The final home round of the 16/17 NSW Premier League futsal competition played out at the AIS when the Boomerangs teams took on the mighty Mascot Vipers club.
The development/academy games started the day from 10.15am with the competitive matches kicking off at 12.30pm with the 12 boys and concluding with the Men’s match at 7.20pm.
Don’t forget to check out the photos of Match Day 12 at the Boomerangs photo site.
A summary of the day’s results:
12 boys – Boomerangs 0 – 11 Vipers (ht 0– 4)
13 girls – Boomerangs 0 – 5 Vipers (ht 0 – 3)
14 boys – Boomerangs 1 – 3 Vipers (ht 1 – 1)
15 girls – Boomerangs 1 – 1 Vipers (ht 1 – 0)
16 boys – Boomerangs 0 – 9 Vipers (ht 0 – 5)
17 girls – Boomerangs 1 – 2 Vipers (ht 0 – 1)
Youth men – Boomerangs 3 – 0 Vipers (ht 1 – 0)
Open Women – Boomerangs 0 – 6 Vipers (ht 0 – 2)
Open Men – Boomerangs 4 – 1 Vipers (ht 3 – 1)
A tremendous round of futsal to complete the home game phase of the 16/17 competition with all teams putting in a terrific effort against one of the top clubs of the NSW Premier League. Two wins and a draw was a decent return against a club that is striving to retain its club championship position that it earned during the 15/16 season.
The Vipers have strength right across their club with their 12 and 16 boys and Open Women especially dominant, sitting atop their respective league tables. The only chink in their armour this season has been their Men’s team which has struggled to get many wins on the board. Their remaining teams sit in the top four on the competition ladder.
The 14 boys continued to show significant effort and growth as a team, putting together a fine match – especially the first half in which they shared the honours with their opposition after a goal by Leon Michl. The second half saw the Vipers step up a notch and narrowly take the win with two additional second half goals. The lads are putting in great effort, especially at the defensive end, but need to find additional avenues to goal.
The 15 girls got their match off to the best possible start with a goal to Lucy D’Arcy in the third minute. A tight tussle ensued for the remainder of the first half with the home side taking the slenderest of leads into the break (1-0). The second half saw a continuation of the battle and the visitors rewarded for their effort with a goal with just six minutes remaining. A ding-dong final few minutes saw opportunities for both teams, but neither could convert. A draw probably a fair result on the day – a tremendous indictment of the improvement in the Boomers 15 girls given that Mascot sit third on the ladder.
The 17 girls also gave their highly credentialed opposition a tough match on their Canberra road-trip with a goal in the third minute by the visitors the only thing separating the teams at the break. The second half saw end-to-end action with reward finally coming for the home team in the 27th minute with a cracking goal from a tight angle to Hayley McLachlan. Parity was short-lived though with a response coming from the Vipers just six minutes later. A narrow 1-2 loss for the 17 girls provided no reward for significant effort.
The Youth Men lived up to their ‘entertainers’ moniker with yet another sparkling display against the third-placed Vipers scoring a goal in each half (Darwich, Basser-Silk)and keeping a clean sheet throughout. Whilst remaining at the bottom of the ladder the Boomerangs Youth retain the second best defensive record in the league. Building on this has seen sparkling form over the past few rounds that has provided entertainment, goals and three wins from their past four matches.
The Men’s match was not expected to be a significant challenge, unlike those of the past few weeks, given the Vipers Men’s record this season to date. The young Boomers men’s squad dealt with their opposition clinically and with confidence as they knocked home three first-half goals (Rathjen, Basser-Silk, Rinaudo) and a fourth in the second period (Reeve). This win, and a loss by UTS (to Enfield) has seen the men move to fourth on the competition ladder ahead of Mountain Majik on goal difference, making next week’s match against the Majik critical in holding a top four finals position. The men’s team have lost only once in the past five matches – and that only by a solitary goal to Inner West Magic – and are in top form as the season comes to a conclusion. Wins in the remaining matches against Majik and Taipans, will be required to cement a finals berth.
Following is the write up of the men’s match by Dan De Nardi of Football NSW.
Round 12 of the 2016/17 Football NSW Select NSW Premier League saw Dural pip leaders Inner West 2-1, Enfield defeat UTS Northside 4-1, Mountain Majik hold off South Coast 4-2 and Boomerangs beat Mascot 4-1.
The results narrowed the gap at the top with Inner West (28 points) just in front of Dural (25) and Enfield (22), Boomerangs (16) and Majik (16) both jumping UTS (14) into fourth place, and Mascot (10) need a mathematical miracle to figure in the post-season (Vipers play Dural and Enfield in the final two rounds).
A lowly 19 weekend goals is the joint second-lowest round total in premier league history – 19 were scored in the opening round of the 2013/14 season, while last year’s final-round tally of 15 remains the lowest (although that included a no-result fixture between Campbelltown and Inner West).
Mountain man Jordan Guerreiro scooted ahead in the Golden Boot race with a hat-trick against South Coast taking him to 16 for the summer – Dural’s Vic Koutsoufis (13) and Enfield’s Michael Kouta (13) his closest challengers.
Magic can wrap up another club championship against Rovers this weekend as they strengthened their position over Vipers.
Mountain Majik (Chris Barbera, Jordan Guerreiro 3) South Coast Taipans (Douglas Woodiwiss, Matt Mazevski)
UTS Northside 1 (Marty Judge) Enfield Rovers 4 (Dominic Cox 2, Giacomo Di Mento, Michael Kouta)
Boomerangs FS 4 (Michael Reeve, Ben Basser-Silk, Nicholas Rathjen, Michael Rinaudo) Mascot Vipers 1 (Shu Torihara)
Inner West Magic 1 (Jonathan Barzel) Dural Warriors 2 (Bruno Pivato 2)
Boomerangs defeat Vipers
Boomerangs FS beat Mascot Vipers 4-1 at the AIS Training Halls to move into fourth place on goal-difference over Mountain Majik.
Boomerangs started briskly and Nicholas Rathjen powered in the opener in just the third minute, Mascot responding through Shu Torihara five minutes later, but the home side grabbed a 3-1 halftime ascendancy via Ben Basser-Silk and Michael Rinaudo goals before the break.
Vipers battled away in an even second term but Boomerangs sealed the 4-1 result when Michael Reeve scored five minutes from the end.
Reeve certainly loves a good run against Mascot having scored seven goals in the last four fixtures between the clubs, while Rinaudo penned his name on the scoresheet for a sixth successive game (the second-longest streak of any player this summer, Jordan Guerreiro has scored in Majik’s last seven outings).
After registering just six points in the opening seven rounds the Territorians have roared back into life with 10 points claimed in their last five games (a tight 2-1 loss to Inner West their only recent blemish) that moved them into equal-fourth with this week’s opponents Mountain Majik.
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins is a very proud man at the moment, regardless of the club’s relegation position.
“It was a fast start from the boys again, but frustrating to cop a poor goal after dominating the early periods,” he said. “Once we got our third goal it looked like we would go on and pile them on, but we struggled to finalise. That said our defensive effort was good again, and that shows in having the third best defensive record this season.”
“I’m happy to have back-to-back wins for the first time this season, but next week (against Majik) is pivotal – whoever wins that will probably go through to the finals.
“We are looking to build on our recent run and finish the season with wins so that there is no doubt we deserve to be there, and it would be nice going into semi on the back of four straight wins.”
On the flipside, Vipers boast just one win from their last seven league outings and look unlikely to build on last season’s successful summer sitting six points off fourth place with games against top-three Dural and Enfield remaining.
Next week’s games
Football NSW Select Futsal Premier League round 13 Saturday night features Mountain Majik versus Boomerangs FS at neutral Blacktown Leisure Centre (4.40pm), UTS Northside tackle South Coast Taipans at neutral Marrickville PCYC (6.40pm), Inner West Magic face Enfield Rovers at neutral Valentine Sports Park (7.40pm), while Mascot Vipers host Dural Warriors at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.50pm). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
-By Dan De Nardi