Valentine Park in Glenwood, Sydney was the venue for the Round 3 match up against the historically most successful club in FNSW futsal history – Inner West Magic.
Again the day started with some early development squad matches for the 9, 10 and 11 year old boys and girls. The 11/12 girls are highly competitive in these matches so far this season, with the youngest of the boys still needing some work to match the level of the stronger Sydney clubs.
The competitive matches for the day started with the 12 boys, 13 girls and the rest of the junior squads, culminating in the Open Women at 6.40pm and the Men at 7.40pm.
It was once again a tough day of competition for the club with all teams showing some progression and development, but most not quite at the standard to beat the best teams in the league — and it’s been a tough inauguration into the return to the top flight competition with three tough rounds to open the season.
The 12 boys were far too slow out of the blocks in comparison to the home team and found themselves behind from the get-go. A seven-goal halftime deficit was always going to be difficult to overcome. However, the boys lifted in the second stanza to finish the game much stronger than they started. Boomerangs 1-9 Magic
The 13 girls started the game strongly and had a very competitive first half, going into the break all square at 1-1. The second half saw the girls on the back foot for most of the 20 minutes and conceding twice, whilst struggling to find an avenue to goal. Boomerangs 1-3 Magic
The 14 boys match was a totally one-sided affair with the very strong and fast home team dominating to take a seven-goal lead into the break. The second half continued in much the same vain with the valiant Boomers failing to find a way to stop the Magic machine. Boomerangs 2-12 Magic
The 15 girls match was fast and furious and full of goals: attributes usually associated with boys games. The girls mixed it with the home side in the first half going into the break 2-4 down. The second half continued in much the same vain but with Magic able to find the back of the net two more times, and the visitors not once. Boomerangs 2-6 Magic
The 16 boys was another match the travelling Boomerangs probably could have taken. The first half saw them compete – and defend – brilliantly, seeing them work hard to keep the halftime score at 0-0. The second half though – after conceding two early goals – had the Boomers lose confidence and energy and saw them concede a few more before the final whistle blew. Boomerangs 0-5 Magic
The 17 girls was the closest of the games for the junior teams and it was only a freakish rebound goal that had them down 1-0 at halftime. They battled hard in the second stanza but could not breach the Magic’s defence. Magic themselves scored another to take the match by the single goal in each half. Boomerangs 0-2 Magic
The Youth men gave yet another solid performance that will no doubt soon result in just rewards. Conceding an unlucky early goal meant spending the rest of the first half attempting to restore parity – which the lads did. Try as they may in the second half they could not penetrate Magic’s defence, and a couple of mistakes cost them dearly in conceding two goals. Hopes are still high for this unit to make top four, however, they need to start registering wins soon to do so. Boomerangs 1-3 Magic
The Open Women’s match was a cracker and a joy to watch. These two teams should feature in finals at the end of the season, such was the quality of this performance, and their playing rosters. It was a battle royal with both teams having second half opportunities to take the ascendancy after the first period was even at two goals a piece. Both teams would have walked away at the end of the match thinking of the missed opportunity to take the three points, but the rock solid second half defence was enough to ensure no score was added in the second period. Boomerangs 2-2 Magic
The Open Men’s match was also a terrific match, and a result which would rate above the draw with Dural in Round 1 – given the Warriors were missing a number of their starters and Magic had five of their six Australian representatives on court during the match. The Boomers opened the scoring with a trademark back post tap in to Jake Wilsener. However, Magic’s Victorian import – Adam Cooper – slammed in a trademark screamer from a narrow, almost impossible angle, to beat Collins in goal to level it up before the halftime break.
The early stages of the second half saw the Magic control much of the possession and the Boomerangs defending stoutly. Magic gained the ascendancy with two finely worked goals to Daniel Fogarty, and they must have thought the match was well won with a few minutes on the clock. An inspired substitution by Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins – brought for the first time in the match, youth player Ben Basser-Silk onto the court – and he made most of his short involvement in the game by thumping one past Badolato in Magic’s goal. 2-3 with less than 90 seconds to play and the Boomers men piled on the pressure, not giving Magic an inch of space, with a resultant mistake by Magic allowing O’Dwyer to slot one home from seven metres out. The final whistle blew at Boomerangs 3-3 Magic
Following is the write up of the men’s match by Dan De Nardi of Football NSW.
Round 3 Review – SELECT Futsal Premier League
The 2016/17 Football NSW Select NSW Premier League continued it’s exciting season with Dural finally notching up a win 6-2 against former ladder-toppers Enfield, Boomerangs held new leaders Inner West to a 3-3 draw, Mountain Majik and UTS Northside also drew 2-2, while Mascot edged South Coast 4-3.
After three incredible rounds just four points separates seven sides with Inner West on top of the pile, and it’s definitely a lot tighter than previous competitions as shown by the close scorelines – only two of 12 contests have been decided by more than three goals, and the three draws played out this summer’s already closing in on the record six registered in 2012/13.
Mountain Majik 2 (Manuel Duarte, Jamie Dib) UTS Northside 2 (Jun Arima 2)
Inner West Magic 3 (Adam Cooper, Daniel Fogarty 2) Boomerangs FS 3 (Jake Wilsener, Ben Basser-Silk, Jason O’Dwyer)
Enfield Rovers 2 (Michael Kouta, Marco Tilio) Dural Warriors 6 (Nathan Niski, Wade Giovenali, Vic Koutsoufis, Brandon Vella 2, Brendan Hoyer)
Mascot Vipers 4 (Leonardo Pinto 2, Leandro Pinto, Shu Torihara) South Coast Taipans 3 (Riku Iwauchi 2, Rentaro Osa)
Magic, Boomerangs stalemate
Inner West Magic were held to a 3-3 draw with Boomerangs FS at Valentine Sports Park – the Territorians have now held both last seasons’ grand finalists on their home courts.
Boomerangs hit the front on 10-minutes with a swift up-court movement that Jake Wilsener finished off sweetly only to see Magic superstar Adam Cooper equalise with a bomb eight minutes later to hit the changeover locked at one-apiece.
Inner West gained the upper hand in the second term when Daniel Fogarty saw his strike deflect into goal straight after the break and he added another to consolidate Magic’s 3-1 position 10 minutes from the end, but while the home team looked the more likely the game spun on its head with four minutes to go when Boomerangs found a sudden burst of energy.
Ben Basser-Silk rifled home a left-footer for the Territorians just two minutes from fulltime and then Jason O’Dwyer capitalised on a goalmouth scramble with 90 seconds left to make it 3-3 – Wilsener missing a golden opportunity to steal all three points with a chance in front of goal on his weaker foot hitting the stadium roof instead.
Magic maestro Matteo Maiorana called it the lowlight of a dazzling club performance. “It was a disappointing way to end a great day for the club. After going behind early the boys regrouped and dominated for the remainder of the game against a well-drilled and enthusiastic Boomerangs team,” he said.
“But a team of our quality and experience shouldn’t give up a 3-1 lead with 90 seconds remaining, especially when you have complete control of the game.”
“I’m happy with the way Adam Cooper has fitted in the team and even though we remain in first place it was two points dropped for the club championship.”
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins was impressed the open men’s team continued to shine despite the club’s lowly overall club position.
“I can’t be unhappy, but there’s still lots to work on,” he said. “To be honest they probably had 70% of the ball, but that’s what we expected… we won’t dominate possession in this competition but we will be competitive.”
“I didn’t expect the results so far but the boys have worked exceptionally hard, especially defensively, so the results are deserved for the amount of work put in. The beauty of the league is it’s anyone’s game on the day. We have to come prepared and well organised and willing to put in the hard yards, and credit to my boys for putting that in week in and week out.”
Interestingly, Boomerangs have shared three wins each with Inner West in seven premier league meetings over the years – two of them on the road, which is in stark contrast to their current eight game winless streak away from the ACT (now just three behind Mascot’s record set over the 2013/14-2014/15 seasons).
Next week’s games
The Football NSW Select Futsal Premier League round four on Saturday night features Mountain Majik against Mascot Vipers at Blacktown Leisure Centre (4.40pm), Dural Warriors host UTS Northside at The Centre, Dural (7.05pm), Inner West Magic tackle South Coast Taipans at Valentine Sports Park (7.40pm), and Enfield Rovers play Boomerangs FS at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (7.50pm). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
-By Dan De Nardi