Saturday 29 October saw the club’s first home game round for the 16/17 season, as UTS Northside travelled to the AIS for the very first time.
The AIS Training Halls were a hive of activity early on the Saturday morning as first the 10 boys, followed by the 11 boys and 11/12 girls took on their UTS counterparts in development squad matches. The UTS young teams were tremendously well supported – as were the Boomerangs – and the AIS was abuzz during the three early games.
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 6.20pm and the Men at 7.20pm.
It was a tough day of competition again for the club with all teams now realising the step up in standard from Premier League 2 to the Premier League 1 competition. And whilst most teams are not far off the pace in the two matches they have played so far this season, extra effort and determination will be needed by one and all in order to remain competitive at this highest level.
The 12 boys were over run in the first half by the rampaging visitors, but came back well in the second half to limit the UTS scoring. Boomerangs 0-9 UTS Northside
The 13 girls was a ding dong of a battle with the girls conceding in the final few minutes to go down by the narrowest of margins. Boomerangs 0-1 UTS Northside
The 14 boys match was ultra competitive in the first half with the teams going to the break all square at 0-0. The UTS lads had the stronger legs for the full 40 minutes and over ran the home team in the second half. Boomerangs 0-3 UTS Northside
The 15 girls were right in the match at half time, down by a solitary goal 1-2. Again the second half saw the visitors pull away with some cracking goals. Boomerangs 2-8 UTS Northside
The 16 boys was another match which saw a close first half tussle with the home team down by two 0-2 at the break. The second half saw the UTS team dominate to take out the match. Boomerangs 1-6 UTS Northside
The 17 girls – new match, same story – half time very much in the match at 0-2. Couldn’t keep up the pace in the second stanza. Boomerangs 0-5 UTS Northside
The youth men gave another top notch performance matching it all over the court with the North Sydney-siders. At half-time it was anybody’s match at Boomers 1-2 UTS. There was nothing in the second half and the visitors fortunate to leave town with the three points. Boomerangs 2-3 UTS Northside
Open Women played a strong first 20 and were up by a goal at the break 1-0. The second half saw the UTS ladies come home strong to take out the match Boomerangs 1-2 UTS Northside
The Open Men’s match was an absolute cracker with the home team dominating for large parts of the first half to take a 2-1 lead into the break. The second half saw a very even end-to-end tussle resulting in the narrowest of wins to the Boomerangs Men. Boomerangs 3-2 UTS Northside
Following is the write up of the men’s match by Dan De Nardi of Football NSW.
Round 2 Review – SELECT Futsal Premier League
The ghouls were out for a shocking second round of the 2016/17 Football NSW Select Futsal NSW Premier League as South Coast stunned champions Dural 2-0, Enfield defeated Mountain Majik 6-2, Inner West overcame Mascot 4-1 and Boomerangs beat UTS Northside 3-2.
The premier league screws have certainly tightened with a 5.6 goal average per match the lowest of any competition over the last 10 years (way down on the 6.8 average from 2009/10), and the 20 round-two goals posted is the second lowest on record (19 were scored in the opening round of 2013/14, while 15 were scored in the final round of last season although that included a no result).
South Coast Taipans 2 (Riku Iwauchi 2) Dural Warriors 0
Boomerangs FS 3 (Brad Sawyer 2, Jake Wilsener) UTS Northside 2 (Joey Gibbs, Grant Lynch)
Inner West Magic 4 (Brian Griffin-Colls, Matthew Lecce, Adam Cooper 2) Mascot Vipers 1 (Santiago Rodriguez)
Mountain Majik 2 (Kaan Kilinc, Andrew Luttringer) Enfield Rovers 6 (Clayton Musumeci 2, Michael Kouta 2, Laureano Gomez Castro, Giovanni Leuzzi)
Boomerangs edge Northside
Boomerangs FS pipped UTS Northside 3-2 at the AIS Training Halls to remain unbeaten in their premier league return.
Brad Sawyer opened the scoring for the home side in the first-ever meeting between the clubs before Joey Gibbs hit back for UTS midway through the half, Boomerangs adding goals either side of halftime to lead 3-1 before Grant Lynch cut the deficit back to 3-2 with plenty of time left on the clock – FS holding on for a slender victory with Brad Sawyer bagging a brace.
The win in Canberra moves Boomerangs to eight straight premier league wins at home – a run that only sits behind Dural’s 11 home victories over 2014/15-2015/16 and 10 Warriors successes across 2012/13-2013/14, while the narrow UTS defeat etched Northside’s penchant for close-calls – a mind-blowing 53% of their top-flight games have been decided by a goal (a league high over Sydney Magic 40% of 10 matches and Boomerangs 39% of 46 runs).
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins was delighted with the open men’s win, but it was also their only success in a tough round against UTS.
“How happy can I be? I guess the men’s result was good, but we’re still not as clinical going into that final third so there’s some work to do on the training paddock,” he said.
“Defensively we’re solid, we’re completing lots of passes and having lots of shots, we’re just not putting them into the back of the net, and if we’re not putting away teams when we have the chances then we’re just keeping the opposition in it – we should’ve been 3 or 4 up at halftime.
“But we’re on the up and getting better each week and building toward a top-four finish, which is always the goal.”
UTS coach Lynch knew it was always going to be an arduous road trip. “It’s a tough game away for us, down at Canberra is always difficult; but I thought we were good value for a draw at least, we were certainly knocking on the door the last five minutes,” he said.
“Full credit to Boomerangs, they got us on the counter a few times and deserved their win. We’re still trying to put all the pieces together and it’s coming together okay; I’m not disappointed in performance just the result.”
Photos of all the days’ matches at http://bit.ly/2en6nta
Next week’s games
The Football NSW Select Futsal Premier League third round features Saturday night action between Mountain Majik and UTS Northside at Blacktown Leisure Centre (4.40pm), Inner West Magic host unbeaten Boomerangs FS at Valentine Sports Park (7.40pm), competition leaders Enfield Rovers meet Dural Warriors at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (7.50pm), while Mascot Vipers face South Coast Taipans at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (8.50pm). Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.
-By Dan De Nardi