SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 4 Open Men’s Review
Both Sydney City Eagles and Phoenix Futsal Club’s undefeated run stood solid as Round 4 was another weekend filled with passion, promise and importantly, goals as the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 rolled on.
Let’s get onto the review.
Match of the Round: SD Raiders 5 defeated Raiders Futsal Club 1
SD Raiders bounced back from their first defeat in style, with a five-star performance against Raiders Futsal Club, this afternoon at Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre, to take the Raiders Cup.
Known for their attack in the first month, SD Raiders put on a defensive clinic. They were first to every ball and kept Raiders Futsal out until the final minute. In front of goal, Joshua Da Silva and Sebastian Malfara scored braces as Nick Carle rounded out the scoring.
Raiders Futsal toiled hard, but were against a brick wall tonight. The visitors found joy late on when Damien Smith flicked home an effort, but it was a disappointed Raiders Futsal side that couldn’t make it back-to-back victories.
On a warm afternoon in Fairfield, the futsal court action heated up quickly. Slaven Ljuboja and Joshua Da Silva both had chances in the first five minutes, as both SD Raiders and Raiders Futsal aimed to take home the first annual Raiders Cup.
Once the game settled into a rhythm, SD Raiders took control. Bruno Antelmi was released well twice, but fired the first right at Raiders keeper, Ibrahim Daniel then the second fizzed wide of the post.
SD Raiders took the lead on six minutes, Sebastian Malfara tackled the defender well, before he feigned the keeper then lofted a delightful chip into the net, for 1-nil, for the home side.
The chances continued to flow for SD Raiders. Malfara blasted one right at Daniel then Nick Carle’s outside the foot drive was denied by the shot stopper.
Daniel played a magnificent role for Raiders Futsal. The custodian resembled a brick wall at times, as he stopped SD Raiders constantly including a marvelous double save in the 20th minute.
Raiders Futsal started to warm into the contest, James Letta opened up the space for Damien Smith to shoot wide in the 10th followed up by Cameron Wright angled effort bounced wide, as lastly, Adam Savetta shot high to end a frustrating half.
SD Raiders kept their scoring up, Malfara created his own chance, with some dazzling footwork to slam home, making it 2-nil right on the break, completing his brace.
After the break, Raiders Futsal looked for a route back into the contest. They started brightly, as Savetta and Letta both thrashed efforts wide. Next, Smith went close again from a Ljuboja pass but couldn’t poke home.
The home side made them pay for their misses, Joshua Da Silva cut inside and buried an effort inside the cage for 3-nil, then in the 45th Nick Carle blasted home an effort for their fourth.
Raiders Futsal found some late consolation, chasing the game. They brought on Smith as a roving keeper, he found reward for his effort, flicking home an angled ball to make it 4-1.
In the final minute, Da Silva completed his brace. The attacker fired home the fifth goal of the contest, as SD Raiders ran out 5-1 winners, and moved back into the winner’s circle.
Afterwards SD Raiders coach Sergio Malfara was delighted in the team’s effort bouncing back from their first loss last week, but was particularly impressed by the defensive effort of his side.
“It’s a good turnaround from last week. We copped a footballing lesson, so went back to the drawing board and worked on our defence. We’ve scored a lot but leaked plenty, so that was good, especially 5-1 in the end.” he said.
For Raiders Futsal coach, Goran Ljuboja was disappointed after their breakthrough victory last weekend to lose in that manner.
“We were sluggish to start, conceded a silly goal. It was a tough game today but we had our chances, their keeper pulled off some good saves,” said Ljuboja.
“We’ve talked about this for a while, getting our community involved. It was good to see so many young kids here today, enjoying some futsal and hopefully it becomes something bigger.” he finished.
Match Stats
Saturday 20 October 2018
Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre
Referee: M Limnes
2nd Referee: J. Rose
3rd Referee: P. Di Matteo
SD Raiders Futsal 5 (Da Silva 2, Malfara 2, Carle)
Raiders Futsal Club 1 (Smith)
SD Raiders: 8. MONGE Adrian, 9. ANTELMI Bruno, 10. FAHMI John, 11. DA SILVA Joshua, 15. MALFARA Sebastian, 17. MOLINA Diego, 19. COTTER Declan, 25. CARLE Nicholas, 52. MASSAROTTO Matthew
Yellow cards: Molina
Red cards: Molina
Raiders Futsal: 1. DANIEL Ibrahim, 2. SMITH Damien, 3. HAYASHI Kodai, 4. SAVETTA Adam, 5. LETTA James, 7. MILADINOVIC Jovan, 8. LJUBOJA Goran, 9. JALLOH Hassan, 10. LJUBOJA Slaven, 11. DOUZIAN Garen, 15. TOMELIC Anthony, 42. HANNA Lawrence, 43. WRIGHT Cameron, 111. RADMILO Bojan
Yellow cards: Letta, S. Ljuboja, Tomelic
Red cards: nil
Other Week Four Results
Sydney City Eagles traveled home from Canberra delighted, as they maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign, with a 4-1 success down at the AIS Training Halls. All the main men fired for the Eagles, Sam Perre, Matthew Trotter, Aaron Cimitile and Peter Pelekanos found the back of the net. For Boomerangs FS, Michael Rinaudo scored in the first half. Cameron Caligiuri was given his marching orders and that was the only blip on an otherwise good result for the Eagles.
The drought has been broken for West City Crusaders in style, putting six past South Coast Taipans in a 6-1 result at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium. James Mawein was the headline act, netting a superb hat-trick while Ryan Faulkner, Ibrahim Kerem and Gregory Kondek rounded out an evening which moved them to sixth.
In Hornsby, Phoenix Futsal Club edged out Sydney Futsal Club 3-2 to join Sydney City Eagles as the two undefeated sides, before they clash next weekend. Joshua Mathie scored his fifth goal of the season alongside strikes from Ibrahim Sweeden and Tayller Battestin for the home side. While it wasn’t a victory, Sydney Futsal Club showed tremendous fight in the second half, scoring twice through Nelson Louang-Amath and Anthony Musumeci.
-By Justin Davies
