Futsal Premier League Round 8 Review
2015-16 Football NSW Futsal Premier League round eight sizzled on Saturday night as Campbelltown downed Enfield 6-3, Dural beat UTS Northside 7-2, South Coast against Inner West Magic, and Mountain Majik meet Mascot.
The Warriors (22) still hold a commanding lead on the points table with Quake (16), Vipers (13), Magic (12) and Rovers (11) locked in a terrific tussle for the remaining top-four spots, well ahead of bottom-three Mountain Majik, UTS Northside and Taipans (4). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
Campbelltown Quake 7 (Dean Lockhart 2, Daniel Martinez 3, Mark Symington, Shayne Ardle) Enfield Rovers 3 (Anthony Tomelic 2, Zac Ribeiro)
Dural Warriors 7 (Wade Giovenali 3, Greg Giovenali, Blake Rosier, Brendon Hoyer, Vic Koutsoufidis) UTS Northside 2 (Grant Lynch 2)
South Coast Taipans 1 (Daniel Ferraro) Inner West Magic 4 (James Marwein, Marino Musumeci, Laureano Gomez Castro, Chris Zeballos)
Mountain Majik 5 (Jordan Guirerro 3, Chris Barbera, Greg Kondek) Mascot Vipers 7 (Andrea Gallina 2, El Madi Bounar, Matias Farias, Takuya Murayama, Edilson Silva, Shu Torihara)
Rd 6: South Coast Taipans 3 (David Stojic 2, Matt Mazevski) Enfield Rovers 11 (Lachlan Wright 4, Shervin Adeli 3, Clayton Musumeci 3, Anthony Tomelic)
Quake rattle Rovers
Campbelltown Quake dazzled a sluggish Enfield Rovers 7-3 at Minto Indoor Sports Stadium to show they’ve well and truly recovered from their recent Dural drubbing.
Since their 10-1 Warriors horror the Purple Heart have smashed title contenders Inner West and Enfield in successive outings to nestle into second spot and regain their high-level game.
The much-anticipated goal-fest didn’t take long to ignite with Campbelltown finding the back of the net within seconds of kickoff, Daniel Martinez laying neatly off to a sprinting Dean Lockhart in the middle who made a clinical finish under Enfield keeper John Maniscalco to make it 1-0 after a minute.
Mark Symington might’ve doubled the advantage when he had a one-on-one chance with only Maniscalco to beat but was let down by a heavy touch, the same result for Martinez in his attempt to round the Rovers glovesman seconds later.
Enfield equalised somewhat against the run of play with Shervin Adeli sending a great pass for Anthony Tomelic to latch onto with smart placement into the top corner to make the scores 1-1 after a scintillating opening six minutes of non-stop action.
Campbelltown custodian Andrew Haim proved decisive in shutting down two Rovers attacks as the visitors eventually settled and spectators were treated to a series of explosive counters from both sides.
Quake weren’t giving an inch and their physicality raced them to five fouls midway through the half, but their tenacity across the court also went rewarded up front following a clever piece of team play, Harley Da Silva feeding Lockhart on the left who, rather than shooting at goal, slid a delicious ball across to Martinez lurking at the far post who only had to tap the ball to restore Campbelltown’s lead with six minutes left in the half.
You couldn’t fault the home side’s intent as first Martinez had his long-range rocket tipped onto the crossbar by Maniscalco and then Symington let rip with a shot that almost broke the upright, Maniscalco acrobatically saving another Symington strike as Quake pressed for a bigger buffer.
Haim came to Campbelltown’s rescue as the half closed out, saving Tomelic’s 10m penalty dropping low for a great stop with his legs, but he also had to be taken off with a knee complaint (the same knee he had reconstructed last year), Jon Azzopardi coming on for the final few seconds.
Quake rumbled from the restart when Lockhart smashed one in to make it 3-1 and only the wise old head of Lachlan Wright stopped the home side from advancing further when he sprinted back to head another Campbelltown raid over the bar.
Haim returned for the second half and did well to snuff out Tomelic’s one-on-one and the Rovers weapon could only clutch his head when Giovanni Leuzzi opened up the goal for him only to see the good work undone with a strike that sailed well over.
Enfield were clearly missing the services of Clayton Musumeci and Patrick Pace, and Quake made them; Symington all class in a clever chip that extended Quake’s lead to 4-1 with a quarter-hour left on the clock, and it was 5-1 a minute later when Martinez also slid one past Maniscalco.
The usually on-fleek Tomelic was having an off night at the other end when he snuck inside the D only to slice his shot just past the post, but Rovers did pull one back from the deficit as Dominic Cox dished well to Zac Ribeiro who made no mistake for Enfield to trail 5-2.
Maniscalco was doing his bit to keep Rovers in it with a couple of outstanding saves to deny Campbelltown but he couldn’t stop Martinez from finishing off a great Harrison Bigot pass to restore Quake’s four-goal cushion.
The game got very interesting when influential Quake playmaker Symington was shown a straight red for his late challenge on Cox in front of the Campbelltown goal, but Adeli couldn’t drive home the opportunity with his freekick flicking paint off the upright.
Haim stood tall with Quake a man down heading into the final five minutes, dousing Enfield’s goalmouth pressure with a series of good stops before Tomelic finally found his mark with an innocuous shot from the right that somehow found a gap in Haim’s armour to make it 6-3, but it was all too late as Shayne Ardle scored for Campbelltown in the closing seconds to register a stoic and much-needed victory.
Quake’s first win at home and Rovers first away loss leveled their overall rivalry at seven wins apiece from 14 clashes; Campbelltown’s fine return to form also drawing applause from a couple of high-profile visitors, Central Coast A-League player Jake McGing (resting from injury) and his brother Liam (Sydney FC youth side) returning to their Quake roots.
Enfield however were off target up front and lapse at the back, Lachlan Wright acknowledging his side was no match for a desperate and persistent Campbelltown, but they certainly turned it on in a catch-up match against South Coast at Illawarra Sports High School on Sunday, winning 11-3 behind Wright, Adeli and Musumeci hat-tricks.
It was the second-highest team score in five years (Warriors beating Majik and Taipans 12-1) and Rovers have scored an impressive 21 goals in successive outings against Taipans.
The goal-fest isn’t a huge surprise considering games that involve Enfield produce an average 9.1 goals (highest of all 11 clubs who’ve contested premier league since 2011/12) and South Coast fixtures third-highest at 8.2 goals. Mascot’s 8.5 a game splits them and, in case you’re wandering, Dural matches offer up 7.2 goals on average which only betters Phoenix (6.9), Inner West (6.6) and UTS Northside (6.3).
Mascot topple Mountain
Mascot Vipers held off a spirited Mountain Majik 7-5 in a ripper of a finish at Valentine Sports Park, the Mountaineers storming back from 6-2 to down to come within a whisker of sharing the spoils.
Majik fired out of the blocks to take an early 1-0 lead before Vipers found their summer groove and methodically moved from a 4-1 halftime lead to a 6-2 advantage inside the final 10 minutes.
The home side weren’t done with yet however and led by a heroic hat-trick effort from fifth-man Jordan Guirerro brought the scoreline back to 6-5 with two minutes still to play, but an adrenalin-laden over-commitment saw Mascot pinch the ball and score a full-court goal that decided the match 7-5.
The two sides now have three wins apiece from six meetings and Vipers chief Zvi Ben David dipped his hat to the Mountain men.
“The fighting spirit of Mountain Majik was remarkable!” he exclaimed. “And Jordan Guirrero must get a special mention because his leadership quality was incredible; he never gave up.
“In the past games like this we would have lost at the end, but this year we are holding on… and we will get better. Teams like Dural, Quake and Magic have played together for a long, long time. We still have a young team in terms of knowing one another, but in terms of skill they are second to none.”
Magic tame Taipans
Inner West Magic muscled past South Coast Taipans 4-1 at University Of Wollongong Sports Hub to return to the winners circle after two losses.
The visitors worked hard for a 2-0 halftime buffer and Daniel Ferraro’s goal for Taipans made it 3-1 inside the final quarter-hour, but Magic scores to James Marwein, Marino Musumeci, Laureano Gomez Castro and Chris Zeballos did the trick for a fourth straight victory over South Coast.
Taipans looked promising in Sunday’s catch-up against Rovers at Illawarra Sports High School, trailing 3-4 at the break before an eight-goal Enfield second half put the matter to bed.
Dural down Northside
Dural Warriors proved too good for UTS Northside at Sydney Boys High School, turning a solid 4-0 halftime lead into a decisive 7-2 success.
Wade Giovenali was the chief destroyer scoring three goals to complement Greg Giovenali, Blake Rosier, Brendon Hoyer and Vic Koutsoufidis strikes, a sixth straight road win equaling their league-high half-dozen over the 2011/12-2012/13 summers. Grant Lynch scored twice for UTS.
This week’s games
Football NSW Futsal Premier League round nine Saturday night action pits Campbelltown Quake against South Coast Taipans at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (7pm), UTS Northside versus Inner West Magic at Sydney Boys High School (7.30pm), Mascot Vipers tackle Enfield Rovers at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.20pm), and Mountain Majik meet Dural Warriors at Valentine Sports Park (8.20pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
