SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 2 Open Men’s Review
It was a weekend of high action and drama in the Open Mens competitions in the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2, as the goals flew in and the margins were tight.
So strap yourself in and enjoy the recap of all the action!
Fixture of the week – Opens Men: SD Raiders 5 defeated West City Crusaders 4
SD Raiders continued their perfect start to the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 Opens Men competition as they held off West City Crusaders, 5-4, in a tense contest Saturday evening in Fairfield.
Fresh from their nine-goal effort last week, SD Raiders took no time to find their groove. Matthew Barkho, Luis Ferreira, Bruno Antelmi and John Fahmi found the net in a wonderful display. Adrian Monge added a fifth right after the break as it seemed like the Raiders were cruising but the home side were made to work for a second successive victory.
West City Crusaders showed they won’t be pushovers in the league this season. They opened the scoring through James Mawein then equalised through Peter Malecki’s free-kick. Crusaders brought some spice in the second half as Ryan Faulkner and Tobias Elliot-Orr’s goals made for a frantic final ten minutes as the Raiders held on.
From the opening whistle, both sides created some early chances. James Mawein couldn’t prod home from a free-kick for Crusaders while Sebastian Malfara was imaginative in his attempt to karate kick the ball into the net.
On the ten-minute mark, West City Crusaders found the opener. James Mawein, who combined well with Ryan Faulkner for an earlier missed chance, rolled home for 1-nil.
SD Raiders responded in quick order, Nick Carle had an effort denied but there was no stopping Matthew Barkho. His presence, and guile to roll through his defender before a wonderful finish, made it 1-1 with 13 minutes gone.
The home side wrestled the advantage a minute later, a cutting piece of football opened up the space for youngster Luis Ferreira to sweep home a well-taken goal, 2-1 and the game started to resemble a track meet between the two sides.
The Crusaders brought themselves on level terms again in the 18th minute. Peter Malecki went low with a free-kick to continue the see-saw nature of the contest. The two sides that played out the Futsal State League Grand Final primed for another classic.
Much of the remainder of the half belonged to SD Raiders. A fifth-foul penalty sent Bruno Antelmi to the spot and he dispatched it with aplomb. Not to be left out, John Fahmi bounced home a wonderful effort to send the Raiders buoyant into the break, 4-2.
Monge-mania ran wild within 180 seconds of the restart. Adrian weaved past his defender well before he placed a shot into the corner of the goal, making it a three-goal cushion for SD Raiders, 5-2.
Knowing they needed a huge effort to get back into the contest, Tobias Elliot-Orr and Faulkner started to find gaps in the SD Raiders defense. Their pressure paid off as Elliot-Orr tapped home to ignite the contest at 5-3.
Some lackluster defending from the Raiders again, gave Faulkner the slim opening. He took the chance well and suddenly, it was 5-4 with seven minutes still left on the clock, as the Raiders were suddenly rocking.
Crusaders started to whip the ball forward with purpose, bringing on Benjamin Lam as the sweeper keeper. Lam had a chance to tap home but couldn’t direct his effort. Similar fates befell Malecki and Faulker in the final moments as SD Raiders held on for the tense 5-4 success.
Match Stats
Saturday 6 October 2018
Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre
SD Raiders 5 (Antelmi, Barkho, Fahmi, Ferreira, Monge)
West City Crusaders 4 (Elliot-Orr, Faulkner, Mawein, Malecki)
SD Raiders: 7. FERREIRA Luis, 8. MONGE Adrian, 9. ANTELMI Bruno, 10. FAHMI John, 15. MALFARA Sebastian, 17. MOLINA Diego, 19. COTTON Declan, 23. BARKHO Matthew, 25. CARLE Nicholas, 43. IBRAHIM Daniel
Yellow cards: B Antelmi
Red cards: nil
West City Crusaders: 1. LADD Brycen, 13. O’NEILL Brodie, 14. LAM Benjamin, 15. FAULKNER Ryan, 16. ELLIOT-ORR Tobias, 17. ZAHRA Simon, 21. MALECKI Peter, 22. SWEENEY Dean, 23. MAWEIN James
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards: nil
Best of the Rest
Across the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 remainder of the fixtures, Sydney City Eagles also remained undefeated; the Eagles swept aside Sydney Futsal Club with a pair of goals in either half – Aaron Cimitile scored twice with Sam Perre and Peter Pelekanos provided the others. The visitors found some solace in a first half striker from Anthony Musumeci.
Down on the south coast, Boomerangs FS registered their first win in style; handing South Coast Taipans a second large defeat in successive weeks. Nicholas Rathjen and Michael Rinaudo both rattled home four goals in an eight-goal first half, yes, you read that right! Daniel Giovinazzo scored the odd goal while Michael Mazevski tallied twice for a Taipans side that hasn’t enjoyed the best start to their new surroundings.
Rounding off the results; Phoenix Futsal Club notched their second straight victory, sitting comfortably in third position after they saw off a tough challenge from Raiders Futsal Club still yet to christen their new digs with three points. Todd Nelson was the only name on the scoresheet as there remains three teams still sat on the duck egg.
-By Justin Davies
