Round 7 Preview – Futsal Premier League Open Women
Women’s Futsal Premier League round-seven Saturday pits Campbelltown Quake versus UTS Northside, Boomerangs FS play Mascot Vipers, Inner West Magic host Eastern Suburbs Hakoah, and Enfield Allstars face Mountain Majik.
Campbelltown Quake UTS Northside Minto Sports Stadium 3.50pm Saturday 2 November
Boomerangs FS Mascot Vipers AIS Training Halls 4.50pm Saturday 2 November
Inner West Magic Eastern Subs Hakoah Valentine Sports Park 5.20pm Saturday 2 November
Enfield Allstars Mountain Majik Morris Iemma Sports Centre 6.50pm Saturday 2 November
Campbelltown Quake v UTS Northside
It’s a top-four Saturday-afternoon stoush when Campbelltown Quake host UTS Northside at Minto Sports Stadium.
Northside will be on a high following their 4-3 triumph against Inner West on the weekend, their first-ever victory over Magic in 15 league meetings and a result that gained them a top-four foothold.
They’ve also got a tight winning record over Quake, 5-4, with all but two matches decided by two goals or less, four of them by one goal.
After winning their first four Campbelltown have dropped their last two games against top-two Mascot and Inner West to head UTS by two points on the ladder.
They’re also without their two highest scorers Claire Walsh and Darcey Malone to create a real headache for coach Mel Keith – but who knows what tricks she’s got up her sleeve?
Boomerangs FS v Mascot Vipers
It’ll be a tough ask for Boomerangs FS against Mascot Vipers at the AIS Training Halls on Saturday afternoon.
Mascot are flying high with six-straight victories to lead their closest rivals by six points on the season-turn for home.
They’ve beaten Boomerangs in five of six meetings, including all three encounters in the capital culminating in a 6-0 shut-out in their most recent run in January 2017 – also their only Training Halls contest.
A seventh Vipers victory would equal the club’s best run over the past eight years and they’re 14 points off their highest season points-haul (33 in 2016/17) with eight matches still to come.
Inner West Magic v Eastern Suburbs Hakoah
Inner West Magic will be fired up for their Saturday-afternoon Eastern Suburbs Hakoah clash at Valentine Sports Park.
Magic’s first-ever loss to Northside has exposed some cracks in the defending triple trophy-holders as they slipped six points off the pace set by Mascot.
And despite being the competition’s leading scorers, Rhianna Pollicina booting 12 in six rounds, they embarrassingly boast the third-worst defense with 19 concessions only better than Mountain (21) and Enfield (33) – last year Magic leaked just 14 goals for the entire summer!
But on home turf they’re simply the best with a 63% winning rate over the past eight seasons, Dural (58%), Northside (55%) and Campbelltown (53%) next best; and Hakoah can only match it with a paltry 22% success rate on the road (just two wins in nine away fixtures) only better than Boomerangs (17%) and Phoenix (19%), and they haven’t won in their last five tries as visitors.
Easts risk falling off the pace without some more positive results, and they’ll be buoyed by last December’s 2-2 draw they earned against a rampant Magic.
They’ll also get a good practice run in their Futsal Cup round-of-16 clash at Valentine Sports Park tonight (Wednesday).
Enfield Allstars v Mountain Majik
Enfield Allstars head down the steps for a basement battle against Mountain Majik at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Both sides have suffered this season with goals-for hard to come by and goals-against hard to stop, but they’ll at least head into this contest with a sniff of victory.
The sides have split their historical record six-wins apiece (one draw) and, although Mountain’s won the last four meetings, four of the last six games have been tight one-goal margins.
