SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 6 Open Men’s Review
SELECT Futsal Premier League round 6 Saturday matches saw Mountain Majik and UTS Northside draw 2-2, Inner West Magic dump Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 4-0, Dural wipe Campbelltown 4-0, and Mascot Vipers eclipse Enfield Allstars 5-3.
The points table is fascinating and frightening as a mere eight points separates chart-toppers Dural (13) from bottom-side UTS Northside (5) – Mascot (11), Mountain (10), Inner West (7), Easts (7), Enfield (7) and Campbelltown (7) wedged in between.
A couple of cleansheets underpinned yet another low-scoring 20-goal weekend and of the top-20 lowest round-totals (in 11 premier league seasons), five have occurred this summer.
The Northerners-Mountaineers deadlock also makes this the first PL season where every team has played out a draw – a fifth season-draw closing in on the record eight set in 2016/17… and we’re only six rounds in!
Interestingly, of the top-10 leading scorers this summer only two come from top-four sides – Mascot’s Jakov Radas and Mountain’s Jordan Guerreiro.
Mountain Majik 2 (Jordan Guerreiro, Mitchell Ward) UTS Northside 2 (Mason Ireland, Grant Lynch)
Inner West Magic 4 (Miles Downie, Daniel Fornito, Matthew Lecce) Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 0
Dural Warriors 4 (Sam de Oliveira, Greg Giovenali, Nathan Niski, Blake Rosier) Campbelltown Quake 0
Mascot Vipers (Jun Arima 2, Gilly Desouza, Jakov Radas, Conor Quilligan) Enfield Allstars 3 (Shervin Adeli, Luiz Lobo, Alex Vlismas)
Mountain, Northside draw
Goalkeepers stole the show in a 2-2 stalemate between Mountain Majik and UTS Northside at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium on Saturday – probably the most obvious result in a battle of two very evenly-matched combatants.
In nine PL contests the ledger now stands at three wins apiece and three draws (their second in a row) in perhaps the most dogged balance of all the premier league match-ups.
It was 1-1 at oranges and Northside might’ve thought they’d won it as they held onto a second-half lead until fifth-man Mountain rose up for an equaliser two minutes from the hooter.
The draw took Northside alongside their club-low run of five win-less away games (also joint-ninth worse PL road streak).
But there’s always a bright side: the lowest PL season goal-average of 5.4 per match may reflect how evenly-matched the teams are this summer; it’s also impacted individual influencers as only twice has a player bagged more than a brace, and they’re both from UTS – Mason Ireland grabbing a round-two four-for and Joey Gibbs a hat-trick the week after.
Northside player-coach and club leading-scorer Grant Lynch is very familiar with battling to gain top-four acceptance and was understandably frustrated with letting victory slip from their fingers in energy-sapping circumstances.
“The heat made the game very difficult and we’re disappointed we dropped points, especially conceding in the last minute,” he said.
“We played well the first half and went in at 1-1, but the second half was lethargic from both sides with errant passes throughout. It was a great performance from our goalkeeper Alex Pepper who made some crucial saves.”
Mountain assistant Adam Barbera said his team paid the price for a slow start.
“It was a very frustrating performance. UTS found a way to disrupt our attacking phases and we couldn’t get a good grip on the match,” he said.
“We felt there were moments where we could’ve gone up a gear and start to dominate, but due to poor execution we couldn’t finish off the chances we created.
“Late in the match we went to the powerplay that allowed us to finally get a few good shots at goal and we found an equaliser.
“It’s a big couple weeks coming up for us; we need to knuckle down and get back to winning ways.”
Magic pump Hakoah
Inner West Magic broke free from their mini-slump to thump Eastern Suburbs 4-0 at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday evening, jumping three places on the ladder in the process.
Easts were terrific first-half value and probably unlucky to let Inner West take a 2-0 halftime jump, but despite boasting numerous opportunities Magic couldn’t shake off a determined Hakoah before Daniel Fornito’s brilliance paved way for a comfortable 4-0 ending.
Inner West club manager Matteo Maiorana sat in the shadows of Groundhog Day for most of the match.
“It seemed like history was repeating itself as we just could not get the ball over the line from a mixture of it bouncing the wrong way, brilliant [Hakoah] goalkeeping and stoic defending – it was looking like a case of déjà vu!” he said.
“As soon as Daniel Fornito scored from a set-piece a pressure valve was lifted and we absolutely dominated.
“[Roberto] Maiorana returned in goals and was absolutely fantastic; his brilliant double-save in the second half epitomised the importance of the result to the Magic team.
“Hakoah are a classy side but we were another level; the boys’ effort was first class. We spoke during the week of how important this game was and I’m so, so proud of the team and the way they responded,” he said.
“I have no doubt this win will be the catalyst for a turn-around in fortune for the boys – as long as this effort is continually served, we will be right there.”
Warriors thump Quake
A dominant Dural crushed Campbelltown Quake 4-zip at The Centre Dural on Saturday night, two goals in each half keeping Warriors on the points-table throne.
Blake Rosier continued his good form setting up Sam de Oliveira’s rapier-like finish from close quarters to get the ball rolling for the home side, and their high pressure paid off in when Wade Giovenali’s hard work forced a turnover that led to his brother Greg shooting into an empty net from inside the D to make it 2-0 to Dural at the break.
The pattern continued in the second term, punctuated by a great Nathan Niski strike from out wide before Rosier made sure of the result with an easy far-post tap-in following some outstanding right-side work from young Ahmed Sweedan.
Sure it’s the fifth time Warriors have held Quake scoreless (the only team to hold cleansheet Campbelltown in 166 PL games), but who hasn’t felt the pain – Dural’s 20th shutout in 149 top-flight games almost doubles Inner West (11) and next-best are Campbelltown (6).
A 10th straight loss to Warriors isn’t Quake’s only concern. They’ve been kept to nil successive weeks (3-0 to Easts last week) and a travel warning has been issued following a third-straight road loss – Campbelltown’s only suffered a worse streak once before, losing five away games in a row across the 2011/12-2012/13 summers).
As well as de Oliveira scoring for a fourth game straight, Dural coach Rob Varela was succinct in his appraisal.
“I’m very pleased with the way we played – solid defence throughout which led to our first cleansheet of the season, we kept possession well, and managed to score some good goals,” he said.
“All-in-all a good performance against a team that never gave up and pushed us throughout the match.
“Hopefully we’ll continue to improve and remain competitive in what’s proving to be the tightest men’s competition in years!”
Vipers dump Allstars
Mascot Vipers won an epic contest against Enfield Allstars, holding on for a gritty 5-3 Saturday-night result at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre to shoot into second spot on the ladder.
It was all guns blazing as the home side edged Allstars 3-2 at halftime and an equally absorbing second term saw Vipers ahead 5-3 – just their third win over Enfield in 15 league meetings.
Jun Arima potted a double for Mascot, who haven’t been beaten at home in four runs to equal a club-record set in 2015/16; and if they get up again next week they’ll also equal a club-high winning streak of three straight.
Just as exciting will be seeing if Vipers can build on their positive goal-difference: they currently sit on +2 and only once have finished above evens in the past seven years (+10 in 2015/16).
Not surprisingly though, the premier league’s greatest ever producer of goalscorers has seen Mascot already pen 11 different names on this summers’ scoresheets. They share the record for most seasonal scorers with Campbelltown when they boasted 15 strikers each in 2011/12.
Allstars weapon Shervin Adeli scored for his 15th goal versus Vipers.
Next week’s games
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-7 Saturday matches pits Campbelltown Quake against Mountain Majik at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (4.50pm), Dural Warriors face Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at The Centre (6.50pm), Enfield Allstars meet UTS Northside at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (8.05pm), and Mascot Vipers play Inner West Magic at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre (8.50pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
