After defeating Raiders Futsal in the Round of 16, the 2018 FNSW Futsal Cup draw had the Boomerangs senior men’s side scheduled to take on Dural Warriors in the Quarter Finals on 14 November 2018.
Dural Warriors had defeated Eastern Suburbs Hakoah in the opening round to progress to the final eight and had been in some solid form so far this season, dropping only five competition points (one loss, one draw) in the FNSW PL1 competition across the first half of the season to sit on top of the league ladder.
Dural has traditionally been a strong PL1 men’s team and is usually littered with Australian representative players. They are also coached by the most recent Australian Futsalroos coach.
Over the years – both in PL1 and in the F-League – it would be fair to say that Dural has had the best of matchups against Boomerangs men’s team, however, on nearly all occasions the matches are close, tight and entertaining tussles, where high-quality futsal is played.
This match was no different, with the travelling Boomerangs (with players having driven three hours to Valentine Park after a day’s work or schooling) starting the match strongly and having the best of the first five or so minutes of the match. However, as Dural settled into their rhythm, they ‘owned’ the ball far more than the Boomerangs and were camped for much of the remainder of the first half in their offensive end.
The Boomerangs men defended extremely well, with their team hussle-defence working well with each player supporting others. A 0-0 half-time score representing the fine work they did in protecting their goals.
The second half saw the match played almost entirely at the Boomerangs defensive end with the lads spending the vast majority of their energy keeping out the forward forays of the locals. The Boomers men did well to keep out the Dural offence until at the 11th minute of the second half they found the smallest of gaps and were able to penetrate and score.
The goal necessarily required a lift in offensive tempo by the Boomerangs and one of the offensive efforts was rewarded as Ben Basser-Silk scored from a corner to level it up at 1-1 with five minutes left on the game clock. Unfortunately, the Warriors were able to penetrate the defence once again and the Boomers conceded within a minute of them scoring to be back a goal down with four to play.
The Boomerangs threw what they could at Dural, but could not both hold offensive possession and put together a decent shot that would test the opposition ‘keeper, and it stood at Boomerangs 1-2 Dural Warriors as the final whistle blew.
A disappointing end to the match – and to the FNSW Futsal Cup for 2018 for the club, but it was a sterling performance by the men as they were no pushover for one of the strongest men’s teams in the country. The match was played hard by both teams, but in great spirit with only a small number of fouls called and not a single card awarded by a referee.
All the Boomerangs men’s players put in a huge effort, but special mention to Cuneyt Cagler, playing his second only match for the club at FNSW level and to 16-year-old Murphy Shaw in his men’s team debut, who also saw some court time.
Match photos can be found here.