SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 14 Open Men’s Review
The curtain has come down on another exciting and thrilling SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 season, as we have our four semi-finalists – congratulations to Sydney City Eagles, SD Raiders FC, Phoenix FC and West City Crusaders.
It was a final round filled with goals, drama and fustal as the race went down to the wire! Let’s get onto the review.
Match of the Round: SD Raiders FC 8 defeated Phoenix Futsal Club 4
SD Raiders FC laid down a marker before the finals as they blitzed Phoenix Futsal Club 8-4 in a frantic and fitting finale to a massive regular season, at Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Patrick Antelmi put in a masterful performance, with his hat-trick that powered SD Raiders FC to the victory after being locked at 2-2 at the break. SD Raiders FC were ruthless after the resumption as they hammered in six goals as Matthew Barkho, Nick Carle, Declan Cotter, Josh Da Silva and Luis Ferreira all featured in the goalscoring department in a finals preview for their rematch in January.
Phoenix Futsal Club battled hard for much of the contest, matching SD Raiders FC in the first half with goals to Angus Chance and Tom Louw. Louw briefly had them ahead in the 30th minute but a few defensive mistakes crept in as they fell by the wayside. Cedric Danso-Boame found a late consolation for the final scoreline.
The action got off to a fast start, within the first 120 seconds, Patrick Antelmi smashed in the first goal of the contest. He pounced on a turnover at mid-court before making it 1-nil to SD Raiders FC.
Much of the slick work from Phoenix FC came through headgeared Angus Chance and Tom Louw. The former was teed up for Phoenix’s first chance which was deflected over then Louw couldn’t sweep home at the back post in the seventh minute.
Chance made the most of his next opportunity. The attacker skipped past one defender with his footwork before Chance finished well in the bottom left of the net, making it 1-1 with only eight minutes on the clock.
In a rare moment for Antelmi, he was denied in the 11th minute by the hands of Phoenix ‘keeper James Brunacci after a thunderous drive that reverberated around the Leisure centre. Brunacci was kept busy all afternoon with SD Raiders taking plenty of shots on his goal.
SD Raiders regained their lead in the 17th minute after some crisp futsal opened up the Phoenix FC defense, allowed Matthew Barkho to tap home, his fourth of the season, as they took a one-goal lead for the second time in the contest.
The visitors showed how slick their attack can be when it clicks for the equaliser headed into the break. Chance, Connor Slater worked a tic-tac-toe opening for Tom Louw to hammer home the ball for 2-2 as the game headed to the break locked up.
Right from the whistle again, SD Raiders FC looked to pepper Brunacci. Bruno Antelmi linked up with brother Patrick, as the latter couldn’t flick the ball home from close range then Bruno tried an acrobatic effort that floated over.
For the first time in the contest, Phoenix FC did take a lead. It came after Bruno Antelmi was shown a second yellow and marched off the pitch. Louw popped up again for Phoenix and completed his brace, making it 3-2.
That goal seemed to anger the home side. Brunacci was called into action twice, making two huge saves to hold onto their single goal lead before Antelmi picked the lock, brushed off a defender to arrow home for 3-3.
That started an onslaught for SD Raiders FC. Antelmi completed his hat-trick in the 37th, Joshua Da Silva cracked an effort against the post then the poacher followed up to make it 4-3. Next, Declan Cotter had a low drive fizz into the net, suddenly it was 5-3.
From here it was all SD Raiders, Luis Ferreira added the sixth after some slick work from the attack, quickly followed by Nick Carle and Josh Da Silva ballooning the score line out to 8-3. The assault underlined how dangerous SD Raiders are when their attack clicks.
Phoenix FC did fight until the final whistle, Cedric Danso-Boame added a late consolation as the visitors went to the fifth man to generate some attack. Danso-Boame finished well from a kick-in, 8-4 but the damage had been done earlier in the half in a 12-goal contest.
Afterwards a delighted Sergio Malfara praised the killer instinct of his side as they finished off the regular season with a win after a few lean weeks, and look forward to the finals:
“It’s definitely one of the better performances. We haven’t won in the last month, great to get out of that rut. It is funny how it works out that we’ll meet again in the finals. Now, we’ll have a break before getting back into it in January.” said Malfara.
On the hat-trick hero, Patrick Antelmi: “his quality speaks for itself. He gives us so much upfront and showed that in his three goals tonight. Hopefully he can continue that goalscoring into the finals as well.” finished Malfara.
For Phoenix FC’s Elliot Jurd whilst he was disappointed with the loss, he remained upbeat about his side’s chances when they come up against SD Raiders again in a few weeks:
“I’m really happy with how we played tonight. We were missing three or four of our starters but showed fight in getting back into the contest. We just ran out of legs near the end there,” said Jurd.
“Credit to them, they play some great stuff and we need to work on defending that. A few defensive lapses late in the contest which I wasn’t happy about but we get another crack at them in January which should be a good contest.” finished the Phoenix FC boss.
Match Stats
Saturday 22 December 2018
Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre, Fairfield
Referee: J Katz
2nd Referee: M Liminos
3rd Referee: A Valiente
SD Raiders FC 8 (Antelmi 3, Barkho, Carle, Cotter, Da Silva, Ferreira)
Phoenix FC 4 (Louw 2, Chance, Danso-Boame)
SD Raiders FC: 1. IBRAHIM Daniel, 7. FERREIRA Luis, 8. MONGE Adrian, 9. ANTELMI Bruno, 11. DA SILVA Joshua, 17. MOLINA Diego, 18. DA SILVA SANTOS Matias, 19. COTTER Declan, 23. BARKHO Matthew, 25. CARLE Nick, 52. MASSAROTTO Matthew, 55. ANTELMI Patrick
Yellow cards: B Antelmi ‘23
Red cards: B Antelmi ‘27
Phoenix Futsal Club: 1. BRUNACCI James, 3. CHANCE Angus, 4. LOUW Tom, 7. WYLIE Isaac, 10. DENIS Ethan, 11. BATTESIN Tayller, 15. ANWARI Omar, 16. VANDERVELDE Jack, 18. ALLEN Tyler, 19. DANSO-BOAME Cedric, 20. SLATER Connor, 23. MURRAY Justin
Yellow cards: Denis ‘23
Red cards: nil
Rest of Round 14 Matches
It came with a whimper not a bang, no not the end of the world but the top four chase. West City Crusaders clung onto the final spot in the top four, after a 4-4 draw against a gallant Boomerangs FS side on a wonderful night of entertainment at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium. Both sides will be happy after the draw, Boomerangs FS scooped the Club Champions by a couple of points from Raiders FC. The ‘rangs had Michael Rinaudo’s hat-trick to help matters alongside a solo strike from Nicholas Dahl. The only blight on the evening for the visitors is the red card to Glenn Smith. Crusaders ended up getting the result they needed, thanks to goals from constants Ryan Faulkner, Greg Kondek and Benjamin Lam alongside another goal that pipped Taipans on goal difference, but the side from Windsor won’t mind as they move into the finals!
South Coast Taipans hit them with their best shot, triumphing 10-5 against Sydney Futsal Club in a goal fest down at UOW Sports Hub, but it wasn’t enough, as they miss out on the finals on goal difference. Matthew Mazevski stormed to the golden boot with a massive haul of six goals for Taipans. Mitchell Ferraro chipped in with a pair as the home side were ruthless in front of goal, going out to a 7-3 half-time lead. Cody Waller and Kei Mitani added the other two goals in an afternoon to remember for South Coast Taipans. For Sydney Futsal Club, they aren’t to be forgotten in this contest – scoring five goals themselves. Anthony Musumeci signed off for the season with a hat-trick while their other two main marksmen this season – Nathan Spinola and Nelson Louang-Amath – found the net in the fifteen-goal bonanza.
Wobbling in the last few weeks, Sydney City Eagles despite their absences finished the regular season on a high, defeating Raiders FC, 7-2 as the visitors bowed out in disappointing fashion for the season. The Eagles showed tremendous spirit, despite their absences to pile on seven goals. Two of their main weapons, Peter Pelekanos and Aaron Cimitile scored braces while Judah Cleur got himself on the scoresheet again alongside Giovanni Strati and Nikita Parkes in the unexpected success. Raiders FC had an inconsistent season shown in their final display, but Hassan Jalloh and Slaven Ljuboja gave them some joy with strikes.
Hope all the teams enjoy their break across the festive season, then we’re back for a fantastic finals series which takes place across the weekend of the 19-20th of January.
-By Justin Davies
