SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 4 Open Men’s Review
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-4 matches had Mountain Majik shutout Inner West Magic 1-0, Campbelltown Quake defeat UTS Northside 4-2, Dural Warriors down Mascot Vipers 6-2, and Enfield Allstars beat Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 4-3.
The results shoot Mountain to the leader board summit with nine points, two ahead of Dural and Campbelltown who have the rest of the competition within a win of their position.
It’s so tight that Enfield’s first win of the season made it a four-way tie for bottom spot, just one point behind top-four Mascot.
Goals certainly are at premium price this summer, a 5.4 per game average the lowest on record (by more than one a game) and contributing to some very close contests. In fact three of the opening four round-totals feature in the 14 lowest of all PL comps (22 goals for a second successive week following an opening-round 17).
Mountain Majik 1 (Jamie Dib) Inner West Magic 0
Campbelltown Quake 4 (Harrison Bagot, Mark Symington, Anthony Haddad 2) UTS Northside 2 (Daniel Arujo, Nathan Amore)
Dural Warriors 6 (Blake Rosier 2, Nathan Niski, Ahmed Sweedam, Sam De Oliveira 2) Mascot Vipers 2 (Luke Okuda, Paulo Rogeiro)
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 3 (Brad Paikin, James Reed 2) Enfield Allstars 4 (Luiz Lobo 2, Michael Kouta 2)
Mountain conquer Magic
Mountain Majik created a cliff-face between the sticks as they shut out Inner West Magic 1-0 at Blacktown Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon.
It was trenches at 20 paces as the two sides dug in and traded barbs throughout a stubborn contest, Majik’s Jamie Dib finally finding a way through on the half-hour with what proved to be the winning goal as the Mountaineers claimed a first premier league clean-sheet in 74 top-flight games.
Majik assistant coach Adam Barbera said some homework and increased sense of self-belief powered the side to well-earned result against Futsal powerhouse Magic.
“I’m extremely proud of the boys for a gutsy performance against one of the strongest teams in the competition!” he said.
“We did a bit of study on Inner West during the week so we knew what to expect from them. We knew if we played to our strengths and kept our discipline defensively we’d be in with a shout and did our best to keep their attacking threats quiet for the match.
“We executed the game plan well and worked extremely hard for each other. It’s been a great start to the season so far against quality opposition, but we know every game gets harder from now on.”
Victory lifted the ‘green machine’ to a club-record fifth-straight unbeaten home game, bettering a mark that’s stood since their debut 2013/14 season, and the highlanders are flying!
On the flipside a win and draw from the opening four rounds is Inner West’s worst season start since the inaugural 2007/08 competition.
Magic have ‘slumped’ to a third-straight win-less game (just the fourth time in club history) and a low-mark of five (set over the 2011/12-2012/13 summers) looming on the horizon. It’s only the fourth time they’ve been held scoreless in 176 PL outings.
Even more surprising is, with the club championship so close this season, Magic open men’s would normally generate a high number of points per season but have had the poorest return of all Magic’s teams.
Indeed, Inner West have a reputation and trophy cabinet the envy of Australian club Futsal, and perhaps why Matteo Maiorana has expected so much more.
“One win in four games and winless in three – it’s been a very disappointing start to the season,” he said. “We have plenty of possession but until we turn that into goals, things will remain the same.”
“The Futsal Cup game was the best we’ve played this season; let’s hope with a game vs Enfield this weekend we come with the same attitude and mentality.”
On a more positive note, last week Camilo Da Silva became the 50th player to score a premier league goal in Inner West colours during Magic’s 2-3 loss to Dural. Only Mascot has produced more – an incredible 64 different goalscorers across 11 PL years.
Quake beat UTS
Campbelltown Quake overcame yet another sluggish start to hunt down UTS Northside 4-2 at Minto Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon.
The home side trailed by a goal at the break but turned on the second-half afterburners to finish two-goal victors and share second-place on the points-ladder. Anthony Haddad grabbed a brace for Quake.
While UTS set an unwanted new club-low of four-straight losses on the road, Campbelltown reached four games unbeaten at home to track a Quake record that’s stood for almost a decade (an unblemished half-dozen over the 2008/09 and 2009/10 summers).
Dural dispatch Mascot
A second-half Dural blitz steamrolled Mascot Vipers at The Centre on Saturday evening, Warriors turning a slender 1-0 halftime edge into a solid 6-2 win.
Blake Rosier put Dural ahead early with a second-minute far-post tap-in but neither side could find a follow-up goal before halftime, second-half Nathan Niski and Ahmed Sweedam strikes catapulting Warriors to a 3-0 buffer before Mascot scored twice to reduce the deficit back to one goal.
But an equaliser wouldn’t come as Dural dug in deep then scored three late goals to seal victory, Rosier and Sam De Oliveira collecting pairs for the victors.
The result slung slow-starting Warriors into equal-second place on the ladder; it also continued Mascot’s travelling woes, the Vipers now 10 games without a win on the road (the third-longest streak in league history, Boomerangs FS went 14 away fixtures without victory from 2013/14 to 16/17).
Over at Dural there seems to be a factory of good young players being churned inside The Centre doors and Warriors coach Rob Varela threw lavish praise on his open men’s replacements.
“Having seven senior players missing for several reasons really tested our depth against a very good Vipers team,” he said.
“We know they like to defend very deep so it was important for us to score first and we continued to dominate possession and our defence was quite good in the second half specially against their power play late in the game.
“All in all a very pleasing performance with a great contribution from our youth players, who had to back up after a very physically demanding game of their own earlier in the day, and the leadership shown by the senior guys.”
Allstars edge Hakoah
Enfield Allstars held off Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 4-3 in a real humdinger at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre on Saturday night.
It was tit-for-tat all the way as Enfield led by a goal at the changeover and managed to stay in front to pick up their first W of the summer, Luiz Lobo and Michael Kouta both nabbing doubles while James Reed banged in two for Easts.
Next week’s games
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-5 Saturday matches features Mountain Majik versus Mascot Vipers at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium (4.10pm), Inner West Magic face Enfield Allstars at Valentine Sports Park (6.20pm), UTS Northside play Dural Warriors at PCYC Dee Why (7.20pm), and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah meet Campbelltown Quake at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre (8.50pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
