Futsal Premier League Round 5 Review
Just two Saturday night games were played in Futsal NSW Premier League round five, Dural ditching Mascot 5-2 and South Coast clipping UTS Northside 3-2.
And with Enfield versus Inner West and Campbelltown versus Mountain Majik matches postponed due to player and coach involvement at the AFF (South East Asian) Club Championships, the Warriors are now six points clear of Magic. Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
Mascot Vipers 2 (Andrea Gallina, Takuya Murayama) Dural Warriors 5 (Blake Rosier 2, Vic Koutsoufis, Daine Merrin, Greg Giovenali)
UTS Northside 2 () South Coast Taipans 3 ()
Dural take Mascot
Dominant Dural came from behind twice to stave off a determined Mascot Vipers 5-2 at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre and set a new premier league record for unbeaten challenges.
A 13th consecutive league win (and 11th straight over Mascot) pushed this current Warriors crop past goring Inner West (2014/15) and Dural (2013/14) runs, and they did it with coach Rob Varela adding to his olive skin under a Thailand sun at the AFF Club Championship (where he’s leading the F-League grand-final winning Warriors women’s team).
Back at sultry Alexandria his champion side was embroiled in a torrid affair as Mascot started brightly with a sharp Andrea Gallina chance from a tight angle in the third minute tipped wide by Dural glovesman Alastair Bruce.
Vipers backed themselves early on and it wasn’t long before some sustained pressure freed up Gallina a second time a minute later from the other side of the court which he buried under Bruce for a 1-0 Mascot lead.
Dural sprang into life and a good pass from Blake Rosier gave Greg Giovenali a sight on target only to see his powerdrive smothered well by Vipers keeper Luis Soto, and another go from Rosier clanged against the upright to keep the score unchanged.
But it was even within seconds as Rosier fed Vic Koutsoufis in the middle of the D from the ensuing corner and he made no mistake from right in front to draw Dural level at 1-1.
Soto was very active in denying Dural consecutive shots on goal and his heroics between the sticks went rewarded as team-mate Takuya Murayama cantered upcourt and despite some close defensive attention unleashed a beast from 10m out that whistled past Bruce and broke the back of the net to restore Mascot’s lead.
Bruce made a terrific stop with his feet to deny Michael Loupis from extending the Vipers reach midway through the term before a rowdy Rosier rocket from near halfway brought the teams together a third time eight minutes from the break.
There was desperate defence at both ends, Bruce and Soto leading the way with some outstanding acrobatics, but Dural got their breakthrough when Chris Polkinghorne dished to Daine Merrin on a blistering 3-on-1 fast break that finally put the Warriors noses in front 3-2 at halftime.
Dural showed intent from the restart, Greg Giovenali going closest with a strike that stripped paint off the crossbar as Mascot tried their luck from range at the other end, but Vipers were off target and Warriors couldn’t find a way past the imposing figure of Soto and a nervy affair remained 3-2.
Fortune then shone Dural’s way when Rosier fortuitously glanced a full-court lob over an advancing Soto to give Warriors a 4-2 buffer with 10 minutes to go, and they could’ve sealed the deal when Bruno Pivato only had Soto to beat moments later, the Mascot custodian pushing the attempt to the sideline and then smothering a point-black shot ob the byline to keep Vipers in it.
Mascot had their chance with three on the clock when a flying Gallina let loose a shot that smashed against the upright but it was to be Dural’s night with Giovenali finishing off into an open net from Rosier’s easy pass on the counter to close out a tough three-goal win.
Yet another solid result underlined Dural’s five-year domination of NSW men’s Futsal. Their fifth straight away victory gives them an overall 72% win-rate on the road (claiming 23 of 32 contests; Inner West 54% and Enfield 52% the only other clubs with winning road gains), and they’re more unstoppable at home taking 32 of 37 fixtures held at their Dural Sport & Leisure Centre fortress for a phenomenal success rate of 86% (Boomerangs 67% and Rovers 61% the next best performing hosts).
Only the Warriors have kicked more than 10 goals in a premier league game (four times in three different seasons, 12-1 scores against Majik and Taipans their highest mark), and a competition-high dozen clean sheets is streets ahead of nearest-rival Quake’s five over the same period.
In tight battles they’re just as impressive, claiming seven of 10 matches decided by a goal (Rovers next best winning 63%), but perhaps the biggest contrast is how much Dural’s mammoth goal-difference of plus-216 (over 69 matches) dwarfs the rest of the competition – Campbelltown (+43), Enfield (+40), Inner West (+23) and Boomerangs (+20) the only other clubs boasting positive goal-differences out of 11 clubs to have taken part in the past five premier league seasons.
Taipans nip Northside
South Coast climbed off the bottom of the table with an inspiring 3-2 win against UTS Northside at the Sydney Academy of Sport, Taipans clinging onto a 2-1 halftime edge all the way to the final whistle.
The result ended a nine-game winless streak from the Coasters and consigned UTS to a third devastating one-goal defeat this season.
AFF Futsal update
Futsal Premier League round 5 was broken up due to this week’s AFF Club Championships being held in Bangkok, Thailand, where 2015 Men’s F-League champions East Coast Heat and women’s trophy winners Dural Warriors are representing Australia at the South East Asian club competition.
Heat face the national champions from MIC FC (Myanmar), Thaiport (Thailand), Felda United (Malaysia) and Sanna Khanah (Vietnam), while Warriors meet ACE FC (Myanmar), Asian Scholars (Thailand), Felda United (Malaysia) and Thai Son (Vietnam).
Matches start November 23 and live streaming has been promoted on Thai sports channel SMM TV.
This week’s games
Futsal NSW Premier League round six Saturday night pits UTS Northside against Mascot Vipers at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium (7.30pm), Campbelltown Quake welcome Dural Warriors to Minto Indoor Sports Centre (6pm), with the South Coast Taipans versus Enfield Rovers and Mountain Majik versus Inner West Magic matches to be confirmed.
-By Dan De Nardi
