SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 1 Review
Wow what a weekend to start the 2018-19 SELECT Futsal Premier League – three one-goal victories and a draw as Mountain Majik shocked Dural Warriors 3-2, Inner West Magic edged UTS Northside 4-3, Campbelltown Quake pipped Enfield Allstars 2-1 and Mascot Vipers drew 1-1 with Eastern Suburbs Hakoah.
A tight 17 goals collectively is the third-lowest round score in premier league history after 15 were scored in round-14 of 2015/16 (included one no-result) and 16 round-four goals in 2016/17 (four games).
Mountain Majik 3 (Chris Barbera 2, Ryan Tran) Dural Warriors 2 (Greg Giovenali 2)
Inner West Magic 4 (Jonathan Barzel, Daniel Fogarty, Tiln Muha) UTS Northside 3 (Mason Ireland, Grant Lynch, Karim Moursi)
Enfield Allstars 1 (Shervin Adeli) Campbelltown Quake 2 (Shannon Fielding, Danny Martinez)
Mascot Vipers 1 (Joel Flores) Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Futsal Club 1 (Robert Ezekiel)
Majik douse Warriors
Mountain Majik held off a fast-finishing Dural Warriors to win a fiery contest 3-2 at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium and claim their first victory over Warriors in six years of trying.
The home side built a 3-0 lead midway through the match only for Dural to storm back into the contest on a Greg Giovenali double that made it 3-2 with 20 minutes still to play.
Both sides threw themselves into a spirited affair, maybe a bit too much at times as Warriors goalkeeper Alistair Bruce was shown a second yellow card for illegally breaking up a Majik counterattack and veteran Blake Rosier lost his cool after the fulltime whistle had blown to also face a red.
Dural had won 10 previous meetings with Mountain but a first-minute Chris Barbera goal got Majik off to a dream start, and he doubled the delight with a 10th-minute goal before Ryan Tran also scored on the stroke of halftime to make it 3-0.
Warriors spearhead Giovenali rallied the troops with two rapid-fire goals straight after the break to bring the deficit back to one, but the going got too tough as the Dural numbers dwindled.
Mountain assistant coach Adam Barbera gave his troops a massive slap on the back following a huge opening-round upset.
“That’s a big result for us, but we also rated ourselves to go into the game and get that result,” he said, “After the way we finished last year and the pre-season we had we knew we’d give them a run for their money.”
“We’re just so proud our young boys kept their head in the game with one of the best teams coming at you.”
“Internally [as a club] it’s a great way to start the season after all our teams have been working so hard, and this result in the men’s shows that if you put in the work you can get the rewards.
“This can be a huge catalyst for us. We know how much we have to put into, but we all believe in what we’re doing, and we know we can get there as a club and as a team.”
The defeat was Dural’s sixth in their last 13 premier league outings, the joint-worst record (with Mascot) of any top-flight team over that time-frame.
Inner West topple Northside
Inner West Magic overcame a defiant UTS Northside 4-3 at Valentine Sports Park to continue their sizzling rivalry – all nine meetings decided by three goals or less (four by a goal).
It was an incredible start to the game as Inner West bombarded their opponents but were kept out by a remarkable goalkeeping display from the UTS custodian, the woodwork also rattled four times, as Magic couldn’t find a breakthrough.
Meanwhile, Northside withstood the barrage and conjured up some magic of their own with Matthew Ireland and Grant Lynch both scoring against the run of play to give UTS a stoic 2-0 lead as halftime approached.
Magic finally got the fortune they wanted just before the break, albeit via a plucky UTS own goal with the last kick of the term, but found themselves 3-1 down as Karim Moursi joined the Northside party (Moursi’s scored in four straight Magic fixtures) immediately after the restart.
Magic inevitably staged their comeback as Jonathan Barzel and newbie Tiln Muha goals leveled the affair, but they got a lucky bounce when (playing fifth-man) Inner West keeper Dom Badalato deliberately handballed outside the box to be rightly dismissed, however a split-second whistle as the ball went over the goal-line saw it pulled back for the freekick instead.
And as it is Futsal, Magic weapon Fogarty stole the show with a rifling match-winner with six minutes to go sealing a 4-3 Inner West victory.
Quake shake Allstars
Quake beat Allstars 2-1 in a ripping match at Morris Iemma Sports Centre – the lowest-ever scoreline between the clubs and Campbelltown’s fifth win in a row over Enfield.
It wasn’t an easy preparation for either side and it led to some open first-half Futsal, danger-man Shervin Adeli pouncing on a Quake mistake to give Allstars an early edge before the visitors did the same at the other end, Shannon Fielding capitalising on an Enfield error to level the scores, before Danny Martinez drove home late in the term to secure a 2-1 halftime lead for Campbelltown.
Allstars had the better of the second-period chances but Quake scrambled hard in defence to maintain their advantage until a handball inside the D with a few minutes left saw evergreen Adeli line up a game-tying penalty only to miss the target completely.
Campbelltown had a 10m penalty saved by the Enfield keeper with seconds remaining but it didn’t matter as the buzzer sounded on a heroic Quake victory.
These clubs average 9.3 goals each time they meet and the 2-1 scoreline showed massive defensive improvements on both sides – the previous lowest-winning score in the fixture had been five goals (on three occasions).
It was also an 18th goal scored by both Adeli and Martinez in the 18 head-to-head clashes to date, the Quake gun scoring an 11th goal in the past five Enfield encounters.
Mascot, Easts draw
A second-half Robert Ezekiel goal gave Eastern Suburbs open men’s their first-ever premier league point as Hakoah drew 1-1 with Mascot Vipers at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre.
Joel Flores lifted Mascot in front at halftime but the visitors showed true mettle to find an equaliser through their Hakoah veteran and salvage something from the match.
It was a tough day for the premier league debutants with one win and two draws to show versus top-flight giant Mascot, but the challenge isn’t lost on Easts club president Daniel Sharp.
“It is an incredibly hard challenge to stay in premier league,” he said. “I believe we have put in place everything we can to stay up – will it work? We hope so, but the important thing is we tried.”
Round 2 Fixtures
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-2 Saturday matches starts with a Campbelltown Quake versus Inner West Magic blockbuster at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (4.50pm), UTS Northside tackle Mascot Vipers at PCYC Dee Why (7.20pm), then Enfield Allstars against Dural Warriors in a classic at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (8.05pm), and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah meet Mountain Majik at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.50pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
