Round 8 Review – Futsal Premier League 2 Open Men’s
Round 8 delivered goals in huge order. 30 were scored across four absorbing contests which saw Dural Warriors extend their lead at the top of the Futsal Premier League 2 competition while West City Crusaders, SD Raiders Futsal and Phoenix Futsal Club were also victorious on a splendid weekend of futsal.
Match of the Round: Raiders Futsal Club 2 defeated by West City Crusaders 6
It was three games unbeaten for West City Crusaders as they triumphed 6-2 against a stubborn Raiders Futsal Club Saturday night at Thomas Hassell Anglican College in the Match of the Round.
The result leaves West City Crusaders closer to the edge of the top four just a single point away from SD Raiders Futsal and Sydney City Eagles. James Law and Abdul Mohseni led the way with braces while strikes from Ryan Faulkner and James Mawein saw them start the second half with style.
Raiders Futsal Club will be frustrated with tonight’s result after getting the best possible start of Adolph Koudakpo scoring after three minutes. They gave away a few sloppy goals before Adam Voloder pulled one back but despite their late powerplay it wasn’t enough to stop them having their three-game unbeaten streak snapped.
This was two sides coming into the contest in form, Raiders Futsal Club started faster with Adolph Koudakpo flashed a header wide in the 3rd minute. Koudakpo made amends with his second chance as he thrashed home for an early 1-nil lead.
Matthew Filipovic tried to double the advantage for the home side when he squeezed past a pair of defenders in the 12th minute but arrowed his effort wide of the post. Raiders Futsal Club were in firm control but were vulnerable on the counter.
Crusaders warmed into the contest and found their equaliser. James Law broke quickly after a Raiders Futsal Club attack broke down then slotted home at the near post to make it 1-1.
Law continued to be the talisman for the Crusaders attack. He had a curling effort saved in the 15th then he combined well with Ryan Faulkner to create a corner for the visitors. The resulted set piece was fizzed in low but saved.
Raiders Futsal Club tried to respond with Tomas Medimurac dinked effort saved then a late effort from Koudakpo, who had several efforts to dig out the chance but the dogged defense of the Crusaders swept the ball away.
Crusaders added a pair of goals before the half-time break, Abdul Mohseni was on hand to sweep home after a blocked effort to make 2-1 then Faulkner tapped home in the 24th minute to give them a 3-1 cushion headed into half-time.
The game settled into a rhythm coming out of half-time as the two sides tried to establish themselves again. Faulkner weaved through the Raiders defense but couldn’t find a finish then a quick break from James Mawein and Simon Zahra ended with the latter slashing wide.
Kodai Hayashi went the closest for Raiders after the restart when he tried to invent a finish but the attacker flicked it over the bar. Raiders Futsal Club started to put the foot to the pedal in trying to get back into the contest.
The visitors continued to keep them at arm’s length with a fourth goal to stretch their lead to three. Once again, it was the Faulkner and Law combination that broke open the Raiders defense with Law sliding home at the back post, 4-1.
Needing a goal quickly to get back into the contest, Raiders Futsal Club responded immediately through Adam Voloder which clawed it back to 4-2 to give them a sniff and keep their unbeaten streak alive in the competition.
The closest Raiders Futsal Club went to reducing the deficit was a pair of efforts from Hayashi which forced the Crusaders keeper into saves then late on Jovan Miladinovic rattled the bar after the home side went on the powerplay.
Crusaders kept themselves compact in defense and converted two more chances to blow the scoreline out to 6-2. Mohseni followed up his first half goal with a deflected free-kick for 5-2 then Mawein rolled home an empty net goal to complete a comfortable Crusaders win.
Speaking afterwards West City Crusaders star Simon Zahra was pleased with the effort of the Crusaders who have started to find their groove after a slow start to the season:
“We came in confident after last week’s result and looked to focus on defense after conceding some soft goals in recent weeks. I thought we did well in defense and got some goals as well. We’re starting to get our troops back and showing what we can do.” said Zahra.
Match Stats
Saturday 9 November 2019
Thomas Hassell Anglican College, Middleton Grange
Referee: L. Hines
2nd Referee: S. Boon
3rd Referee: A. Naji
Raiders Futsal Club 2 (Koudakpo, Voloder)
West City Crusaders 6 (Law 2, Mohseni 2, Faulkner, Mawein)
Raiders Futsal Club: 1. DANIEL Ibrahim, 2. VOLODER Adam, 3. HAYASHI Kodai, 4. SAVETTA Adam, 7. MILADINOVIC Jovan, 8. LJUBOJA Goran, 9. FILIPOVIC Marko, 10. LJUBOJA Slaven, 12. CAKOVSKI Justin, 13. KOUDAKPO Adolph, 14. WRIGHT Cameron, 21. MEDIMURAC Tomas, 23. LATTUGA Jacob
Yellow cards: Miladinovic, Filipovic, G. Ljuboja
Red cards: nil
West City Crusaders: 2. MANGAL Arsallan, 4. ESLAMI Majid, 5. MOHSENI Abdul, 6. PERRI Antonio, 7. LAW James, 9. MURRELL Alexander, 10. FAULKNER Ryan, 11. LADD Brycen, 15. MAWEIN James, 21. ZAHRA Simon, 33. BOAMAH ADDAI Kwadwo
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards: nil
SD Raiders Futsal 5 defeated Sydney City Eagles 4
SD Raiders Futsal edged out Sydney City Eagles in a pulsating derby clash 5-4 on Saturday afternoon which lit up Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre.
These two sides have played out some classic contests and Saturday was no different. Nine goals, nine cards and a red card to Joshua Da Silva made it a wonderful afternoon of futsal. SD Raiders Futsal took a slight advantage into the break 3-2.
For the home side, the scoring was shared around. Matthew Barkho, Joshua Da Silva and Diego Molina all found the back of the net while Jordan Figon and Daniel Ibrahim got their maiden goals of the season in the success which has them sat in equal third.
A Sam Perre hat-trick wasn’t enough to grab victory for the Eagles which took the attacker’s tally to eight goals for the season. Michael Cimino slotted home the other goal for the visitors who fell to back-to-back defeats.
Dural Warriors 6 defeated South Coast Taipans 1
Dural Warriors continued on their merry way with a 6-1 result against South Coast Taipans on Saturday afternoon at The Centre – Dural in a top four clash.
Saturday’s result makes it 11 goals scored for Dural in their two clashes this week after their 5-4 win against SD Raiders Futsal midweek. It also stretched their lead at the summit of the competition to seven points over Raiders Futsal Club.
Wade Giovenali led the goalscoring for Dural Warriors with a hat-trick taking the talented attacker’s tally to 14 for the season. Most of the goals came in the second half with the home side taking a 2-nil lead into the break.
Sam De Oliveira continued his strong form with another goal while Brandon Vella and Ahmed Sweedan both chipped in with the other goals to make it seven straight victories for the relegated side from Futsal Premier League 1.
For the visiting Taipans, Zachary Mazevski scored their consolation goal in the second half. Afterwards coach Bobby Mazevski offered no excuses for his side’s performance as his side were on the wrong end of key moments against an experienced Warriors side who are ruthless.
Phoenix Futsal Club 5 defeated Sydney Futsal Club 3
The drought is over for Phoenix Futsal Club. They picked up their first win of the season in a 5-3 success against a resilient Sydney Futsal Club Saturday night at PCYC Hornsby.
It was a result achieved in exciting fashion. Phoenix Futsal Club strode out to a 4-1 lead headed into the final ten minutes which was helped by braces from Ibrahim Sweedan and sharpshooter Jordan Smylie that had them on course to a maiden win.
Sydney Futsal Club did find a first half goal through Giacomo Di Mento before the goal scorer received his marching orders alongside Phoenix Futsal Club’s Ibrahim Sweedan. The visitors then clawed it back to 4-3 with a quickfire double from Alexander Nicolosi.
Phoenix Futsal Club refused to surrender the three points with Angus Chance’s goal giving them a two-goal buffer and some joyous celebration at the full-time whistle as the home side got off the duck egg and put some space between themselves and eighth spot.
By Justin Davies (@JustDavies90)
