SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 4 Open Men’s Preview
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-4 dishes out another bout of intriguing Saturday match-ups as two points separates the top-seven teams… but it’s not just open men’s comp on the line.
Inner West (45 points and with a game in hand) have scooted to an early club championship lead ahead of Mascot (41), a bump back to newest clubs Mountain Majik and Hakoah locked together (34 points), while Dural (18) and UTS (16) are at the bottom.
Mountain Majik vs Inner West Magic
Mountain Majik versus Inner West at Blacktown Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon (4.10pm) will be a great test of nerves.
While Majik lead the league they’ve got six teams hot on their tails and Magic will want to get back on the front foot following their disappointing 2-3 loss to Dural last week.
The Mountaineers face a tough task as they’ve won this fixture just once in 10 tries, but they can take some solace from a fighting 1-1 draw last time they met at this venue in December 2017.
Campbelltown Quake vs UTS Northside
Campbelltown Quake host UTS Northside at Minto Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon (4.50pm) as both sides need to step up or face being cast adrift.
UTS are third on the ladder and Quake seventh, but they share the same points on a jam-packed leaderboard.
Northside are on a mission to break into a maiden finals BUT they haven’t beaten Campbelltown since early 2015, never won at Minto (three games), lost the last two encounters 5-1, and will set a new club low for consecutive away defeats if they lose again – this is a big moment of truth!
Dural Warriors vs Mascot Vipers
Dural welcome Mascot to The Centre on Saturday evening (6.50pm) and although Warriors hold a 15-2 winning edge over Vipers there’s more to this than meets to eye.
Second-placed Mascot are a very different side this year and will draw plenty from last summer’s electric match-ups with Dural – a tight 2-3 loss at The Centre preceding an exhilarating 6-3 victory on home turf, a patient eight years after Vipers’ first win against Warriors in October 2009 (we’ve had five different prime ministers since then).
Easts Hakoah vs Enfield Allstars
It promises to be an entertaining affair when Eastern Suburbs Hakoah play Enfield Allstars at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre on Saturday night (8.50pm).
Who would’ve bet on Enfield being dead-last on the ladder with just five goals to their name after the opening three rounds (in nine PL seasons they average 4.6 goals per game, Dural 4.8, Quake 4.1).
Allstars can overtake Hakoah with a two-goal win and are boosted by a stretched Easts line-up (two red cards last weekend).
-By Dan De Nardi
