Round 9 of the FNSW Premier League 1 futsal competition for 2016/17 saw the Boomerangs travel to Sydney Boys High School in the centre of Sydney to take on UTS Northside. It was a hot and humid day in the NSW capital and the players needed to be well hydrated to maintain their energy throughout the day.
Four development/academy matches kicked off the day from 10am giving the youngest of Boomerangs; the 9, 10, 11 and 12 year-olds some valuable experience playing against much tougher competition than they would find in Canberra in local competitions and preparing them for the competitive age groups in years to come.
The competitive matches kicked off with the 12 boys and concluded with the Men’s match at 6.40pm.
The 14 boys match saw the lads play the strongest they have all season. Every player that hit the floor was full of running and determination and for most of the match they were well on top of their UTS opposition. An outstanding match from Leon Michl saw him rip through the opposition at will and either score himself or provide an assist for his team mates. Cal Cook in goal was also very strong and saved numerous UTS shots throughout the match. The lads came up just short of gaining competition points, but this match should give them some confidence going into the remaining five matches of the season.
The 15 girls was match was a game for the taking, but a debatable refereeing decision late in the match, and a goal by UTS in the dying moments of the game, ripped away the opportunity for these girls to take three points from a game they worked extremely hard in. Like the 14 boys, these girls will take a lot from the match and will be stronger in the final five rounds. Beware the opposition!
The Youth Men once again provided another highly entertaining and rock solid performance – and a win for the club. Down a couple of players, and playing in the heat of the day, these lads showed grit and determination across all who hit the court. A tremendous performance to see them overcome the home side 4-1.
The Men’s match was once again another classic match of swings and momentum shifts ending in a 4-4 draw after the Boomers took an early 3-0 lead – one which they couldn’t hold on to under sustained pressure and intensity of the home team.
Don’t forget to check out the photos of Match Day 9 at the Boomerangs photo site.
A short summary of the day’s results:
12 boys – Boomerangs 1 – 10 UTS Northside (HT 0 – 5)
13 girls – Boomerangs 3 – 9 UTS Northside (HT 1 – 7)
14 boys – Boomerangs 4 – 5 UTS Northside (HT 2 – 1)
15 girls – Boomerangs 2 – 3 UTS Northside (HT 1 – 1)
16 boys – Boomerangs 4 – 8 UTS Northside (HT 2 – 4)
17 girls – Boomerangs 0 – 9 UTS Northside (HT 0 – 2)
Youth men – Boomerangs 4 – 1 UTS Northside (HT 3 – 1)
Open Women – Boomerangs 2 – 6 UTS Northside (HT 1 – 3)
Open Men – Boomerangs 4 – 4 UTS Northside (HT 3 – 3)
Following is the write up of the men’s match by Dan De Nardi of Football NSW.
Round nine of the 2016/17 Football NSW Select NSW Premier League saw Inner West hold off Mascot 2-1, Dural down South Coast 8-1, Boomerangs and UTS Northside drew 4-4, while Enfield and Mountain Majik played out a thrilling 6-6 draw.
As the season breaks for the holiday period Inner West lead the way on 22 competition points with Enfield (19), Dural (16) and UTS (14) making up the top-four ahead of Boomerangs (10), Mascot (7), Majik (7) and South Coast (6).
But where the race for playoff positions gets fascinating is the top-four clubs all have fixtures against each other in the remaining five rounds of the summer, opening the door to a possible late rally from any of the bottom-placed sides.
A seventh draw this season has also become the most ever in premier league, surpassing six 2012/13 stalemates, while a fourth Boomerangs and Mountain Majik deadlock sees them join Inner West (2014/15) with the most number of level games.
A hat-trick to Enfield’s Michael Kouta (11) saw him shoot to the top of the goalscoring charts ahead of Warriors weapon Vic Koutsoufis (9), Majik’s Jordan Guerreiro (8), Rovers pair Shervin Adeli (8) and Clayton Musumeci (7) and Magic duo Daniel Fogarty (7) and Matthew Lecce (7) – 13 other players have scored five or more goals this summer.
Magic (168 points) overtook Vipers (163) to edge ahead in the club championship, Majik, Warriors, Taipans, Rovers and UTS all pretty close together as Boomerangs drifted further away… and Inner West maestro Matteo Maiorana offered this interesting fact: of the nine club championships his club’s won (Sydney Magic claimed the two Futsal Leagues before a premier league was established in 2007/08), they’ve led at the halfway mark just twice.
UTS Northside 4 (Grant Lynch, Tristan Prendergast 3) Boomerangs FS 4 (Michael Rinaudo 2, Nicholas Rathjen, Michael Reeve)
Enfield Rovers 6 (Michael Kouta 3, Clayton Musumeci 2, Laureano Gomez Castro) Mountain Majik 6 (Jordan Guerreiro 3, Manuel Duarte, Samuel Gulisano, Nicolas Ortega)
Dural Warriors 8 (Samuel De Oliveira 2, Vic Koutsoufis 2, Wade Giovenali 2, Glen Kelshaw, Brandon Vella) South Coast Taipans 1 (Matt Mazevski)
Mascot Vipers 1 (Shu Torihara) Inner West Magic 2 (Daniel Fornito, Matthew Lecce)
Northside, Boomerangs draw
UTS Northside came from three goals down and then scored in the closing minutes to snatch a 4-4 draw with Boomerangs FS at Sydney Boys High School.
Boomerangs bounded out of the blocks and sustained defensive pressure led to Michael Rinaudo, Nicholas Rathjen and Michael Reeve goals inside the opening quarter-hour, but they took their foot off the pedal as UTS rattled off three quickfire responses in six minutes – Grant Lynch and Tristan Prendergast (twice) – to lock it up at three-apiece at the changeover.
The visitors regrouped at halftime and a second Rinaudo goal straight after the break restored their slender advantage, but the Territorians couldn’t land a killer blow and hat-trick hero Prendergast seized the day with a great run down the right before turning inside and finishing off into the bottom-corner with four minutes remaining to share the spoils on a 4-4 final scoreline.
The inability to close out another game saw Boomerangs draw level with Mascot Vipers on 11 successive winless road games – adding extra spice to their next away fixture against Mountain Majik (round 13) – and coach Kristian Collins was clearly unhappy.
“We applied pressure up the pitch and limited their ability to maintain possession, and it was our defensive pressure that created the first two goals. But when we went 3-0 up after 15 minutes the players just stopped – it was incredibly frustrating,” he said. “We had chances to finish the game off, we just didn’t take them.”
The result summed up a season of missed opportunities for Boomerangs, who’ve claimed one point against bottom-four opposition while blowing leads against the top sides.
“I was thinking about it on a bloody long drive home [from Sydney to Canberra]: we led against Warriors and drew, led against Magic and drew, led against Mountain Majik with two minutes to go and drew – we’ve led in five games and dropped points, and that’s the difference between where we are and being a top two team,” Collins said.
“We’ve proved we can compete… we’ve got a good bunch of kids together who just lack the maturity to finish games off. [Can you make the playoffs?] We’ve made it hard for ourselves with five games to go, but the next three are at home, and if we can get 11 more points in the run home then we’ll see where we finish.”
UTS coach Lynch appreciated the point after a gloomy opening. “It was a tough game. We started slow; they ran us around for the first 15 minutes and made it very difficult for us,” he said. “But we worked our way back into the game and started to get more confidence, and in the end it could’ve gone either way.”
“We’re backing ourselves, and as long as we can bring the same sort of intensity after the break there’s no reason we can’t continue getting the results we need.”
Next games
Football NSW Select Futsal Premier League round 10 continues on Saturday January 14 when South Coast Taipans host Mascot Vipers at the University of Wollongong Sports Hub (4.50pm), UTS Northside welcome Mountain Majik to Sydney Boys High School (6.40pm), Boomerangs face Inner West Magic at the AIS Training Halls (7.20pm), and Dural Warriors meet Enfield Rovers at The Centre in a new-year blockbuster. Visit the Football NSW website (Futsal tab) for full details.