SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 8 Open Women’s Preview
SELECT Futsal Premier League round 8 Open Women’s 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).
What a time for competition leaders Magic (19 points) and chasers UTS (18) to battle it out for supremacy, and waiting for the fallout will be Majik (14), Campbelltown (11) and Easts (9). Dural (4), Enfield (3) and Mascot (2) need to get a move on.
A four-goal effort from Magic’s Rhianna Pollicina suddenly put her in the golden boot picture her nine season-goals closed in on top-two Majik’s Ashlie Crofts (14) and Hakoah’s Tamires Souza (11).
Inner West (100 points) have bolted away in the club championship race, with Mascot (81), Easts (77), Mountain (74) and UTS (72) jostling for the minor medals, leaving Campbelltown (58), Dural (52) and Enfield (45) at the tail end.
Campbelltown Quake vs Enfield Allstars
Campbelltown Quake meet their bogey-side Enfield Allstars at Minto Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon.
The teams are split by eight competition points at the moment and Campbelltown have found some form of late winning two in a row before a handy 3-3 draw with Mountain Majik last week.
And Quake will remember fondly a 6-1 hiding dished out to Allstars in September, but they might also have less tasteful memories of an Enfield side that thrashed them 6-0 at this venue in February, following a 3-2 win in the earlier 2017/18 round.
Dural Warriors vs Mountain Majik
Dural Warriors face a stern challenge in Mountain Majik at The Centre on Saturday evening.
The home side hasn’t won since round two to sit near the bottom of the table, while Majik haven’t won in two weekends to abdicate joint-first position.
They’ve split their last four meetings, but they’re miles apart on current form – a dismal Dural tally of four goals dwarved by Mountain’s eye-popping 28 in seven runs.
UTS Northside vs Inner West Magic
Buckle up, folks, it’s a royal showdown between top-two UTS Northside face Inner West Magic at PCYC Dee Why on Saturday night.
One point separates them at the top so it’s winner-takes-all contest, and unbeaten Inner West face their toughest opponent yet as Northside are on a red-hot six-game streak since their humbling 4-0 defeat to Magic in round one.
In fact, this has been a frustrating fixture for UTS over the years as they’ve been held scoreless by Magic in three of their last six meetings – all won by Inner West, including the last two preliminary finals (last year on penalties).
Eastern Suburbs vs Hakoah Mascot Vipers
With everything going on around the grounds, everyone’s keeping one eye on Eastern Suburbs Hakoah versus Mascot Vipers at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Win-less Mascot have shown genuine signs of improvement, while Easts have shown a yo-yo sheet of tricks – the only problem for Hakoah is they’ve been up and down more times.
But the easterners will surely look to a stunning opening 9-2 victory over Vipers that kickstarted their belief and go from there.
– By Dan de Nardi
