The Canberra City Prawns has maintained its unbeaten start to the 2012 Capital Futsal Premier League season, completing a comprehensive 6-0 defeat of an aging Canberra Olympic Supercats team at the AIS last Thursday night. The victory was as straight forward as they come for City, with the reigning champion putting on a commanding performance to confirm its place at the top of the Premier League’s pecking order. Ryan Kyprianou, Pat Ross-Magee and Ryan Keir all got on to the score sheet for City, with each bagging a brace during the rout. Had it not been for some superb shot-stopping from Peter Farrelly in the Olympic goal, the score line could have very well reached double figures.

Olympic, a staple of Canberra’s futsal fraternity, will lament such a heavy loss this early in the season. The club knows all too well just how important a strong start is, particularly after last year’s lethargic start to the campaign relegated it to a fifth-place finish. This latest defeat well and truly spells trouble for Olympic, which is yet to record a victory after three rounds of competition, while the result has elevated City to top spot on the table and sees the champion’s perfect record this term remain intact.

The highly anticipated encounter began brightly, with the first real opportunity falling Olympic’s way after just 30 seconds of play. A careless challenge by City’s Kyprianou gifted Olympic a free-kick just inside the City half. Lucas Coles’ effort sailed through the City wall and Keiran Stroh was forced to make the save. It was all City from that point though, with the Prawns orchestrating plenty of early possession in the Olympic half and creating numerous opportunities. But Olympic stayed resolute, fending off wave after wave of attack and despite being forced to defend for long periods during the opening exchanges, the Supercats managed to keep the scoreboard unchanged.

Ross-Magee was culpable of squandering one of those opportunities, sending a volley just wide of the Olympic left post whe it really should have found the back of the net. On the few occasions Olympic managed to play its way into the opposition half, wayward shooting and poor execution meant the Supercats posed little threat to the City defence. The deadlock was broken as the match entered its second quarter, with Kyprianou claiming the first of his two goals. A nice exchange of passes between Kyprianou and Keir allowed the latter to penetrate the Olympic defence before delivering a perfect pass to his team mate, who duly guided the ball past Farrelly. City could have easily gone further ahead, and probably should have, before half time, but a succession of fine saves by Farrelly ensured his side entered the break down by only one goal.

The second period began with City exhibiting its superior passing game, which, again, meant Olympic was starved of possession and its chances were few and far between. On one such occasion, Olympic’s Matthew Whyte failed to reduce the arrears when presented with a gilt-edged opportunity just inside the City half. A Ross-Magee defensive error gifted Whyte with possession and a one on one situation against Stroh, but the Olympic man’s mediocre strike was easily smothered by the City shot-stopper. On the ensuing counter-attack, Robbie Cattanach laid off a well-timed pass to Ross-Magee, who calmly slotted home to give City a deserved 2-0 lead.

City’s third goal arrived in controversial circumstances shortly after. A 50/50 line call went in City’s favour after Trent Flanigan flirted dangerously with the touch line on an attacking run before releasing the ball to Keir, whose pass across the face of goal was met and steered into the Olympic goal by a flying Ross-Magee. A flurry of goals during the closing stages of the match consigned Olympic to what was ultimately a dispiriting night for the men in white. Keir slotted home a well-placed long-ball, Kyprianou tapped in for his second and Keir claimed his brace when he converted a deft Kyprianou pass to add further gloss to an impressive display from the champions.

Highlights of the week 2 Men’s Futsal Premier League match between Canberra City Prawns and Canberra Olympic Supercats are now available.  Please click the link to view the highlights (or view it embedded below)

Men’s Futsal Premier League
ROUND 2
Canberra City Prawns 5 (Robbie Cattanach (3), Ryan Kyprianou, Trent Flanigan) TUFC Gunners 4 (James McLachlan, Jackson Kupke, Tim Stewart, Antoni Jagarinec)
Boomerangs FS Blue 4 (Travis Dries, Evan Ekin-Smith, Michael Reeve, Glenn Smith) Canberra Olympic Supercats 3 (Lee Pietrukowski, Goran Josifovski, Lukas Cole)
Weston Creek Timberwolves 1 (Jeoff Noja) Belconnen United Devils 4 (Dustin Wells (2), David Kemp (2))
Queanbeyan City 5 (Zach Knight (3), Andrew McGurgan, Misko Naumoski) Monaro Panthers 4 (Milan Popovich (3), Nikola Popovich)

ROUND 3
Queanbeyan City 9 (Misko Naumoski (3), Zach Knight (3), Nathan Walker, Dragan Stegnjaic, Rui Ferreira) Weston Creek Timberwolves 4 (Ben Harrington (2), Tony Aleksovski, Dylan Alexandrow-Ridley)
Canberra Olympic Supercats 0 Canberra City Prawns 6 (Pat Ross-Magee (2), Ryan Keir (2), Ryan Kyprianou (2))
TUFC Gunners 6 (Luke Fattore (3), Mark Shields (2), Martin Corujo) Belconnen United Strikers 2 (Thomas Zeitholfer, Michael Rinaudo)
Boomerangs FS White 3 (Angus Patterson, Ben Pagett, Josh Calabria) Monaro Panthers 5 (Milan Popovich (2), Nikola Popovich, Nathan Swientek, Jake Wilsener)
Belconnen United Devils 6 (Dustin Wells (3), Callum Smith (2), David Kemp) Boomerangs FS Blue 2 (Jason O’Dwyer, Michael Reeve)

TABLE

LEADING SCORERS
6 Zach KNIGHT (Queanbeyan City)
5 Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United Devils), Milan POPOVICH (Monaro Panthers), Mark SHIELDS (TUFC Gunners)
4 Ryan KYPRIANOU (Canberra City Prawns), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City)
3 David KEMP (Belconnen United Devils), Robbie CATTANACH, Ryan KEIR (Canberra City Prawns), Luke FATTORE (TUFC Gunners)
2 Callum SMITH (Belconnen United Devils), Jason O’DWYER, Michael REEVE (Boomerangs FS Blue), Josh CALABRIA (Boomerangs FS White). Trent FLANIGAN, Daniel FULTON, Pat ROSS-MAGEE (Canberra City Prawns), Nikola POPOVICH (Monaro Panthers), Rui FERREIRA (Queanbeyan City), Antoni JAGARINEC, James McLACHLAN, Ufuk TALAY (TUFC Gunners), Tony ALEKSOVSKI, Dylan ALEXANDROW-RIDLEY, Ben HARRINGTON (Weston Creek Timberwolves)
1 Michael RINAUDO, Thomas ZEITLHOFER (Belconnen United Strikers), Travis DRIES, Evan EKIN-SMITH, Glenn SMITH (Boomerangs FS Blue), Ben PAGETT, Angus PATTERSON (Boomerangs FS White), Lukas COLE, Goran JOSIFOVSKI, Lee PIETRUKOWSKI (Canberra Olympic Supercats), Nathan SWIENTEK, Jake WILSENER (Monaro Panthers), Rory DEVLIN, Andrew McGURGAN, Dragan STEGNJAIC, Nathan WALKER (Queanbeyan City), Simon BADMAN, Martin CORUJO, Jackson KUPKE, Tim STEWART (TUFC Gunners), Jeoff NOJA (Weston Creek Timberwolves)