SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 7 Open Women’s Preview

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SELECT Futsal Premier League round 7 Saturday matches pit Campbelltown Quake against Mountain Majik at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (3.50pm), Dural Warriors face Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at The Centre (5.50pm), Enfield Allstars meet UTS Northside at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (7.05pm), and Mascot Vipers play Inner West Magic at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre (7.50pm).

Magic (16 points), UTS (15), Majik (13) and Campbelltown (10) round out the top-four with Easts (6), Dural (4), Enfield (3) and Mascot (2) falling a little behind.

The club championship tussle might get a few teams going as Inner West (87 points) front Mascot (74), Easts (65) and Mountain (63), as UTS (54), Campbelltown (50), Dural (43) and Enfield (42) wrestle in the basement.

Campbelltown Quake v Mountain Majik

Campbelltown Quake and Mountain Majik meet in a third-vs-fourth battle at Minto Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Mountain’s first season-loss to UTS last week puts them within striking distance of Campbelltown two points behind them, and Quake are on their own roll winning the last two against Easts and Dural to gather some form heading into the contest.

Obviously competition leading scorer Ashlie Crofts is the Mountain danger with an avalanche of goals to her name this season, three hat-tricks and a brace helping her accumulate 12 goals in the first six weeks – almost half her team’s total of 25.

The two sides traded four-goal wins last season, Majik winning 5-1 early in late-2017 before Campbelltown turned the tables at Minto with a 6-2 victory.

Dural Warriors v Eastern Suburbs Hakoah

Dural Warriors and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah catch up again, this time at The Centre on Saturday evening.

Separated by a division for 11 long years, Dural and Easts finally caught up with each other in a Futsal Cup clash at Valentine late last month where Warriors won 2-1.

The shoe’s on the other foot this time round, literally, as Dural are glued to the bottom of the ladder with just one win in the opening six weeks and desperate to get the Warriors machine going.

Hakoah have hardly been steady either, two lonely victories placing them fifth, but four points adrift of a top-four position.

For all the Warriors woes a measly four goals scored so far is probably the starkest, while Easts have holes in their defensive netting that’s seen 20 slotted past them to make this an interesting clash.

Enfield Allstars v UTS Northside

It’s Enfield Allstars versus UTS Northside at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night and both sides are on a roll.

The home side finally broke through for their first win of the season beating Mascot 3-2 last week, but that’s nothing considering UTS are on a hot five-game streak that snatched second spot on the ladder.

History will also worry Allstars as Northside whitewashed them 3-0 and 4-0 last summer; and they’ll need to stop dynamic duo Alexia Guerinoni and Genevieve Tucker who’ve both scored four goals.

But keep it close and who knows, Enfield have been great value for spectators this season with four games already separated by a solitary goal.

Mascot Vipers v Inner West Magic

Mascot Vipers and Inner West Magic have been excellent opponents over 11 PL years and they meet again at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre on Saturday night.

The only clubs to have featured in every premier league season, Mascot and Inner West have enjoyed numerous epic battles over the years, including many finals.

This time it’s a very different set-up as dead-last Vipers are without a win to their name and frontrunners Magic without a loss to theirs.

With Christmas around the corner Inner West have been utter Scrooges at the defensive end, letting every other team bag a total of three goals against them, while Mascot have conceded a comp-high 23 goals at their defensive end in a total contrast to just two summers ago when Vipers beat Magic 4-2 in the 2016/17 grand final.

– By Dan de Nardi