal veteran picking up a card of his own with a return challenge that set up a pressure-cooker final 10 minutes.

Omac in particular was keeping Mascot’s hopes alive with a couple of acrobatic saves and it was jubilation for Vipers when Andrea Gallina fired into the Rovers goal to edge the visitors in front a first time.

The comeback looked complete when Pinto unselfishly found Puria Bashadoust alone at the far post and his nudge into goal gave Mascot a 4-2 break with five minutes to play, but Enfield weren’t done with yet and Wright rocketed a Rovers penalty past Omac to make it 4-3 a minute later.

It was a gritty final flourish but an historic night for Mascot as a couple of sensational Omac saves helped Vipers to a fast break that Takuya Murayama cooly finished off to give Mascot their first ever premier league victory against Enfield in 10 tries, and a fourth success in their past five league matches to show strides of improvement.

Warriors edge Majik

Dural Warriors had to work hard for a 3-1 victory over a gallant Mountain Majik at Dural Sport & Leisure Centre on Saturday night, but their 10th straight league win sets a new benchmark for Futsal’s premier state competition.

A tight opening half was reflected in a scoreless halftime stalemate, second-half goals to Vic Koutsoufis, Blake Rosier and Glen Kelshaw ensuring Dural’s success, Joshua Margetts scoring his second goal for Majik in as many weeks and the Mountaineers certainly counted during a tense contest.

Inner West cover Northside

Inner West beat UTS Northside in a 4-3 cliff-hanger at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday night, coming from three goals down at halftime and James Mawein scoring the match winner (his first for Magic) in the dying moments of a riveting match.

Northside blasted out of the blocks with goals to Grant Lynch, Jun Arima and Nathan Amore running up a 3-0 lead midway through the contest, but a Daniel Fogarty second-half double led a second-half Inner West restoration that saw Magic home by the tightest of margins.

Quake overcome Taipans

Campbelltown Quake held off a spirited South Coast Taipans 8-5 at the University Of Wollongong Sports Hub on Saturday evening.

The teams were locked 4-4 at the break following a frantic first half and some experienced Quake heads held their nerve in the second term, hat-tricks to Mark Symington and Dean Lockhart helping Campbelltown chalk up their first win of the summer, David Stojic bagging three for a competitive South Coast.

Next week’s games

Futsal NSW Premier League round three Saturday night action pits UTS Northside against Campbelltown Quake at Sydney Academy of Sport & Recreation (7.30pm), Mountain Majik versus Enfield Rovers at Valentine Sports Park (7.30pm), Dural Warriors tackle South Coast Taipans at Dural Sport & Leisure Centre (7.55pm), and Mascot Vipers challenge Inner West Magic at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.20pm).

-By Dan De Nardi