Round 6 Review – SELECT Futsal Premier League
Round six of the 2016/17 Football NSW Select NSW Premier League threw up another bout of excitement as Enfield beat Inner West 5-2, Dural edged Mascot 4-3, UTS pipped South Coast 2-1, while Boomerangs and Mountain Majik fought out a 4-4 draw.
The top four certainly got a lot tighter as Inner West (13), Enfield (12), UTS (10) and Dural (10) inched ahead of Mascot (7), Boomerangs (6) and the Mountaineers (6) – and the closeness of the competition is overstated by a gripping win-margin average.
This season’s scoreline gap between teams is an average margin of 2.1 goals, tighter than the next closest season 2009/10 when 2.5 was the average winning margin and significantly tighter than the long-term league average of 2.8 goals.
To show how much more even the premier league has become since forming 10 years ago, the average winning margin in 2008/09 was 3.1 goals.
And on an individual front Enfield’s Shervin Adeli bagged four goals to join on-fire Daniel Fogarty on seven goals for the summer; but 20 players have scored three or more goals to all be in Golden Boot contention.
South Coast Taipans 1 (Matt Mazevski) UTS Northside 2 (Alex Apanian, Grant Lynch)
Boomerangs FS 4 (Jonathan Ciminelli, Michael Rinaudo, Nicholas Rathjen 2) Mountain Majik 4 (Chris Barbera, Manuel Duarte, Jordan Guerreiro, Samuel Gulisano)
Enfield Rovers 5 (Shervin Adeli 4, Dominic Cox) Inner West Magic 2 (Daniel Fogarty, Daniel Fornito)
Dural Warriors 4 (Nathan Niski, Bruno Pivato, Glen Kelshaw, Brandon Vella) Mascot Vipers 3 (Leonardo Pinto, Shu Torihara, Mohammad Dubdub)
Northside down South Coast
UTS Northside used up plenty of possession to narrowly defeat South Coast Taipans 2-1 at the University of Wollongong Sports Hub and hold onto third spot on goal-difference over Dural.
The home side was dogged in a first-half defensive scramble led by keeper Gavin O’Brien that kept a 0-0 scoreline to t halftime, relying on the counter to conjure up something in front of goal at the other end.
Northside kept coming though and captain-coach Grant Lynch found a way through minutes after the restart to put his side in front, but only momentarily as they fouled on a South Coast break to allow Taipans a chance to level it up from just outside the D, playmaker Matt Mazevski sending his freekick beautifully into the top-left corner to make it 1-1 a quarter-hour from the end.
UTS were back in front in a flash when Alex Apanian dribbled from halfway inside the Taipans D and curled his shot in to restore the lead, and the visitors held on despite a frenetic South Coast finish winning 2-1.
Northside coach Grant Lynch noted the strides made by his senior men’s sides and rebuked suggestions there’s only three teams in it.
“We created plenty of chances and pushed the pace, we just weren’t able to finish off as many as we would like and should’ve scored more to seal the game,” he said. “Alex Pepper made a few crucial saves for us, but they lost a lot of energy in a very good period for them when they were trying to equalise.”
“[Being three points off the lead without playing a match at home] It’s a big improvement on the last few years and the record suggests we’re well in it… and I’m happy that we’re playing well. The big thing this year is that we’ve performed better than in the past.”
“We’ve had our fair share of luck but it’s been good. Our plan wasn’t to be top of the table but we’ve progressed quickly, and the success of our young age groups coming through the club has made the [senior men’s] bench stronger,” Lynch said.
“We’ve brought in a few players to add to that culture, and if we continue to play well and keep the group together as long as possible then why can’t we win it?”
It was the third one-goal result involving Northside this year – no surprise really as more than half (56%) of their 34 premier league matches have been deiced by a draw or the smallest of margins (next closest Boomerangs 42% of 50 games and Mascot 39% of 100).
Unfortunately for UTS they’ve won just seven of their 17 close-calls (41%) to flounder among the lowest success rates – Sydney Benfica (none of five one-goal results), Western Raiders (two wins in six), Mountain Majik (four of 10), and Mascot (11 wins in 27 one-goal games 41%).
Enfield boast the best tight-match record winning 12 of 16 one-goal results (75%) followed by Dural (14 wins from 19 games, 74%), Sydney City Eagles (eight of 13, 62%) and Inner West (14 of 25, 56%).
Boomerangs level with Mountain
Boomerangs FS and Mountain Majik battled out an epic 4-4 at the AIS Training Halls, the visitors scoring twice in the last 50 seconds to share the spoils.
A Manuel Duarte goal for Majik was all that separated the two sides at the changeover but Boomerangs leveled soon after the break, Jordan Guerreiro restoring Mountain’s advantage minutes later only to see the home side back on even terms in an instant.
Majik coach Babak Mentai enforced his trademark power play in search of the three points just as Boomerangs surged ahead 3-2, the continued Mountain press conceding another as the cause seemed lost for the visitors.
But he who lives by the sword doesn’t always die and two goals in the last minute rescued Majik in a 4-4 result – the third draw for both teams this summer (Inner West Magic have the record for most seasonal deadlocks with four in 2014/15).
While Mentai held reservations about walls surrounding the small AIS court he couldn’t contain his excitement about how his players are responding to his Futsal philosophies.
“This is the best game I’ve seen from my players. There was a lot of possession for us; we pushed them back and kept moving the ball, and I’m very happy for the boys,” he said. “Almost half of our training is to work on fifth-man and this game was in our hands.”
“We were in front in all the draws we’ve had and could been in second position… but the game doesn’t finish until the referee’s whistle for both sides and we’re giving away goals we shouldn’t have.”
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win but cannot say anything because it is not from the defence being bad. I try to talk about the mentality of the game and we have to work hard all the time – one goal difference is not safe, we need to score more which is why I went for the power play,” the Irani-born coach said. “The players are very young and still learning the game.”
“We now have two games before the holiday against half of the national team, playing Dural and Inner West, and I’m looking forward to this. To play against Australia’s best, there is no better opportunity for the players to get more experience and they need to take this chance to show everybody what Futsal they have.”
The 4-4 stalemate ended a sprightly Boomerangs streak of eight home wins in a row – only Dural have won more consecutively at home with 11 straight at The Centre over the 2014/15-2015/16 seasons and 10 across 2012/13-2013/14). The Territorians did extend their home unbeaten run to 10 capital encounters (Warriors went 17 home fixtures undefeated over the 2014/15-2015/16-2016/17 summers following a dozen unbeaten across 2011/12-2012/13 and 10 in a row over 2012/13-2013/14).
Enfield crash Inner West
Enfield Rovers dished out Inner West Magic’s first summer loss following a convincing 5-2 derby result at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre.
It was all Magic in the opening exchanges as in-form Daniel Fogarty grabbed the opening goal on eight minutes and might’ve doubled the advantage had he not hit the post with an open goal beckoning moments before.
Enfield slowly turned the tide when Shervin Adeli converted from the penalty spot following an Inner West handball inside the D on the quarter-hour, and the league’s most prolific scorer showed his class when he got behind the pivot to latch onto a cheeky ball from wily Lachlan Wright and slot it past Magic keeper Robbie Maiorana to push Rovers 2-1 in front by halftime.
Adeli upped the ante spectacularly on the half-hour when he chested a long-ball past a defender then turned and volleyed home a stunner to make it 3-1, before an Inner West power play resulted in a Daniel Fornito score that narrowed the gap to 3-2 with three minutes left.
But Rovers weren’t going to give it up and a prowling Dominic Cox picked up a clever pass inside the D to coolly finish past Maiorana and a minute later Adeli pinched the ball and unleashed from distance into an open net to hand Enfield a 5-2 victory.
Rovers assistant coach Rob Foti painted the picture: “They started like a house on fire and were all over us, and I have to commend Lachie [Wright] who showed his experience by rallying the younger boys when we were under the pump, saying our chance would come once we ride out the storm,” the former-Futsal veteran brushed.
“And when they got back to 3-2 we knew how important the next goal would be. Inner West are a class team, but I think we just have more out-and-out ball players… all of them can punish the opposition. We’ve had four games at near full-strength and won 9-4, 6-1, 6-2 and 5-2 – the biggest issue has been commitment, with injuries and missing players making it tough on consistency.”
“Our rivalry with Inner West is always something special but we knew a Magic win would virtually put the premiership in their hands. Steve Knight has a done very good job with them… but we’ve always wanted to be better defensively and feel this year we have the right balance of youth and experience and petrol in the tank to defend for 50 minutes.”
Coach Ernie Bivona agreed… emphatically! “How good is it to have bragging rights in the derby,” he teased with Magic maestro Matteo Maiorana metres away from him on Sunday. “I haven’t seen a more complete performance from my team, who had great discipline and still showed their flamboyant flair.”
“At 3-2 up against a team like Inner West you can crack and lose your focus. I don’t want to get cocky but with depth on the bench it does take a lot of pressure off during the game and helps us concentrate on what we do in the game we’re playing.”
Maiorana paid his dues to triumphant Rovers, particularly wrecking-ball Adeli. “We started extremely well and were clearly on top for the first 15 minutes but the [penalty] goal changed the momentum of the game,” he said.
“Note that Shervin Adeli’s third goal was phenomenal! Long ball forward, he chested the ball in the D, turned in one motion and volleyed the ball home – it was a goal only he could score!”
"Enfield has always been the competition’s best attacking team [Rovers average 5.3 goals a game, Dural 5.2, Western Raiders 4.8]; it’s depth and defence that has always been their Achilles Heel. [This season] Their depth is the best I can remember them having, and in typical Enfield style they didn’t defend very well last week, but when they play us they always lift,” Maiorana said.
“They defended really well and anytime you have someone like Sheva in the team they always have a chance – the kid is phenomenal; his goal tonight was top draw.”
“No-one likes to lose a top-of-the-table clash, especially a derby, but it’s not the end of the world. We are still top of the table and the club picked up its highest ever points total against Enfield. We know UTS [next week] are going to be extremely dangerous, so we need to regroup and just keep going forward.”
Yet another entertaining derby locked up the intense club rivalry at five wins apiece plus one draw, but it was all attention to four-goal hero Adeli whose known premier league tally rocketed to 99 goals.
The former Magic player’s record taunts Quake duo Danny Martinez (89) and Mark Symington (77), with Dural’s Greg Giovenali (75) and Enfield team-mate Lachlan Wright (58) the closest league rivals, followed by Dean Lockhart (55), and Magic couple Fogarty (53) and Chris Zeballos (51). [Ed: unfortunately dozens of scorers details remain missing from the first four seasons].
Adeli has scored four-or-more goals on six occasions (Symington the closest with three times), compiled 13 hat-tricks (Symington 8) and 27 braces (Martinez 22) – bagging his 99 goals in 50 fixtures (Martinez 59). He even scored in every match of Enfield’s 2014/15 season (including eight braces, four hat-tricks) to underline his league ‘most lethal weapon’ title.
Warriors edge Vipers
Dural came from behind to edge out Mascot Vipers 4-3 in a tough encounter at The Centre, Dural – the closest margin between the sides in 11 Warriors wins.
Still without injured Greg Giovenali and Blake Rosier (and with Wade Giovenali suspended), Bruno Pivato got the ball rolling for Dural with an early strike only to have Mascot peg them back almost immediately with a superbly taken chance; and the teams went tit-for-tat until Brandon Vella scored the crucial deciding goal seven minutes from fulltime.
Warriors coach Rob Varela kept a cool head in spite of Dural’s cautious start to the season. “It was a close game on the scoreboard; we started off well, got on top and scored… but they capitalized on a few mistakes of ours and in the end it was a fair result,” he said.
“Mascot played very well and are a very good attacking side, but I’m more concerned about our lapses. We tightened tightened the screws in the second half and the goals did come… it’s not that we’re not defending well, we’re just turning the ball over more than we did in previous years and giving the opposition more opportunities.
“Our plan is to stay in touch with the top-four and see what happens when we get to the finals; once you get into the semis it’s what you do on the day.
“It is a different challenge this year and if we happen to be successful in the end it will be a unique feeling; but we can’t control the other results and just taking it one game at a time.”
Vipers club manager Zvi Ben David played down the men’s loss to focus on the overall objective of defending its club championship crown.
“The only difference was our lack of commitment in defence, a lack of concentration; they punished us on the counter attack like we were little kids. We were very naïve, but credit to them for taking the possibilities – it was a game we could’ve won,” he said.
“The coach can’t tell them [the players] to do the basic things right and they felt silly because they work so hard to be in good positions and then give it away from a few errors and come home with nothing.”
“They’re motivated to do well, the spirit is good… but the men’s game is a bonus for us as we place emphasis on all our age groups and picked up 19 points to still be first in the club championship. In two years’ time we will have a strong dedicated men’s team with the players who have been with us for a while,” Ben David said.
“We’re still in the hunt and if we beat Enfield [this week] the morale will be good. We plan to blood more youth players because if we are working to be serious about the men’s team then we must build on our youth, so as when they get older they are as good as anyone else has to offer.”
Next week’s games
The Football NSW Select Futsal Premier League round seven Saturday action features Mountain Majik against Dural Warriors at Blacktown Leisure Centre (4.40pm), Boomerangs FS host South Coast Taipans at the AIS Training Halls (7.20pm), Inner West Magic play UTS Northside at Valentine Sports Park (7.40pm), and Mascot Vipers meet Enfield Rovers at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.50pm). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
