Futsal Premier League Round 11 Review

Football NSW Futsal Premier League round 11 Saturday night saw Mascot edge Campbelltown 5-4, Enfield beat UTS Northside 9-3, and Mountain Majik pipped South Coast 6-5, while Dural beat Inner West 2-1 on Monday night to claim this summer’s premiership crown.

Majik upset Magic 4-1 and Warriors held off Quake 4-3 in rescheduled round-13 fixtures.

The results put Warriors (34) into an unassailable position at the top of the leaderboard ahead of Vipers (19), Quake (19), Magic (18) and Rovers (17), with Majik (9) and Taipans (9) casting UTS (4) adrift. Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.

Individually, Mark Symington (16 goals for Quake) fronts Enfield weapons Anthony Tomelic (14) and Shervin Adeli (12) with Campbelltown’s Danny Martinez (11), Mascot’s Andrea Gallina (9) and Dural duo Blake Rosier (9) and Wade Giovenali (9) still in the golden boot running.

But it’s all hail the Warriors who won the premiership trophy with three rounds still to play after building a 15-point stranglehold that no other side can breach… just one win short of Dural’s mammoth 37-point haul from 2012/13.

Mascot Vipers 5 (Alex Euripidou, Shu Torihara, Jakob Radas, Tuan Cao) Campbelltown Quake 4 (Mark Symington 2, Anthony Haddad, Shannon Fielding)

UTS Northside 3 (Grant Lynch, Agneesh Lahiri, Emilio Manos) Enfield Rovers 9 (Anthony Tomelic 3, Shervin Adeli 2, Michael Kouta 2, Clayton Musumeci, Dominic Cox)

South Coast Taipans 5 () Mountain Majik 6 (Andrew Luttringer 2, Alesander George 2, Jamie Dib, Pouria Bashadoust)

Inner West Magic 1 (Daniel Vellonio) Dural Warriors 2 (Wade Giovenali, Chris Polkinghorne)

Rd 13: Mountain Majik 4 (Michael Borg 2, Jordan Guerreiro, Chris Barbera) Inner West Magic 1 (Daniel Fogarty)

Rd 13: Dural Warriors 4 (Daine Merrin, Glen Kelshaw, Bruno Pivato, Blake Rosier) Campbelltown Quake 3 (Anthony Haddad, Harley Da Silva, Harrison Bagot)

Vipers overcome brave Quake

Mascot Vipers edged Campbelltown in a nine-goal thriller at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre, Quake playing fifth-man for the last quarter-hour in a bid to rescue their precarious club championship situation.

The nerve-wracking game was on a knife’s edge at 3-3 when Campbelltown coach Simon Keith decided to go for maximum points in a bid to maintain their top-flight status and they almost pulled it off, two Mascot long-bombs deciding the riveting affair.

Quake rumbled in just the third minute of the game when Harley Da Silva played a neat one-two with Mark Symington on the counter, Vipers shot-stopper Soner Omac charging down the Quake spearhead’s first attempt only to see Symington square up twice more in a desperate goalmouth scramble, eventually finding the back of a vacant net to lift the visitors ahead 1-0.

Mascot finally settled and tested Campbelltown’s defensive line, goalkeeper Andrew Haim quick to parry away two sharp strikes, and the resistance paid dividends when Quake managed to double their advantage on another quick fast-break that resulted in Anthony Haddad squeezing it past Omac for a 2-0 scoreline midway through a blistering opening term.

A feisty match became an end-to-end grind with chances hard to come by, Vipers lynchpin Leonardo Pinto and Symington exchanging long-range efforts as the score remained unchanged, and Haim showed true quality in a great drop-save to deny Mascot a look back into the contest.

The home side did find a breakthrough with seven minutes left in the half, Alex Euripidou steamrolling his way toward goal and sliding a delicious shot through Haim’s legs into goal, and Pinto scraped paint off the crossbar seconds later as Vipers pressed for an equaliser.

Both sides were really going at it and Campbelltown’s Edward Rinaldi could only clutch his head as his strong effort deflected off Omac’s arms and onto the top of the woodwork, Mascot also hitting the post at the other end and Haim extending Gadget-style to sweep the ball off his goal-line in a mad final dash to halftime, and Quake somehow found time to restore their two-goal buffer with a decisive Shannon Fielding goal-bound strike into goal.

But the drama and gain didn’t last long with Shu Torihara powering home from the spot following five Campbelltown fouls, Quake leading 3-2 at oranges.

The second half start seemed more subdued, Mascot happy to work the ball in the half-court and Campbelltown running amok on the break, and the game balanced up in the blink of an eye as Vipers scored to restore parity.

It was non-stop action with a quarter-hour on the clock as Quake – desperate for full points – went to a fifth-man press with Danny Martinez as roaming keeper, Symington going within a whisker of the post twice in minutes and a cleverly worked Campbelltown missing by inches in its execution.

Mascot would have a huge chuckle though when a quick full-court release only needed a simple tap-in from Jakob Radas to push Vipers in front for the first time 4-3 only to see Quake straight back on their heels through a second Symington success virtually from the restart.

Campbelltown’s dangerous thirst was always going to free up Mascot for a golden bomb and that’s exactly what happened when Tuan Cao pilfered the ball and booted it forward into an empty net to reclaim a 5-4 Vipers lead inside the final five minutes.

An inspired Symington was doing his utmost to push Quake back into it but the seconds ticked away with Mascot holding their nerve to register a crucial victory – their first over Campbelltown in over three years and second spot on the ladder a just reward.

Warriors seal crown

Dural combated spirited Inner West Magic in a classic 2-1 victory at Valentine Sports Park that sealed this year’s premiership – a 15-point lead with three rounds remaining handing them a fourth consecutive regular-season title and fifth in six years for the dominant Warriors.

Now 20 league games without loss Dural triumphed despite the sending off of Glen Kelshaw, the one-goal victory pushing Warriors above Rovers to become the league’s best in tight situations winning nine of 12 one-goal contests over the past five seasons (75%) ahead of Enfield’s 10 of 14 (71%).

A ninth straight win away from Dural (a new league high for successive victories) is also just one result short of unbeaten Warriors road runs over ‘13/14-14/15 and ‘11/12-12/13.

Enfield down Northside

Enfield Rovers raced away from UTS Northside 9-3 in a solid stoush at Sydney Boys High to move to one point off a hotly contested top-four.

As usual UTS kept their heads in the game trailing 2-4 at halftime, but Enfield hit the second-half afterburners to register a six-goal win – the first back-to-back victories for Rovers this season while Northside suffered a fifth straight league loss to be bottom of the table by five points with three rounds remaining.

Anthony Tomelic scored his second hat-trick in a row for Enfield and has now scored in eight games of a stellar season in front of goal, while Shervin Adeli picked up a fifth summer brace.

Majik stave off Taipans

Mountain Majik overcame South Coast Taipans 6-5 in a terrific neck-and-neck clash at Illawarra Sports High.

While neither side can make the playoffs the cellar-dwellers put on an absolute ripper of a show keeping spectators on the edge of their seats with a 4-4 halftime scoreline, the Mountaineers inching their noses in front by the fulltime siren for a second straight win following their 4-1 boilover against Inner West in a round five catch-up on Wednesday night.

This week’s games

Football NSW Futsal Premier League round 12 Saturday night features South Coast Taipans versus UTS Northside at the University of Wollongong Sports Hub (5.40pm), Campbelltown Quake against Mountain Majik at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (7pm), Dural Warriors host Mascot Vipers at Dural Sport & Leisure Centre (7.05pm), while Inner West Magic face Enfield Rovers at Valentine Sports Park (7.40pm).

Magic and Majik also play their rescheduled round-six clash at Valentine Sports Park on Friday (8pm), with Inner West to meet Enfield in a round-five catch-up at the same venue on Monday (9.15pm). Rovers and Warriors have moved their round-14 clash forward to this Thursday at the Sports Halls (9pm). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.

-By Dan De Nardi