Round 10 Review – SELECT Futsal Premier League
SELECT Futsal Premier League round 10 results saw UTS Northside upset Dural Warriors 4-2, Inner West Magic suppress South Coast Taipans 4-0, Mountain Majik beat Mascot Vipers 6-1, while Campbelltown Quake versus Enfield Rovers was called off due to excessive heat inside the Minto arena.
Inner West (21 points) have scooted clear of a congested chasing pack Campbelltown (15), Dural (15), UTS (15) and Enfield (14), with the Mountaineers (11) and Coasters (10) still within playoff range.
But it’s Mountain Majik (167) who’ll take the club championship lead heading into the holiday break from Vipers (147), Magic (145), Allstars (119), a three-way tie for Quake (111), Warriors and UTS (111), with Taipans (80) needing a new year resurgence to maintain their top-flight status.
Allstars’ Shervin Adeli (11) has bagged the most goals ahead of Quake’s Mark Symington (10), Taipans duo Ricky Goodchild (9) and Matt Mazevski (7), who is equal with Majik’s Jordan Guerreiro and Vipers’ Joel Flores, while Northside’s Joey Gibbs, Quake’s Dean Lockhart, Magic’s Daniel Fornito and Jonathan Barzel have six each.
And if you think the premier league is hot, it’s sweltering in the next tier down as five points separate first-placed Sydney City Eagles from fifth-placed Boomerangs in a remarkable men’s division contest, and the overall club championship is just as thrilling with Raiders and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah involved in a ding-dong battle for promotion.
In State League, International Football School Futsal Club and SD Raiders are neck-and-neck for club honours.
Mountain Majik 6 (Chris Barbera, Jamie Dib, Jordan 3, Andrew Luttringer) Mascot Vipers 1
Inner West Magic 4 (Matthew Lecce, Jonathan Barzel, Miles Downie) South Coast Taipans 0
UTS Northside 4 (Tristan Prendergast, Mason Ireland, Grant Lynch, Roberto Speranza) Dural Warriors 2 (Samuel De Oliveira, Brandon Vella)
Majik break Vipers
Mountain Majik put on the second-half afterburners in a 6-1 demolition of Mascot Vipers at Blacktown Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Only Chris Barbera’s strike separated the sides at halftime but a Jordan Guerreiro hat-trick plus Jamie Dib and Andrew Luttringer goals after the break stamped Mountain’s dominant 6-1 victory following the dismissal of Mascot’s Conor Quilligan.
The result saw Majik shoulder Vipers in their head-to-head battle five wins to four and also brought up a century of goals between the sides in 10 high-scoring meetings (league average is 7.4 goals per game).
A third win of the season also extended Majik’s recent unbeaten run to four, hot on the heels of last season’s peak form of five games without loss, and clubman Adam Barbera was delighted with the side’s progression, heaping full praise on sideline leader Jamie Amendolia.
“The boys are buying into what he is teaching them. We should have had a lot more goals [against Mascot], there was a period there where it looked like it could get to double digits.”
Indeed, Guerreiro’s three-goal haul saw him become the club’s all-time leading scorer with 32 goals overtaking Majik mainstay Dib (30). The triple was Guerreiro’s fifth in a meteoric three-year premier league campaign, and three have come against Mascot (10 goals all up, Dib also with 10 versus Vipers, while Luttringer has now scored in three straight Mascot battles).
Just four other players have registered more hat-tricks in arguably Australia’s toughest Futsal competition – Enfield’s Shervin Adeli (14) and Campbelltown duo Mark Symington (9) and Danny Martinez (6) achieved over nine seasons, and Dural’s Greg Giovenali (6) in eight; Journeymen Lachlan Wright and Corey Biczo also have five to their name.
Northside topple Dural
UTS Northside took full advantage of a depleted Dural Warriors to register a stunning 4-2 win at PCYC Dee Why on Saturday evening – their first victory against the former champions in eight tries.
The home side were looking to reverse last season’s hosting failures (they won once) and chalked up win number three in a row on home turf on the back of a daring first-half raid to skyrocket into the top-four positions.
Northside were on their game early and a third-minute Tristan Prendergast goal was joined by Mason Ireland and Grant Lynch strikes late in the half to bolster a handy 3-0 halftime buffer, and UTS held their mettle in defence to add a fourth through Roberto Speranza just after the half-hour mark.
Dural wrestled their way back into the contest with Samuel De Oliveira and Brandon Vella goals cutting the deficit in half, but there wasn’t enough time and Warriors fell two goals short.
Mentor Rob Varela applauded the effort of his young brigade who stepped up for the senior clash: “I’m very proud of the players that took the court; with four regular starters unavailable the young players that came up did a sterling job taking it up to a strong UTS team,” he said.
“A touch of inexperience saw us concede some avoidable goals but our possession game was very good and we created some excellent chances that were thwarted by some good goalkeeping and the frame of the goal.
“I truly believe we played the better Futsal never resorting to the speculative long hand grenade. We now come back after the break and treat each remaining game as a grand final.”
Dural’s third straight away loss could be considered highly out of character as the Warriors still boast an impressive 70% winning record on the road, outperforming Inner West (61%)
Magic smother Taipans
Inner West Magic extended their lead at the top of the leaderboard to six points following a cosy 4-0 triumph over flying South Coast Taipans at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday night.
The visitors were looking to build on a four-game unbeaten streak but found the defending champions too tough on their home beat, a Matthew Lecce double and Jonathan Barzel strike underpinning Inner West’s 3-0 jump midway through the contest, and while South Coast made a better game of it in the second term a late Miles Downie goal made it 4-0 at the post.
A methodical Magic performance was spearheaded by 19-year-old Lecce continuing his sensational form since returning to the team, Daniel Fogarty a menace in attack, and keeper Roberto Maiorana made two acrobatic saves to deny Taipans talents Matt Mazevski and Kyle Del.
An eighth-straight wins against South Coast was also an eighth league cleansheet for Inner West (two more than Campbelltown but still way behind Dural’s remarkable 17).
The Taipans have been kept to nil four times in their four top-flight summers, twice by Magic, and they’ve typically struggled to score against Inner West registering a miserly 10 goals in eight meetings to date. Not that their opponents can boast high scores in the fixture either, 32 goals making it a paltry six-flat game average (league average 7.4).
Inner West maestro Matteo Maiorana was never going to be complacent against a confident South Coast side and lauded his side’s common-sense drive.
“It was a performance of the highest quality. We knew it was going to be a tough game because the earlier encounter was very close, plus the Taipans were in great form and unbeaten in four matches coming in so we made sure we were switched on right from the start,” he said.
“What last night showed was the maturity of our team; we were so balanced it was like we were on cruise control. The boys are going well, we want back-to-back premierships and the performances to date give us an opportunity to do that.
“There are many catch up games that need to be played but we are in a good position. Credit must be paid to [Coast coach] Bobby Mazevski because they are a tough unit to break down; they are well-organised and shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
Mazevski knew it was always a tough ask against such an experienced Magic team: “We conceded and failed to capitalise on some good chances at crucial times in the match but take nothing away from Inner West, they were methodical and made it very difficult for us. They have incredible depth and deserved the points tonight,” he said.
Next games
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-11 Saturday matches (January 20) has South Coast Taipans versus Dural Warriors at the University of Wollongong Sports Hub (5.40pm), UTS Northside against Campbelltown Quake at PCYC Dee Why (6.40pm), Enfield Allstars host Mountain Majik at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (8.05pm), and Mascot Vipers tackle Inner West Magic at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.50pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
