Wednesday the 21st of October

By Adam Husseini

Pascoe Vale 9 – 1 Doncaster FC 6:30pm

The anti-climax evening opener, Pascoe Vale vs. Doncaster. Pascoe Vale’s delicious line up had another set of new inclusions as Victorian Men’s coach Paul Vidic experiments and trials new blood. They started fantastically well and were denied by a combination of Con Makris saves and some woeful finishing. It was 2-1 to Pascoe Vale for 24 minutes. Doncaster were combative and resilient but it was only a matter of time until they capitulated, seven Pascoe vale misses later, Doncaster caved and it was a one way street.

Adrian D’Ortenzio continued his fine goal scoring form with four goals and Simon Amanda could’ve had seven had he not hit the post, bar, goal keeper and side netting. Doncaster are chained to the bottom still without a point and are looking relegation doomed already. Pascoe Vale look reignited and ready to burn friend and foe Ashburton next week.

Referees: Nectar Karalis & Ricardo Arajuo

Goal Scorers:
Pascoe Vale : Adrian D’Ortenzio 4, Simon Amanda 3, Tomislav Grgic 2
Doncaster: Bill Giannikos 1

Melbourne University 1 – 1 FC Carlton 7:15pm

The V-League express continued with the second game of the night, Cellar dwellers & lacklustre Melbourne University took on a Hooman-less FC Carlton. Melbourne University are still without superstar Tom Wang (GK). Joseph U has done well for a make-do keeper and pulled off a few remarkable saves early. Carlton plays a unique, classy & stylish Futsal game, but without Hooman and brother Robert Shekari really lacked the cutting edge and fire power needed to win.

Melbourne University talisman Duke Duva scored early yet again and Melbourne University were up 1-0. Carlton had new signing Shayan Alinejad, the sharp Doncaster Rovers midfielder took time to find his feet and his team mates with some misplaced passes. Carlton got out of jail with a late Savva Pattikis equaliser. The game was marred by some final minute hustle and bustle with handbags and all!

Hamid Hassanikhoo (FCC) received his second yellow card and was sent off, followed by Savva Pattikis (FCC) and goal keeper Dianoosh Rasoulzadeh (FCC) after the final whistle leaving Carlton with 7 days to find a new team! Morris Edwards (MU) also received his marching orders, Melbourne University can be proud of there competitive performance, its taken them 5 weeks but they’ve come good and if they can maintain that pressure, intensity and belief for 40minutes will pose headaches for all in there wake.

Referees: Ricardo Arajuo & Duck Farah

Goal Scorers:
Melbourne Uni : Duke Duva 1
Carlton: Savva Patikis 1

Fitzroy FC 7 – 4 FC Essendon 8:00pm

Prime time at the Victoria Street Stadium and two old rivals Fitzroy and Essendon took to Court One.

A game that had a little bit of everything, a real 6-pointer saw two incredible Futsal teams scrap for every sideball, 50/50 and half chance. Alexander lead the line for champions FC Essendon and for 20 minutes played some beautiful short touches brining in his cousins Igor, Ivan and friend Erakovic deep into Fitzroy territory. Manny Karis and Flo Deffner were not as invincible as last week and were penetrated early. Batko Kalaba (FCE GK) missed an early James Blackburn shot from halfway that was crucial and it was 3-3 at half time.

Both sides had a sub a piece, and the second half kicked off just as the first had finished with shirt pulling, tripping and shoulder barging. Nectar had seen enough then and when ‘Tall Timber’ the solid Essendon defender prevented ‘the mercurial one’ James Blackburn a goal scoring opportunity (he’d already scored four) he was off. Essendon were down to 4 players for the full 3 minutes. Leonardo Correa scored soon after, and James Sibley put the icing on the cake killing any chance of a revival as Alexander & Tosic linked up well to try and get the champs back in the game. There was a passionate heated exchange after the game that may bring about some disciplinary action, as the V-League raises another notch becoming one of the best Futsal competitions in the country.

Referees: Duck Farah & Nectar Karalis

Goal Scorers:
Fitzroy FC: James Blackburn 4, Luciano Bessa 1, Leonardo Correa 1, James Sibley 1
FC Essendon: Lubomir Erakovic 2, Dejan Tosic 1, Alexander Stevanovic 1

North Melbourne 11 – 9 Albert Park 8:45pm

A slightly delayed start & a different feel and intensity to this one, both sides revamped since last season, and struggled to match the ferocity & intensity of the clash earlier. Take nothing away from North Melbourne, the crowd were still catching there breath and North were 5-1 up. Some extraordinary passing and movement, back post finishing and individual brilliance destroyed a zombie like Albert Park. They creeped there way back into the game though and went in 5-3 at half time.

North have a habbit of taking there collective foot off the pedal, and other sides can take heart in this, but when they push they are unstoppable. They are the team to beat, the juggernaut, a side that brought in VIS & Victory Youth Player Alex Tabor and made him look bit-part. Alia Redzepovic tried to kick start Albert Park to life and they were within touching distances at 9-8. But Torbica conceded with a non existent defence in front of him and it was game set match. Good debut for Jason Barrientos with two goals and another consistent solid performance from Colby Waterfield.

Referees: Nectar Karalis & Ricardo Arajuo

Goal Scorers:
North Melbourne : Fernando De Moraes 3, Kui Mu 2, Colby Waterfield 2, Jason Barrientos 2, John Barrientos 1
Albert Park: Dino Redzepovic 4, Alija Redzepovic 2, Ahmed Azzam 2, Ignjat Filipovic 1

FC Prahran 5 – 5 FC Geelong 9:30pm

FC Prahran started the game brightly with an early double, but still look a shadow of there former cup winning selves as Avram pushes through painful injury barriers and Haider looking less energetic then usual. Brad Roberts (FCG) continues to pull the strings for the catters and made some clever substitutions getting Geelong back in the game, and then in front at 3-2.

It was a tight affair, Prahran struggling to break down an exuberant and strong Geelong side fighting to the brim to get one or more points out of the game. They need to find a talisman who can rally the troops together and fire them up to hold fragile leads as they allowed Clint Mogoai to equalise way to easily. Both sides will be happy with a point, Prahran comfortable in the top half of the ladder for now, Geelong need to win a few more games to get out of the bottom half and avoid the highs and lows of the promotion/relegation battles in there inaugural season.

Referees: Ricardo Arajuo & Duck Farah

Goal Scorers:
FC Prahran : Maxim Avram 2, Haider Noor 1, Clint Mogoai 1, Michael Habashi 1
FC Geelong: Aaron D’Antino 2, Gareth Demink 1, Michael Radojevic 1, Enes Eren 1

Metropolitan FC 3 – 4 Ashburton FC 10:15pm

The last game of a mesmerising night saw Samba Kings Metropolitan who demolished Doncaster last week, take on a filthy Ashburton who were reeling from last weeks loss to table-toppers Fitzroy.

The game started at an electrifying pace with Metro playing some sublime Futsal but yet again missed several goal scoring opportunities. It was unfortunate as Ashburton, strong & physical were clinical and it was 4-1 to the green machine deep into the second half.

Metro mounted a sturdy fight back and Eren Ozdemir was silky on the wing. Mustafa Alor was a nuisance as always and tangled with Irzad (AFC) & Junior (AFC) before receiving a yellow. Marcus Barbosa Junior was cheeky all over the court & was lucky not to be sent off, receiving a yellow card early in the first half, and then another well into the second half. Everybody failed to realize and a rare error by the referees, luckily, didn’t have an impact on the overall outcome of the game.

Metropolitan played by far the better of the two sides but lacked the physicality, strength & power to play Men’s Futsal. Ashburton can take confidence from getting a result out of an ordinary performance, getting over the line with Boris Masic the unlikely hero.

Referees: Nectar Karalis & Ricardo Arajuo

Goal Scorers:
Metropolitan FC: Eren Ozdemir 1, Victor Mesqita 1 (Own Goal A Husseini)
Ashburton FC: Boris Masic 2, Irzad Spijodic 1, Junior Melo 1

www.futsaloz.tv for highlights and www.futsaloz.com.au/vleague.html for ladder