Round 1 Preview – Futsal Premier League Open Men’s

The 2019/20 Futsal Premier League season starts with Inner West Magic versus Mascot Vipers, followed by Boomerangs against Campbelltown Quake, Eastern Suburbs Hakoah play Mountain Majik, and Enfield Allstars play UTS Northside.

Inner West v Mascot

Inner West Magic battle old foes Mascot Vipers in a Saturday-afternoon feature at Valentine Sports Park.

The two clubs have fought it out on Futsal courts since, well, since a lot of the current crop were reading Harry Potter, and although it’s a lop-sided history between the foundation clubs it’s still quite a magical one.

Mascot’s only triumphed twice in 18 registered results against Inner West. Having said that, they hold the stick coming into this weekend’s encounter as they beat Magic 3-2 at this venue last December – their first fixture victory since September 2011.

More spell-binding is the fact 16 of the 18 matches have been decided by three goals or less to suggest there’s never been much between these clubs when they meet.

Vipers will want to keep an eye on wizard Daniel Fornito – he’s scored eight goals against them in the last five runs.

Boomerangs v Campbelltown

Boomerangs welcome Campbelltown Quake to the AIS Training Halls for a long-awaited Saturday evening catch-up.

Due to Campbelltown’s 2016/17 premier league hiccup these clubs haven’t met since early 2014, but it’s still a decent history between the pair.

Boomerangs hold a tender edge on Quake with three wins and two draws in seven league fixtures, but Campbelltown were the latest victors with an emphatic 5-1 win in a 2013/14 preliminary final that spoiled the Capital party after their best season finish (second).

Quake haven’t beaten the Territorians at the Training Halls in three outings – two 3-2 losses and a crazy 5-5 draw in their debut meeting in November 2011.

Mountain Majik v Hakoah

A fired-up Mountain Majik face Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at Blacktown Leisure Centre on Saturday evening.

The Mountain men produced their best season to date finishing second on the ladder behind Dural and beaten by eventual champions Enfield in the semi-finals.

There’s no Warriors this year [Ed: this will be mentioned throughout the season simply because Dural occupied a finals sport for nine straight years and finished first six times] so the Mountaineers will be sizing up a possible maiden premiership, but they’ve got to get past a side that troubled them in both encounters last summer.

Easts stunned Mountain 4-2 in their first serve and pushed them all the way in a 4-6 loss in the return fixture at this venue, Daniel Basger bagging a double in both clashes… this promises to be a fantastic match!

Enfield v UTS Northside

Reigning champions Enfield Allstars take on UTS Northside at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.

It’s the first time Enfield’s ever enjoyed hearing the term ‘reigning champions’ as an introduction, and they’re also going to find out that because of that term they’ll know what it’s like having a target on your back.

Allstars have a top-class record versus Northside winning seven and drawing one of the 10 league meetings, but UTS whipped them 5-1 in their first clash last season and were only edged 1-2 in the return bout, so they have showed plenty of determination against Enfield.

With an open playoff field this season the northerners will want to get off on the front foot but may find it already belongs to Shervin Adeli who’s scored 11 goals in 10 UTS fixtures, although Northside’s own Mason Ireland is also red-hot having scored six goals in the last three battles with Allstars.

-By Dan De Nardi