Round 9 Review – SELECT Futsal Premier League
SELECT Futsal Premier League round 9 results was a string of stunning results as Mascot Vipers beat Dural Warriors 6-3, Mountain Majik downed Campbelltown Quake 5-3, South Coast Taipans defeated UTS Northside 4-3, and the Inner West Magic versus Enfield Allstars derby finished 3-3.
Inner West (18 points) lead Campbelltown (15), Dural (15) and Enfield (14) – who all have a game in hand on the leaders – with UTS (12), South Coast (10), Mountaineers (8) and Mascot (6) all back in the top-four frame following a weekend where none of the top-five teams won.
Just as interesting is a club championship that sees Majik (155) streaks ahead of Vipers (132) and Magic (123), while Allstars (113), Quake (105) and Warriors (101) have up to five catch-up matches to play.
The Mountaineers are sitting pretty but looking over their shoulders at a Mascot side that’s driven from the basement carpark after a month of stuttering results to clear second spot, and open men’s coach Adam Barbera’s not taking anything for granted.
“Although we’ve been improving every year we’ve had in PL1, probably no one expected us to be so strong considering we try our hardest to retain as many players as we can year on year,” he said.
“The early success we’ve had goes to show the strong family culture the club has been built on but like I said, everyone in the club still knows there is a lot of Futsal to be played and we’ve won nothing yet.”
The last time premier league had three different successive club champions was Sydney Magic (2008/09), Inner West Allstars (2009/10) and Sydney City Eagles (2010/11). Inner West Magic won last year following Mascot’s 2015/16 success.
Superstar Allstar Shervin Adeli is the summer’s leading scorer with 11 goals, ahead of Quake’s Mark Symington (10), Taipans duo Ricky Goodchild (9) and Matt Mazevski (7), Vipers’ Joel Flores (7), Northside’s Joey Gibbs (6), Magic’s Daniel Fornito (6) and Quake’s Dean Lockhart (6).
Inner West Magic 3 (Matthew Lecce, Fran Calle, Brian Griffin-Colls) Enfield Allstars 3 (Shervin Adeli 2, Kristopher Vlismas)
South Coast Taipans 4 (Kyle Del, Ricky Goodchild 2, Matt Mazevski) UTS Northside 3 (Joey Gibbs 2, Giorgio Speranza)
Campbelltown Quake 3 (Mark Symington 2, Anthony Haddad) Mountain Majik 5 (Jordan Guerreiro 2, Chris Barbera, Joshua Ross, Andrew Luttringer)
Mascot Vipers 6 (Joel Flores 3, Takuya Murayama, Leandro Pinto, Leonardo Pinto) Dural Warriors 3 (Wade Giovenali 2, Glen Kelshaw)
Magic, Allstars draw
Enfield Allstars came back from the brink with a late three-goal flurry splitting the points with Inner West Magic 3-3 at Blacktown Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Matthew Lecce and Fran Calle goals put Magic firmly in control of the derby and when Brian Griffin-Colls added a third on the half-hour Allstars were sprawled on the canvas.
But Enfield bounced back via a quick one-two punch from who else but Shervin Adeli in the 41st and 46th minutes to bring the visitors back within one against a tired Magic camp boasting just six fully-fit players.
The tension was electric in the dying stages and a brilliant equaliser from Allstar Kris Vlismas inside the final 60 seconds only heightened the tension, Magic star Daniel Fogarty missing a sixth-foul penalty after the whistle that could’ve stolen the show for Inner West.
Ridiculously it was the 11th game from the past dozen dazzling derbies to be decided by two goals or less, and it’s clear who reigns supreme as Adeli notched up a 16th goal against Inner West.
Of this season’s four draws Magic have been in three of them and club manager Matteo Maiorana was gutted after watching a three-goal lead evaporate in seven manic minutes.
“It was a heartbreaking result for the boys because we absolutely dominated from the first minute until the 43rd and then legs just got the better of us; they had 12 players and we had six and in the end that’s what hurt us,” he said.
“But no excuses, we had 20 shots, scored three goals and hit four posts. We dominated and deserved to win and I think their reaction when they got to 3-3 proved that.
“But you need to give them credit; they never stopped trying and they got something out of it. Magic and Allstars games always mean that little bit extra and today was no different.”
Coast covers Northside
A frantic finish saw South Coast Taipans nip UTS Northside 4-3 in an absolute beauty at University of Wollongong Sports Hub on Saturday evening.
Taipans were pumped heading into their 50th premier league match on an unprecedented three-game unbeaten run but fell behind early before a Kyle Del 10th-minute counterpunch for the Coasters, UTS restoring their slender advantage just before the break 2-1.
The neck-and-neck encounter had scores pegged when some handy lead-up work from Taipans talent Matt Mazevski ended in a Ricky Goodchild goal midway through the second half, and Mazevski had home fans in raptures when he scored himself inside a final 10 steamy minutes.
The Hub reached boiling point as UTS equalised with two minutes left but with 15 seconds left Mazevski and Goodchild teamed up again with the latter scoring his second to snatch a thrilling win – the clubs now three wins apiece in the fixture and this is the fourth one-goal decision.
It’s the first time Taipans have won back-to-back home games and they’ve shown real gusto in attack this summer hitting 30 goals to sit nine shy of their biggest haul (39 in 2015/16); and they’ve already snared 10 points to be just two off last year’s breakthrough season.
Goodchild’s double makes him the first Coaster to achieve four in one year, and a tally of nine goals places him third on the scorers chart behind greats Shervin Adeli (11) and Mark Symington (10) – only two Taipans players have broken double-figures in premier league, Mazevski (11 in 2016/17) and southern legend Peter Gaffney (11 in 2011/12).
And talk about grinding out the ‘W’, eight of South Coast’s overall 12 premier league wins have been by a goal showing a gritty determination for victory.
Men’s coach Bobby Mazevski was one proud chappy following a fourth round without loss despite the withdrawal of key players Sam Davies and David Stojic. He said his guys dug deep at the end of an excellent day out for the Coasters.
“I am delighted with the three points not just for the team but it was important for the club too who had its best day yet this season,” he said.
“We play a high-risk game which seems to be paying dividends right now… there’s been no shortage of entertainment from our recent run of matches.”
UTS coach Grant Lynch rued a string of near misses that cost his side any points in yet another tight decider – a ridiculous league-high 43% of Northside’s 51 premier league games are decided by a goal, Phoenix (29%) and Vipers (28%) next highest.
Probably not surprising considering UTS games feature a league-low average 6.0 goals – Magic (6.2), Boomerangs (6.9) and Phoenix (6.9) next lowest; current sides Warriors (7.1), Quake (7.6), Majik (7.8), Taipans (7.9), Vipers (8.3) and all-or-nothing Allstars (8.7).
“There were plenty of chances for both teams and it was really disappointing we didn’t finish of ours, but we need to move onto next week and pick up some of those points at home,” Lynch said.
Majik dazzle Quake
Mountain Majik shocked Campbelltown Quake in their own backyard wining 5-3 at Minto Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday evening.
The visitors blasted out of the blocks and racked up a 3-0 lead in the opening quarter-hour before Campbelltown clawed their way back into it, scoring minutes form the interval and adding another two after the restart to be level 3-3 midway through the second term.
But a determined Mountaineers battled hard and two quick goals handed them a stunning victory – their first over Quake in seven games and increasing Majik’s unbeaten run to three.
A Mark Symington pair for Campbelltown took his tally in the fixture to 11 in eight meetings.
Only once before have Campbelltown lost two successive home games (in 2012/13) and this season has seen a sloppy display at Minto with only one win from four games. There’s only three matches left to overtake their lowest-ever home-venue point-haul of 10 (in 2015/16 and 2012/13).
Quake coach Scott Gilligan said his side was on the back-foot from the get-go. “It was a poor start, lacking intensity and showing too much respect,” he said. “We got back to 3-3 in the second half but conceded a soft goal that took the wind out of our sails. A very disappointing performance.”
Mascot defeat Dural
Mascot Vipers pulled off one for the ages ending an eight-year voodoo with a huge 6-3 win against Dural Warriors at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Joel Flores finished with a hat-trick but every Viper could take a bow as they stuck it to their fancied opponents and turned a gripping 2-2 halftime arm-wrestle into a brilliant three-goal win – their first victory against a top-four side in three seasons and a first defeat of Warriors since a 6-4 win way back in October 2009.
Quite remarkably, since that result Mascot have never tallied more than three goals against Dural in 13 grueling losses and they smashed six in an impressive attacking display that saw Warriors consigned to a third straight defeat for the first time in the club’s premier league history.
Warriors coach Rob Varela scratched his head following a lacklustre effort from his under-siege troops. “Our worst performance in years: our intensity was very poor, our attack was pedestrian, and our defence was very loose,” he said.
“All credit to Mascot; they played a very good game and made us look second rate.”
Winning is infectious as they say, and Mascot as a whole have risen from their early-season ashes to be the most likely to run down club championship leaders Mountain Majik – Vipers 23 points behind with five rounds left to play.
Next week’s games
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-10 Saturday matches (December 16) has Mountain Majik against Mascot Vipers at Blacktown Leisure Centre (4.05pm), Campbelltown Quake play Enfield Allstars at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (6.10pm), UTS Northside face Dural Warriors at PCYC Dee Why (6.40pm), and Inner West Magic meet South Coast Taipans at Valentine Sports Park (7.40pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
