Round 9 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Men’s

2019/20 Men’s Futsal Premier League round-nine Saturday action saw Mountain Majik overcome Campbelltown Quake 7-6, Inner West Magic down Boomerangs FS 6-2, Eastern Suburbs Hakoah defeat UTS Northside, and Mascot Vipers drew 3-3 with Enfield Allstars.

The results kept Mascot (20 points) at the head of the leaderboard in front of Inner West (18) and a three-way tie for third – Easts (16), Northside (16) and Mountain (16) – will make it a riveting final five rounds of action.

Mountain Majik              7-6       Campbelltown Quake                              Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium    3.20pm Saturday 16 November

Mountain Majik 7 (Chris Barbera, Jamie Dib 2, Jordan Guerreiro 2) Campbelltown Quake (Bradon Clissold, Aidan Limbrey 2, Philip Hasiuk, Mark Symington, Dean Lockhart)

Inner West Magic          6-2       Boomerangs FS                        Valentine Sports Park                   6.20pm Saturday 16 November

Inner West Magic 6 (Daniel Fogarty 4, Daniel Fornito, Jonathan Barzel) Boomerangs FS 2 (Daniel Giovinazzo, Jayde James-Ward)

UTS Northside              1-4       Eastern Suburbs Hakoah           PCYC Dee Why                                          6.40pm Saturday 16 November

UTS Northside 1 (Grant Lynch) Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 4 (James Reed 2, Thomas McGowan, Alessandro Da Silva)

Enfield Allstars              3-3       Mascot Vipers                           Morris Iemma Sports Centre    7.50pm Saturday 16 November

Enfield Allstars 3 (Dominic Cox, Bruno Pivato 2) Mascot Vipers 3 (Jakob Radas, Bruno Mendes, Conor Quilligan)

Majik overpower Quake

Mountain Majik came from four goals down to edge Campbelltown Quake 7-6 in a thrilling encounter at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Win-less Campbelltown were red-hot for three-quarters of the game but couldn’t hold out a rampant Mountain finish that continued their rise up the ladder.

Majik scored first when Chris Barbera netted in the third-minute but Bradon Clissold responded for Quake before Aidan Limbrey and Philip Hasiuk goals gave the visitors a handy 3-1 buffer at oranges.

Campbelltown kept the fire burning after the break as Mark Symington and Limbrey strikes made it a healthy 5-1 advantage with just 10 minutes to play, but Mountain refused to lie down and take the beating.

Switching to a fifth-man powerplay Majik were simply unstoppable with Jamie Dib and Jordan Guerreiro both bagging braces in the run home to steal a glorious one-goal victory and joint-third place on the points ladder.

It was the third-highest scoring game Mountain’s been a part of and their best-ever comeback, and they’re showing a penchant for winning the tight ones – a third one-goal victory this summer and 13 wins in 20 matches overall decided by a single goal leading to a 65% success rate only bettered by Dural 75% and Inner West 67%.

Majik mastermind Jamie Amendolia knew he’d had a lucky escape but could only scratch his head as to his opponent’s ladder position.

“We dodged a bullet,” he said. “It’s very hard to understand why Quake are sitting winless. They played very well and we were fortunate we outplayed them in the last 10 minutes when we went to the powerplay.”

“There’s lots of work to do moving forward if we expect to be a top-four team.”

It was another gut-wrenching outcome for Campbelltown – a ninth-straight defeat doesn’t tell a truthful tale as six of those losses have been by two goals or less, and a goal-difference of -20 (from nine games) proves they’ve been competitive in every outing.

It was also the sixth time Quake have scored six goals in a premier league match and not come out on top.

Understandably, coach Symington was devastated but indicated big things lay ahead for youngster Limbrey, hinting a national youth call-up couldn’t be too far away.

“We were up 5-1. Lost 7-6. They went fifth man and we couldn’t go with them,” he lamented. “Aidan Limbrey stepped up from our youth side and was outstanding.”

Magic beat Boomerangs

A super Inner West Magic second-half set up a 6-2 Saturday-evening victory over Boomerangs FS to Valentine Sports Park.

An early Daniel Giovinazzo goal gave Boomerangs an electric start that Inner West’s Daniel Fogarty cancelled out just before halftime.

Magic pushed their noses in front through Daniel Fornito on the half-hour but Jayde James-Ward returned fire for the Territorians less than a minute later to make it 2-2 in a nail-biting affair.

Jonathan Barzel restored Inner West’s lead with 10 minutes to play and as Boomerangs pressed for an equaliser Fogarty flexed his muscle with three quick-fire goals that sealed a 6-2 victory to maintain second place in a tight competition.

Magic stretched their unbeaten run to eight games and Fogarty’s four-goal outing is Inner West’s highest individual game-tally in five years.

Boomerangs clubman Kristian Collins said the match only got away from them late.

“The score didn’t reflect the game as we gave up three goals late when we were chasing the result,” he said.

“It was fairly balanced early, both teams controlling the ball when in possession, and I thought it was a huge compliment to our defense when they went to powerplay at 1-1 in the second half.

“We managed to claw it back to 2-2 after going behind, but they lifted and being lower on numbers than we would have liked we couldn’t lift with them,” Collins said.

“The boys are committed to improving and you can see that in our performances each week.”

Easts nip Northside

A 4-1 victory for Eastern Suburbs Hakoah over UTS Northside at PCYC Dee Why on Saturday evening made the top-four race more packed than the M5 motorway in peak-hour.

With UTS coming off a huge Futsal Cup win over Inner West on Wednesday night and Hakoah a narrow loss, the combatants seemed up to the task with clear and determined intentions for all to see.

Both sides pressed relentlessly and Hakoah drew first blood with a cleverly-worked move from one end to the other, James Reed hitting the ball neatly into the back of the net in the third minute.

There were plenty of chances at both ends as bench players moved in and out of play, and it was Hakoah who scored next with mid-season purchase Ryuji Kagiya getting a neat through-ball from Tom McGowan to make it 2-0 at halftime.

Both coaches could be heard from the stands and with everything to play for the second half started like a cup final, but it was

Reed again finishing off a perfect move to make it 3-0 on the half-hour mark.

Northside’s Grant Lynch pulled one back to make it 3-1 with seven minutes to go before Alessandro Da Silva made sure of the Hakoah’s win with a last-minute goal.

Easts’ first-ever win against Northside made it a three-way tie for third place with five rounds left to play.

And after not being able to earn a single victory on the road last season Hakoah are four games unbeaten away from home this summer.

Enfield, Mascot draw

Enfield Allstars fought back to claim a 3-3 draw with Mascot Vipers at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.

Mascot shot to a 2-0 halftime lead and looked the goods for victory until Enfield stirred into action to claw their way back into the game, Bruno Pivato scoring twice and a Dominic Cox goal equaling Vipers goals from Jakob Radas, Bruno Mendes and Conor Quilligan.

Disappointed with the shared points, Mascot’s fifth away game unbeaten sets a new club benchmark after 13 top-flight seasons.

Next games

2019/20 Men’s Futsal Premier League round-10 Saturday action features Mountain Majik against Inner West Magic at Blacktown Leisure Centre (3.20pm), Campbelltown Quake take on Enfield Allstars at Minto Sports Stadium (4.50pm), Boomerangs host Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at Q-One Indoor Sports Queanbeyan (5.50pm), and Mascot Vipers play UTS Northside at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (7.50pm).