SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 11 Open Men’s Review
In the final act of a wonderful weekend of futsal action, we were witness to four action-packed games of futsal which saw Sydney City Eagles remain unbeaten, SD Raiders FC and Phoenix Futsal Club both stay in the top four with their victories and South Coast Taipans six-point weekend might give them a late boost.
Let’s get onto the review!
Match of the Round: Raiders Futsal Club 4 defeated SD Raiders FC 5
SD Raiders have produced a remarkable comeback, scoring five straight goals to defeat Raiders FC, 5-4 in a hotly contested game at Thomas Hassell Anglican College on Sunday evening.
For the first 20 minutes of the contest, Raiders FC looked in cruise control. Goals from Anthony Tomelic, Hassan Jalloh, James Letta and Jovan Miladinovic put them 4-nil up as the home side looked much more clinical in front of goal. It all fell to bits in a tense second half as Raiders FC remarkably sit fourth and in the final top four spot.
Regarding SD Raiders, it must’ve been nice to be on the right side of a comeback after their collapse the day before against Sydney City Eagles. Between the 20th and 27th minute they clawed back the deficit with a Patrick Antelmi hat-trick set them on course after Sebastian Malfara’s opener. John Fahmi turned game winner with his 46th minute goal that keeps them in second position.
The home side started with a bang, an angled ball found Anthony Tomelic in stride. The poacher poked the ball home for his eighth goal of the season, made it 1-nil for Raiders FC after only two minutes gone in the contest.
They continued to pile on the pressure, Slaven Ljuboja arrowed wide from a quick free-kick routine then James Letta was released on goal but couldn’t find his feet enough to create a shot.
John Fahmi searched for a response for SD Raiders FC. After Ibrahim Daniel came out to shut down an attack, it gave him space to shoot for the open net but he curled the ball over the bar.
Hassan Jalloh provided a moment of as Ned Zelic would say “individual brilliance.” the attacker showed off some dazzling footwork to weave past the SD Raiders FC defence before he clipped the ball home for a 2-nil lead after 10 minutes.
Letta after his earlier missed chance, he made it three after he profited in a one-on-one duel with SD Raiders Nick Carle. He cleverly poked the ball away from the SD Raider, bore down on goal and swept home, making it 3-nil as the College was rocking.
In the most flowing movement of the half, Damien Smith got Raiders FC moving with a quick pass to Tomelic, the attacker feigned to fire in his second before he spied Miladinovic at the far post, swept it to him to make it 4-nil after a breathless 20-minute barrage.
Raiders FC did have chances to extend their lead. They had three ten-metre penalties in the contest but all three – one in the first and two in the second half – were missed by Tomelic, Miladinovic and S. Ljuboja on a frustrated night.
SD Raiders weren’t going to remain scoreless though, the second-best attack in the competition clicked into gear in the 21st minute. Sebastian Malfara clawed one back for 4-1 quickly followed by Patrick Antelmi’s weaved effort for 4-2 and some nerves in the home team headed into the break.
Those fears turned to reality after the break. Antelmi was invited onto his right foot and rattled an effort into the net from a narrow angle to make it 4-3. He completed the hat-trick and the comeback in the 27th minute, a fierce strike almost burst the net, 4-4 and the whole complexion of the contest had changed.
Tomelic tried to wrest back some control for Raiders FC, a low free-kick banged into the wall before Jalloh rolled into space again, just couldn’t find a finish to restore the lead. Kodai Hayashi entered the game and rattled the bar as frustration grew in the Raiders ranks.
The contest continued to swing up and down the court, as the two sides searched for a fifth goal which looked to be increasingly the game-winner. Antelmi rattled the post with an effort for SD Raiders FC then Joshua Da Silva couldn’t hook home a 37th minute strike.
John Fahmi found himself the hero for SD Raiders. In a sweeping move that surged them down court, Fahmi was the man of the moment, he slotted home the important fifth goal, SD Raiders seventh win of the season in a wonderful contest.
Afterwards SD Raiders FC coach Sergio Malfara was delighted to be on the other side of a comeback today after the events of yesterday.
“To turn around a four-goal deficit is a good result, but we are still leaving it way too late for these things in games and it might bite us. Four points is a good haul from the weekend but I still think we should’ve taken more from Saturday.” finished Malfara.
For an emotional Goran Ljuboja, Sunday was another example of Raiders FC hot and cold effort thus far this season, and now they remain on a knife’s edge to make the top four.
“Every week is the same. We lost it. Four-nil up, cruising and we just collapsed after that. It’s disheartening to lose like that, after the opposition having half our chances whilst we hit the bar, post and everything in sight.” said Ljuboja.
Match Stats
Sunday 2nd December 2018
Thomas Hassell Anglican College
Referee: M Renton
2nd Referee: T Brown
Raiders FC 4 (Jalloh, Letta, Miladinovic, Tomelic)
SD Raiders FC 5 (Antelmi 3, Fahmi, Malfara)
Raiders FC: 1. DANIEL Ibrahim, 2. SMITH Damien, 3. HAYASHI Kodai, 4. SAVETTA Adam, 5. LETTA James, 7. MILADINOVIC Jovan, 8. LJUBOJA Goran, 9. JALLOH Hassan, 10. LJUBOJA Slaven, 11. DOUZIAN Garen, 15. TOMELIC Anthony, 42. HANNAH Lawrence, 71. RADMILLO Bojan, 72. CHEUNG Troy
Yellow cards: G. Ljuboja, Smith
Red cards: nil
SD Raiders FC: 1. IORFINO Adrian, 6. ANTELMI Patrick, 7. FERREIRA Luis, 10. FAHMI John, 11. DA SILVA Joshua, 15. MALFARA Sebastian, 17. MOLINA Diego, 18. DA SILVA SANTOS Matias, 19. COTTER Declan, 23. BARKHO Matthew, 25. CARLE Nick, 43. IBRAHIM Daniel
Yellow cards: Malfara, Molina
Red cards: nil
Rest of Round 11 Matches
It was a six-point weekend for South Coast Taipans. They piled on the goals as they triumphed 5-1 against West City Crusaders down at UOW Sports Hub on Sunday afternoon. Crusaders were the fastest out of the blocks, Ryan Faulkner fired home after six minutes to make it 1-nil. From there, it was all Taipans. Cody Waller bookended the performance with his brace, sandwiched between was Kyle Del’s brace and the usual goal from Matthew Mazevski for his 12th of the season. That result takes them to nine points for the season and maybe, a late push for the finals.
Buoyed by their stellar comeback on Saturday, Sydney City Eagles returned to winning ways in a 4-2 result against Boomerangs FS which leaves them three weeks away from a perfect regular season. Robert Perre made it a goalscoring weekend for both Perres after his opener followed by Aaron Cimitile’s 12th of the season for the 2-nil half-time score for the Eagles. Judah Cleur and Michael Cimino fired home after the break for the third and fourth respectively. Whilst for the visitors, Nicholas Dahl and Daniel Giovinazzi found the net, as Boomerangs left the weekend empty handed on the Open Mens side of things.
Phoenix Futsal Club were another side that bounced back, they remained shorthanded for their contest against Sydney Futsal Club but they were victorious, 3-2 in the Sunday night contest at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence. Ibrahim Sweedan and Joshua Mathie gave Phoenix the perfect start with first half goals, the second a rocket from Mathie that almost burst the net. Sydney showed superb character as they pulled the game back to 2-2, a brace from Nathan Spinola had the Centre rocking as it might be back-to-back victories for the home side. Alas, it wasn’t to be – Connor Slater popped up to score the winner for Phoenix that has them embedded in third position, eight clear of their closest rivals in fourth.
-By Justin Davies
