Hummel F-League Series Five

[adelaidefusion]

By Dan De Nardi.

Dural Warriors stamped their name on the 2012 F-League trophy with an emphatic final series display at Riverwood’s Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre in Sydney on September 8-9.


An F-League record 20-1 final-round win over St Albans capped a remarkable season for Dural, who blasted 108 goals in 14 games and conceded a league-low 33 to secure a summer-winter double following success in this year’s NSW Premier League and truly deserve their ticket to the Asian Club Championship qualifiers later this year.

While Warriors (37 points) made first place their own, East Coast (29) rallied with two home wins good enough to snare second place on the buzzer, just ahead of Vic Vipers (26) and Boomerangs (24). Parramatta (18) were fifth, and it was a thrilling finish between St Albans (11), Heart (10) and Jaguars (9).

A mammoth 481 goals were scored in 56 F-League games (only six ‘nil’ scorelines), creating plenty of excitement for fans at 8.6 per game, and 104 players celebrated a goal this season (77 of those more than once).

Dural’s Jarrod Basger was an easy fit into the Golden Boot, the Warriors ace bagging 30 cool times (two five-goal hauls and five hat-tricks all-up), netting in 13 consecutive matches. Boomerangs star Daniel Fulton was the closest sharpshooter with 22 strikes, followed by 14-goaler Miguel Barrigos (Jaguars) and 13-goal efforts from Greg Giovenali (Dural), Chris Zeballos (East Coast) and Jonathan Barrientos (Vic Vipers).

Fulton won the competition’s MVP award and Boomerangs team-mate Angelo Konstantinou given the Golden Glove as best goalkeeper.

Dural was clearly the most dominant team on NSW turf, the only club to win all five Sydney fixtures, Vic Vipers the only side to win all six Melbourne games, and Boomerangs the only outfit with a perfect three-win ACT record.

Dural were also road warriors, earning 22 points from nine outings (seven wins) away from home, closely followed by East Coast (20 points). Boomerangs were ‘visitors’ 11 times for five wins but everyone else struggled interstate.

A big thank you to James Brackenrig for his quality video highlights, physio Caroline Drummond, Matteo Maiorana, Chris Ryan at Football Federation Victoria, John Perrett at Capital Football and all the players and officials for their hard work and commitment.

Footage of the 2012 season will be posted here and on the F-League Facebook page (FNSWFLeague, don’t forget to like it), and keep an eye out for the third installment of Futsal in Australia.

Saturday, September 8

Round 13

Warriors wrap up title

To many it was a mere formality and Dural were methodical in its 6-1 win over Parramatta Blues in the opening Series-5 game at Sydney’s Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday morning to wrap up the 2012 Hummel F-League title.

Jarrod Basger, Nathan Niski and Rhys Giovenali goals gave Dural a comfortable first-half cushion against an enthusiastic Parramatta troop, and Futsalroo Lachlan Wright pulled one goal back for the Blues to put more spice in the contest.

But a disastrous own goal restored the three-goal buffer and from there the Warriors were never headed, Danny Martinez extended the lead to 5-1 and substitute keeper Nick Starr become the 100th F-League scorer this season (and Dural’s 16th) to round out an impressive 6-1 victory.

Dural Warriors 6 (Jarrod Basger, Nathan Niski, Rhys Giovenali, own goal, Danny Martinez, Nick Starr) defeated Parramatta Blues 1 (Lachlan Wright)

Heat halt Boomerangs

East Coast Heat edged out Boomerangs in a Saturday afternoon thriller in Sydney Series-5 of the 2012 Hummel F-League.

With the championship decided all eyes turned to the battle for the minor placings and it was East Coast who gained the upper hand when a delightful Andres Gomez run and pass found Chris Zeballos for a 1-0 lead.

An East Coast heat defensive mix-up then allowed Daniel Fulton to equalise for Boomerangs before Takuya Umeda put Heat back in front 2-1.

Joao Da Silva added a third for East Coast from a 10m penalty and an Andres Caro goal gave Heat a 4-1 buffer.

The tide turned when Mark Symington scored for Boomerangs with six minutes to go and Fulton bagged another to make it 4-3, but the buzzer sounded with the Coast just in front.

East Coast Heat 4 (Chris Zeballos, Takuya Umeda, Joao Da Silva, Andres Caro) defeated Boomerangs 3 (Daniel Fulton x2, Mark Symington)

Strikers snare Jaguars

St Albans Strikers grabbed a 4-2 win over Jaguars at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon to take a giant stride away from the dreaded wooden spoon.

A tight first half was broken when Aguek Aguek opened the scoring for Jaguars only to see Clint Mogoai reply for Strikers.

St Albans captain Tomislav Grgic took matters into his own hands when he put his side back in front, doubled the advantage and then completed his hat-trick to establish a commanding 4-1 lead.

Jaguars weren’t done with yet and skipper Miguel Barrigos scored a consolation goal.

St Albans Strikers 4 (Clint Mogoai, Tomislav Grgic x3) defeated Jaguars 2 (Aguek Aguek, Miguel Barrigos)

Heart hold Vipers

A delayed start to the Melbourne Heart and Vic Vipers was well worth the wait as the two Victorian sides played out an enthralling 4-4 draw in Sydney Series-5 of the 2012 Hummel F-League.

Strong winds played havoc with flights into Sydney airport, giving Heart a grand entry as they finally arrived at Riverwood’s Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre for a re-scheduled kickoff time.

The first few minutes were just as wild as the weather outside as Lev Lewis opened the scoring for Heart before Vipers keeper Gary Stone was sent from the pitch for two yellow cards in the space of 30 seconds. Anthony Ramzy converted the free kick to make it 2-0.

Kui Mu pegged one back for Vipers almost straight away and Jason Barrientos restored parity at 2-2 midway through the first half, but Adrian Fruscalzo fired Heart back into a 3-2 lead.

David Filonzi doubled it to 4-2 soon after but Heart were anything but comfortable as Mu scored his second to edge Vipers closer at 4-3, and captain Jonathan Barrientos found an equaliser with 50 seconds left on the clock to end the fiery game at 4-4.

Melbourne Heart 4 (Lev Lewis, Anthony Ramzy, Adrian Fruscalzo, David Filonzi) drew with Vic Vipers 4 (Kui Mu x2, Jason Barrientos, Jonathan Barrientos)

Sunday, September 9

Round 14

Warriors smash Strikers

Dural Warriors racked up an F-League record 20-1 win over St Albans Strikers at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre for Sydney Series-5 action of the 2012 Hummel F-League on Sunday morning.

Having already secured the premiership Dural put on a show as league leading scorer Jarrod Basger raced to a fourth-minute hat-trick, and Warriors bulldozed their way to a 9-0 massacre before Irzad Spijodic netted for St Albans to deny Nick Starr a clean sheet.

By the time the fulltime hooter sounded eight Warriors had their names on the scoresheets Basger with a five-goal haul and hat-tricks to Greg Giovenali and Danny Martinez.

Basger’s 30-goal F-League effort was enough to win him the 2012 Golden Boot award and he also became the first player to win the F-League with two different clubs. An incredible league-high 16 players scored for Dural – all of them (except goalkeepers Alistair Bruce and Nick Starr) more than once.

The positives are everywhere. Dural’s seven game win streak to start the season will be an F-League best for at least another year (last year’s inaugural season produced a high of four hat-tricks – Inner City, St Albans and Maccabi Hakoah twice), they scored 108 times (East Coast were second best with 66) and their 33 goal concession was three goals less than Heat.

St Albans finished sixth overall and despite a 19-goal shellacking managed to keep their goals conceded season tally to double digits, but only just. Strikers’ brisk start to the competition was ruined by a seven game losing sequence and a defence that leaked 97 goals.


Dural Warriors 20 (Jarrod Basger x5, Daine Merrin x2, Zach Caruana x2, Greg Giovenali x3, Chris Polkinghorne x2, Danny Martinez x3, Dean Lockhart x2, Nathan Niski) defeated St Albans Strikers 1 (Irzad Spijodic)

Blues beat Boomerangs

Parramatta Blues outmuscled Boomerangs in a 3-1 win at Riverwood for Sydney Series-5 on Sunday morning.

Mark Symington edged Boomerangs in front early and the scoreline remained unchanged to halftime. Parramatta came alive in the second term as Chris Hatfield, Lachlan Wright and Jordan Guerreiro scored to deliver the Blues a 3-1 win.

It was a disappointing season’s end for Boomerangs but certainly a massive improvement on their opening F-League campaign. In last year’s inaugural competition Boomerangs came last by a long way, a 5-5 draw with Dural the only brightness in their first 12 games before a ‘lucky 13th’ 6-4 breakthrough win, ironically also against Warriors. This year they finished fourth thanks to a six-game winning streak.

Parramatta repeated their fifth-placed finish from last year after a four-game winning run was tempered by five straight losses. The Blues promised plenty at the halfway point but faded badly after the loss of captain Gavin Schipp to a broken leg before Melbourne Series-4 (playing outdoor), scoring just nine of a total 54 goals in their last six outings (conceding 38 over the same period).

Parramatta Blues 3 (Chris Hatfield, Lachlan Wright, Jordan Guerreiro) defeated Boomerangs 1 (Mark Symington)

Heart down Jaguars

Melbourne Heart fought out an epic 6-3 win over Jaguars to avoid the 2012 Hummel F-League wooden spoon on a sunny Sydney Sunday afternoon of frantic Futsal.

Jaguars were two points ahead of Heart on the ladder and a win would’ve also taken them above St Albans into sixth, but a loss to either club would condemn them to last place.

The players began enthusiastically and Melbourne’s Doron Pozniak hit both posts before Aaron Ramzy cleaned up to make it 1-0 in a matter of minutes.

Heart extended their lead to 3-0 when Luke Cardamone scored twice in 20 seconds but Aguek Aguek swung the momentum Jaguars way after connecting on a great ball across the D from Jermain Deng.

Jaguars skipper Miguel Barrigos pulled another back from the 10m spot and Deng scored one himself to level the scores at 3-3 straight after halftime.

Jaguars were on fire and only some stoic Heart defence, including three successive sliding blocks, kept the score unchanged.

The desperation paid off when Matt Vragovski put one in the onion bag at the other end to give Melbourne a 4-3 lead with less than three minutes to play, and Resit Culculoglu added a fifth goal before Vragovski sealed the deal right on fulltime with a cheeky turn and finish, Heart winning 6-3.

It was a well-deserved victory for Melbourne, who’ve been quite effective on the defensive end this season but just needed a little bit more grunt up front. Heart was the third best performed team over the past six weeks, winning three and drawing one (and scoring 29 of their total 43 goals) following an eight game losing run to start the season.

Heart also set an F-League record for most number of scorers in a game from their solid 9-3 win over St Albans – nine Melbourne players filling the scoresheet,

The loss left Jaguars in bottom place with a distinct lack of firepower an obvious weakness, 41 goals the lowest output of any side over the past two F-League seasons. They also conceded 91 goals but did manage some excellent performances when the team did play well together.

Melbourne Heart 6 (Aaron Ramzy, Luke Cardamone x2, Matt Vragovski x2, Resit Culculoglu) defeated Jaguars 3 (Aguek Aguek, Miguel Barrigos, Jermain Deng)

Heat roast Vipers

East Coast Heat held off a determined Vic Vipers to win the final 2012 Hummel F-League game 6-4 at Sydney’s Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.

It was a winner-takes-all scenario with the victor assured of second place behind Dural and the high-stakes billing lived up to all expectations as a Thiago Priori quick-fire double lifted Vipers 2-0 in front in the blink of an eye.

East Coast duly responded and Renagi Igram and Takuya Umeda goals brought the score back to a deadlocked 2-2.

Heat took a 4-2 lead when Futsalroo Chris Zeballos scored twice early in the second half only for Adam Cooper to halve the deficit for Vipers from the penalty spot.

The evenly matched contest provided plenty of electricity for fans and Igram’s second East Coast goal turned up the pressure at 5-3 before Umeda’s second gave them a commanding 6-3 cushion by fulltime.

It was a terrific end-of-season run for East Coast, six straight wins and unbeaten in nine matches (Dural has the F-League record with their 10-game run to start the competition). Heat scored 66 goals and conceded 36 (second behind Dural in both categories) to hint at a bright future for the new club.

Vipers also had a great year to finish third overall (also third in goals scored and conceded), and their six straight Melbourne victories means Vipers remain the only F-League team unbeaten south of the border. Five of the league’s top-22 scorers came from the Vics squad.

East Coast Heat 6 (Renagi Igram x2, Takuya Umeda x2, Chris Zeballos x2) defeated Vic Vipers 4 (Thiago Priori 5’,11’, Adam Cooper 27’, 36’)