SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 8 Open Men’s Review
While the top of the SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 remained unchanged, there was some movement through the middle, as four exciting futsal matches helped to keep everyone guessing on the makeup of the top four at the end of the season. Let’s get onto the review!
Match of the Round: West City Crusaders 4 defeated Phoenix Futsal Club 2
West City Crusaders have thrown themselves right into the finals mix after a thrilling 4-2 success against a downbeat Phoenix Futsal Club, Saturday evening at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium.
There was an edge to the Crusaders from the opening whistle, they pressed the Phoenix side well and earnt their rewards late in the first half. Kwadwo Boamah Addai opened the scoring then completed the brace in the second as Ryan Faulkner added to the blitz with his own brace, as they remain in the hunt for the finals.
Phoenix Futsal were understrength but admitted they were off character. They missed chances in the first half then found some late joy with Joshua Mathie and Jordan Smylie netted. It was scant consolation as they cling to their top four spot with the chasing pack closing in.
It took less than a minute for the Crusaders to test the Phoenix defence, a lofted ball found the head of Peter Malecki, he rose high but nodded the ball over the line, but a signal from intent from the home side.
Simon Zahra found himself at the heart of plenty of the Crusaders movement in their impressive first half display. He had a pair of chances in the fifth minute which were blocked expertly by Phoenix keeper, James Brunacci.
Crusaders continued their onslaught as Benjamin Lam angled wide in the seventh, followed by Gregory Kondek stamping his mark on the game, with a pair of efforts himself. His combination with Ryan Faulkner opened up the Phoenix on several occasions.
The goal seemed to be inevitable, and it came in the 13th minute. Kwadwo Boamah-Addai drove well down the court, then curved the ball past Brunacci, handed Crusaders a deserved 1-nil lead.
While they were on the backfoot for much of the half, Phoenix did find joy through their talisman in Jordan Smylie. The attacker broke quickly twice in the first half, but both of those skewed wide of the goal.
Zahra had the chance to end the half on a sweeter note for Crusaders. First, he got picked out expertly from a switch but couldn’t angle home. Right on the buzzer, he got given a chance for a penalty from a fifth foul.
He stepped up confidently but Brunacci advanced bravely, denied him the space for the spot kick and kept the deficit at one, headed into the break. Crusaders dominated but they needed to add a few more goals.
Again, Crusaders broke out of the blocks quickly. The Kondek and Faulkner connection opened some promising chances but they were spurned. Zahra had another sight on goal, but again missed the net.
They did add their second soon enough, Kondek pounced on an errant entry pass from Phoenix, waited before he laid it off to Faulkner to slot home, 2-nil a much more reflective score line of how it had unfolded.
That goal seemed to open the floodgates briefly. Lam cushioned the ball into the path of Boamah-Addai the striker took it in stride well, to tap home. Suddenly, it was 3-nil and the Crusaders were on a rampage.
Boamah-Addai turned provider for the fourth strike. He stunned the defenders with some dazzling display of footwork before he cut it back to Faulkner, the man in position, he slotted the ball home, as it ballooned to 4-nil.
Looking to save some face late in the contest, Phoenix added a pair of goals to Jordan Smylie, the attacker had a torrid time tonight but got some joy late. Joshua Mathie smashed home in the final minute to round off the 4-2 score line.
Speaking afterwards Ray Miller from West City Crusaders looked to use this victory as a platform for his side to start making a run at the top four in the final six weeks of the season:
“In Round 1 they outplayed us, so we looked to stop them getting into routines and we got our tactics right tonight. It was a good game, although we got complacent near the end and it cost us two goals,”
“We have a little bit of a run currently. We’ve struggled to score goals but with some players to come back, I think we’re going to be a hard team to beat in the run home.” finished Miller.
For Elliot Jurd, the Phoenix Futsal Club coach, his side suffered from their lack of numbers but remained upbeat that if they took their chances, it could have been a different outcome.
“We didn’t have the cattle today. The boys stood up, especially the youth boys, but we didn’t have the legs to break free from their press and play our game resulted from the lack of legs in the side,”
“We had four or five clear cut chances in the first half. If we put them away, it might be a different game. Credit to them, they played well and deserved their three points. We’ll go away and learn from that, get a few troops back for next week.” finished Jurd.
Match Stats
Saturday 17 November 2018
Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium
Referee: M. Ibrahim
2nd Referee: R. Fisher
3RD Referee: M. Renton
West City Crusaders 4 (Boamah Addai 2, Faulkner 2)
Phoenix Futsal Club 2 (Mathie, Smylie)
West City Crusaders: 1. SCHWARZER Daniel, 2. KONDEK Gregory, 3. MALECKI Peter, 9. MURRELL Alexander, 10. FAULKNER Ryan, 14. LAM Benjamin, 16. PERRI Antonio, 19. ZAHRA Simon, 33. BOAMAH ADDAI Kwadwo
Yellow cards: Lam, Murrell
Red cards: nil
Phoenix Futsal Club: 1. BRUNACCI James, 5. MATHIE Joshua, 6. NELSON Todd, 7. WYLIE Isaac, 11. BATTESTIN Tayller, 16. VANDERWELDE Jack, 18. ALLEN Tyler, 20. SLATER Connor, 23. MURRAY Justin, 89. SMYLIE Jordan
Yellow cards: Brunacci
Red cards: nil
Other Round 8 Fixtures
Eight is great for Sydney City Eagles. They once again showed their clinical nature in the 7-1 result against a gallant South Coast Taipans side at UOW Sports Hub. Aaron Cimitile continued his red-hot form with a brace, alongside Judah Cleur bagging a pair. Sam Perre found himself on the scoresheet with Cameron Caligiuri and an own goal finished an afternoon where the Eagles dominated despite having some key personnel missing. The Taipans had their chances but spurned them which is becoming the story of their season. They did find a goal in the final minute to Matthew Mazevski to not be kept to nil.
It was back-to-back wins for SD Raiders Futsal as a second half blitz saw them overcome Sydney Futsal Club 5-2 in a wild affair at Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon. The first half was a tense affair as Patrick Antelmi for SD Raiders and Nelson Louang-Amath for Sydney traded scores for a 1-1 half-time scoreboard.
In the second half, it was all SD Raiders, Antelmi added a pair to complete his hat-trick and take his total to half a dozen for the season. Sebastian Malfara scored one of his own with an unfortunate own goal to balloon the score line out. For Sydney, Mohammed Jafari made it back-to-back strikes with his consolation as Joshua Yeates saw red late in the second half.
Down in the nation’s capital, Boomerangs FS delivered on their promise to take a big scalp, as they upended Raiders Futsal Club with a second half comeback, 4-2 at the AIS Training Halls on Saturday evening. Adam Savetta and Anthony Tomelic had Raiders Futsal on the right track for the three points before Jake Wilsener pulled one back for Boomerangs making it 2-1 at half-time.
From there, it was a Boomerangs avalanche of scoring, Benjamin Basser-Silk equalised before Ryan Quarmby and Nicholas Dahl put the game to bed with their strikes. The home sides victory has condensed the chasing pack for the final spot in the top four, and their coach admitted it was a relief to put the “nightmare behind them and hopefully start their charge to a finals spot.”
-By Justin Davies
