FUTSAL WA

R8 – Men’s Supa-Liga, 2021/22 Summer Season

Featured Match Review

The featured match of round 8 for the Men’s Supa Liga was a battle between ECU Jets and Futsal Factory. The Jets were still looking for their first win of the season and their recent form suggested that they had been unlucky not to at least gain some points in their last few matches. Futsal Factory were also struggling to find their feet in the league. The previous champions were struggling to find some consistency in their form and needed a win to stay in touch with the top four.

ECU have had horrid luck in the opening half of the season with injuries plaguing their squad, they were finally blessed this weekend with a replenished looking squad on the court and bench. It was a contrasting story on the opposite bench with the Factory forced to play the game with just the 5 players on the team sheet. The Jets got off to a great start after soaking up some early pressure through a Lawrence strike. Lawrence initially headered the ball on target, forcing a save from Kevin Sam but the rebound fell kindly for Lawrence who turned it in for the Jets’ first.

Futsal Factory were finding it difficult to get any clear chances on goal and just as they started to get a bit comfortable in the match, the Jets hit them on a quick counter-attack to double their lead. The attack involving all four court players seemed like a classic 3-1 set play when the ball was rolled into Licastro’s feet at pivot. The supporting runs came from both flanks but the ball was passed to Fung on the right who found Soares at the opposite flank, finishing off the move neatly at the back post. Ilya Nebylytsya added a third just before half-time for the Jets to make the task even harder for a tiring Futsal Factory.

The Second half started well for the Futsal Factory after Nic Van der Heiden showed his goal scoring prowess, squeezing a shot in low and hard at goals to give the Factory a goal and some hope in the match. But it was all too much for the Factory as they ran out of gas the further into the match they went. Licastro found the top left corner direct from a free-kick for the Jets 4th and Soares put the nail in the coffin with a smart finish on an angle to end the match 5-1 in the Jets favour.

In other league news, Perth Pumas FC defeated a tough Andinxs side 6-2. The Pumas will end the first half of the season in the top two with them having the bye next weekend. Andinxs in the mean time have struggled to find good form recently and will be looking to bounce back against the Condors in their final match of the year. Speaking of the Condors, they overcame a strong Scarborough Sharks in a thrilling match that ended 5-4. The Condors never seemed to be able to pull away from the Sharks who showed a good fighting spirit to keep themselves in the game right until the final whistle. In the final match, Phoenix futsal WA were defeated by West Coast Cobras 1-5. The win puts the Cobras in a good position to end the year in top spot with them facing Jets next week and the Pumas having the bye.