Football NSW Futsal Premier League round 11
Football NSW Futsal Premier League round 11 Saturday night features Dural against Inner West, Campbelltown meet Mascot, Enfield tackle UTS Northside, and Mountain Majik face South Coast. Rovers and Magic also play a round-five catch-up at Sydney Olympic Park this Friday night (7pm). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
Mountain Majik stunned Inner West 4-1 in a rescheduled round-13 clash on Monday to make it a top-four dash for the club championship: Inner West (156 points), Mascot (155), Enfield (146) and Mountain Majik (145) all close enough to win it, and Dural (127) and UTS Northside (120) have also been competitive across the board.
At the other end South Coast (97) and Campbelltown (94) are struggling to stay in the top flight, with Premier League 2 leaders Boomerangs (201) commanding Raiders (166) to see who replaces them.
Botany Bay Pirates (56) look likely to drop from PL2 to State League at the end of summer now trailing Phoenix (79) by 23 points, with SL frontrunners Sydney Futsal Club (127) making a strong case for promotion, well ahead of West City (112) having played one less round than the Crusaders.
Inner West Magic v Dural Warriors
Valentine Sports Park 8.30pm Saturday 23 January
Dural Warriors face Inner West Magic in a massive top-four battle between Futsal’s imposing royalty. A Warriors win will all but seal yet another senior men’s premiership, while Magic try to stay on top of a grueling run that sees them play five premier league matches in 15 days (catch-ups against Rovers this Friday and Majik the following week). History’s on Dural’s side with 11 wins and two draws in 14 electric clashes but they virtually fell over the line in a 6-5 win at the Leisure Centre in November, needed a penalty shootout to claim last season’s grand final, suffered their biggest home defeat (1-5) the match before that following a 1-1 to kick off the summer, so Inner West have certainly been a bigger thorn in the Warriors side in recent times.
Mascot Vipers v Campbelltown Quake
All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre 8.20pm Saturday 23 January
Mascot Vipers host Campbelltown Quake in a pivotal top-four encounter. With fifth-placed Rovers barking at the playoff door just two points behind Vipers, and Quake in a desperate pitched-battle with Taipans to stay in premier league, this game will go a long way to showing Mascot’s true evolution as a top-flight force. Vipers have won just one of nine meetings between the sides, 4-3 at All Sorts in late-2012, but a 5-5 draw at Minto last November halted a five-game Campbelltown winning streak to showcase a Vipers potential – who will hold their nerve on such an important occasion?
UTS Northside v Enfield Rovers
Sydney Boys High 7.30pm Saturday 23 January
Futsal’s ‘cardiac kids’ UTS Northside face Enfield Rovers in an intriguing schoolyard dust-up. Enfield’s disjointed summer has spluttered along yet despite their inconsistent showing they’re on the cusp of making the finals, and they meet a UTS outfit that’s come up short more times than Danny DeVito (five one-goal losses this summer alone). Northside boast a solitary victory to their name but they’ve also shown great tendency to stay in contests to the death (excepting two Dural blowouts) and Rovers simply cannot afford to take their opponents lightly, particularly in lieu of an epic 3-3 draw at Morris Iemma last November.
South Coast Taipans v Mountain Majik
Illawarra Sports High 6.40pm Saturday 23 January
South Coast Taipans and Mountain Majik clash in what promises to be an entertaining affair. Newly-promoted Taipans are embroiled in a club championship battle with Quake and can definitely use the points this weekend, but Majik won’t be hitting the beach on their coastal adventure. An entertaining 2-2 draw marked their first ever premier league meeting last November (a result later given to South Coast following a rules breach) and this should be another interesting contest between a Taipans team that’s lost five successive home games and a Mountain side that’s struggled on the road.
-By Dan De Nardi
