SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 6 Open Men’s Review
Sydney City Eagles remain undefeated, top of the table in another weekend of fantastic futsal action, which saw Raiders Futsal Club make it back-to-back successes; Phoenix Futsal Club returned to the winner’s circle; and finally, South Coast Taipans broke through for their maiden victory to round out a wonderful series of fixtures. Let’s get onto the review.
Match of the Round: Raiders Futsal 3 defeated Sydney Futsal Club 2
Raiders Futsal Club were made to work for it, after an impressive performance from Sydney Futsal Club, but a late goal from Anthony Tomelic gave them a 3-2 success Saturday night at Thomas Hassell Anglican College.
James Letta gave the hosts a perfect start with his swept home effort in the 3rd minute before a late Anthony Tomelic brace, helped them to back-to-back victories for the first time this season, kept Raiders Futsal Club in fourth position.
For Sydney Futsal Club, their vital signs have improved. In large portions of the game, they dominated their higher ranked opponents, got reward through Jonathan Lynch and Daniel Padoani but need to learn to hold onto contests. They did lay down a marker for the rest of the season, to challenge more sides.
Coming into the contest, full of energy from their 5-4 success against South Coast Taipans, Raiders Futsal wasted no time testing Sydney’s defence, Kodai Hayashi broke through then shot right at Sydney’s keeper Laith Al-Shdifat.
Their fast start was reward in third minute. Some patient build-up which saw them fizz the ball across the court several times, before they spotted James Letta free in the middle to curve home, making it 1-nil to the Raiders Futsal Club.
Chances continued to pile up for Raiders Futsal, a long throw was flicked over the bar by Hayashi then a trifecta of efforts from Damien Smith, Adam Savetta and Letta were denied by some heroic defense as Sydney held on.
Once they woke up, Sydney took the major share in the contest. Nathan Spinola had a pair of prime opportunities that were spurned as they held onto the ball. Jonathan Lynch had their best chance as fired wide.
Sydney pressed the home side as Adam Vizzari curved over. They broke quickly with the ball, remained patient then in moments where they found Vizzari, who crossed for Tuan Cao to balloon over, as it sensed the equaliser was forthcoming.
Daniel Padoani had the final chance of the half, as he found space but fired the effort wide of the post, Raiders took their early goal advantage into the break, still leading 1-nil.
Again Raiders had the fast start, Anthony Tomelic almost profited from an error in the 28th after Jovan Miladinovic stepped through the traffic then shot right at the Sydney keeper a minute earlier.
Sydney did find the net early in the second half, they swung the ball cross-court patiently, waited for their chance to break open, it came when Padoani found space then smashed home, making it 1-1.
Raiders Futsal had the perfect chance to respond in the 33rd minute, the court opened up Cameron Wright whose effort was swatted away by Al-Shdifat then Smith’s follow up flew high. Wright followed up with a sliced effort in the 35th.
The visitors made them pay for their missed chances. A quick release gave Jonathan Lynch the space to slot home calmly, shocking the home crowd, making it 2-1 Sydney Futsal Club.
As the atmosphere ratcheted up inside Thomas Hassell, both teams opened up the court, trying to find goals to seal the contest. Raiders found their response from a set piece with six minutes left in the contest.
Tomelic stepped up to take the free-kick close to goal then he hammered it past a despairing Al-Shdifat to make it 2-2, set up for a fantastic finish to the contest.
That finish came in the final 60 seconds, in the chaos to get the ball forward it fell perfectly to the free-kick man, Anthony Tomelic, he smashed the ball home as Raiders Futsal took the result 3-2 in a highly competitive contest.
Speaking afterwards, Raiders Futsal coach Goran Ljuboja reflected on their first back-to-back successes for the season, in a tough contest.
“It’s funny cause we tried to press them in the first half, got the goal but these guys are old stagers so they came back at us, made it hard for us.”
“We’ve been a hot and cold team this season, good to get two in a row, and now, we take on Sydney City Eagles, so hopefully this was confidence boost headed into that one.” finished Ljuboja.
For Sydney Futsal Club’s Tuan Cao there was plenty to be positive about in the contest, despite adding another loss to their total this season.
“I thought we outplayed them in most parts of the contest. We didn’t take our chances, and it came back to bite us. A 3-2 scoreline in futsal is close, limited chances, we created more but a shame to not take all three points.”
“The boys are improving, we have the experience and talent for it. So in the second half of the season, I think we’ll punish some teams.” finished Cao.
Match Stats
Saturday 3 November 2018
Thomas Hassell Anglican College
Referee: K. Hockings
2nd Referee: A. Mansour
3rd Referee: T. Brown
Raiders Futsal Club 3 (Tomelic 2, Letta)
Sydney Futsal Club 2 (Lynch, Padoani)
Raiders Futsal Club: 1. DANIEL Ibrahim, 2. SMITH Damien, 3. HAYASHI Kodai, 4. SAVETTA Adam, 5. LETTA James, 7. MILADINOVIC Jovan, 10. LJUBOJA Slaven, 11. DOUZIAN Garen, 12. LJUBOJA Goran, 15. TOMELIC Anthony, 42. HANNA Lawrence, 43. WRIGHT Cameron, 111. RADMILO Bojan
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards: nil
Sydney Futsal Club: 2. MOUSALLAM Andrew, 3. VIZZARI Adam, 4. YEATES Joshua, 5. ABDELKRIMI Samir, 6. ESPEJEL Dario, 7. PACE Patrick, 8. LOUNG AMATH Nelson, 10. SPINOLA Nathan, 14. LYNCH Jonathan, 23. AL-SHDIFAT Laith, 34. RICHARDSON Sean, 65. PADOANI Daniel, 67. ESER Seyfullah, 88. CAO Tuan
Yellow cards: Espejel, Pace
Red cards: nil
Other Round Six Results
South Coast Taipans have done it! Being the last side on a duck egg hasn’t disrupted them, they led throughout the 3-2 victory against SD Raiders Futsal to knock off the contenders. Cody Waller found the net first for the visitors before Nick Carle equalised then again, Carle played spoilsport when he made it 2-2 after Matt Mazevski’s seventh of the season. The Taipans weren’t to be denied, Kyle Del brought the house down with his winner as they claim a massive scalp in the competition.
The train continues to roll on for Sydney City Eagles. Their 6-1 demolition of West City Crusaders underlined the Eagles favourites tag in the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 competition. On a smaller court, the Eagles adapted in a tough, physical game with Matthew Trotter bagged a hat-trick, alongside a brace from Aaron Cimitile and Domenic Vaccari rounded off the scoring. At times, Crusaders threatened and another classic performance from Eagles keeper, John Dimitrakas kept the visitors at a single goal conceded, to remain three points clear at the top.
Phoenix Futsal Club move into second spot, after their close 2-1 success against a wasteful Boomerangs FS outfit Saturday night at PCYC Hornsby. The visitors got off to the perfect start, Jake Wilsener squeezed an effort past the Phoenix keeper before Angus Chance flicked a deft ball to Ethan Denis equalise to take it to 1-1 at the break.
Much of the second half was a dogfight but a moment of individual brilliance, from Angus Chance to flick it up to himself and volley home the winner. Despite the late pressure, Phoenix held on for a fifth one-goal success of the season. That leaves an uphill battle for the Boomerangs to make the top four but they have the belief in their ability if they can put together a 50-minute performance.
-By Justin Davies
