Round 12 Preview – Futsal Premier League Open Men’s
With the Futsal Premier League Open Men’s competition so close, it’s approaching the time of the year when one result can inspire or end finals hopes.
In round 12 action, Dural Warriors and Mountain Majik both need a win to keep their hopes alive. While no top four team is safe in their pursuit. It all sets up a riveting weekend of action!
Dural Warriors v Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Futsal Club; Saturday 26 November, 4:50pm, The Centre Dural
Dural Warriors will be aiming to keep their finals hopes alive when they play host to Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at the Centre.
With their top four hopes hanging by a thread, last week was an important win for Dural Warriors who just about kept pace with the final’s positions. It was an expected win though with this weekend bringing a tougher test, still you can only beat who is in front of you and five different goal scorers ensured they did it in style. Look out for some returning faces to take the pitch in this must win contest.
Last weekend was a big one for Eastern Suburbs Hakoah as well. After previously winning matches in which they were favourites for, they took it up a level and claimed victory over Enfield Allstars. Managing to just stay ahead of their opponents throughout, goals came through Gilad Swartz, Jonathan Lynch and Emmanuel Tzanakes. Sitting in fourth, they could firm their grasp on the position with another victory here.
Previous Meeting: Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 2-2 Dural Warriors
Campbelltown City Quake Futsal Club v UTS Northside Futsal Club; Saturday 26 November, 5:30pm, Minto Indoor Sports Centre
Fresh off a round eleven victory, UTS Northside make the trip to Sydney’s South-West to take on Campbelltown City Quake.
Since the last meeting between these two, it’s been a rocky period for UTS Northside with two wins in their last six. Indeed this game the first-time round was the last time they secured back-to-back wins. Anyway last week was a good one for the side beating joint competition leaders Inner West. Four different scorers highlighted a complete performance on the pitch and they’ll be favourites for this one Saturday afternoon.
Sending one of their own out on a high, that’s the task for Campbelltown City Quake leading into the final few rounds of the season with the pending retirement of Dean Lockhart. It’s been a tough learning curve for the Quake so far this season with just the one point to show from their eleven previous fixtures, last week going down to Dural Warriors 6-1 at Valentine Sports Park.
Previous Meeting: UTS Northside 5-1 Campbelltown City Quake
Inner West Futsal Club v Mascot Vipers; Saturday 26 November, 5:50pm, Valentine Sports Park
Second plays third in the Open Men’s competition when Inner West welcome Mascot Vipers to Valentine Sports Park.
With neither side secure just yet in the top four, there’s a lot on the line in this must not lose matchup.
We’ll start with Inner West who had a three-match winning streak snapped by UTS Northside last weekend (a side which seems to have their measure this season). If we take that out of the equation though, they’ve been doing exactly what they need too with some room for improvement. But there’s a confidence in the group that they will bounce here. They’ll have to do it without Daniel Fornito though who saw red last weekend.
No such problem for Mascot Vipers who come into this one on the back of four straight victories. It’s a run which they needed to go on after a rough start of the season. Last weekend they were tested by Mountain Majik yet eventually prevailed. With a strong core of players on the court, things just seem to be coasting along nicely right now from a Vipers perspective. We’ll see if it continues this weekend…
Previous Meeting: Mascot Vipers 3-6 Inner West
Enfield Allstars v Mountain Majik Futsal Club; Saturday 26 November, 6:50pm, Morris Iemma Indoor SC
In danger of dropping out of the finals race, Mountain Majik visit the out of form competition leaders Enfield Allstars to conclude our weekend serving.
There’s five points between these two but both these sides come in to it in similar form with two wins and three defeats in their past five.
For Enfield Allstars, they’ll just be hoping to avoid a 3-2 score line this weekend after going down to Inner West and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah in that fashion in recent weeks. Last weekend, they were just kept at arm’s length by Hakoah despite scoring through Dominic Cox and Dean Skiadaresis. In team news, they’ll be without Charles Abou Serhal here after seeing red.
This stands as a big test for Mountain Majik heading into the final three rounds. Win here and they are in with a good chance of finals, lose though and things get a lot tougher. Last weekend they were just left a bit wanting after their fixture with Mascot Vipers. By all reports they were value for at least a point, but it just wasn’t to be with Chris Barbera picking up a brace. Finals a few weeks early, we’ll know a whole lot more by the time the review comes around.
Previous Meeting: Mountain Majik 1-3 Enfield Allstars
By Justin Smith
