There were vital points up for grabs as the Capital Futsal League returned from its Christmas hiatus with teams jostling for positions in the league table, hoping to secure enough to claim a top four place and a semi-final slot.
Queanbeyan-Palerang Power secured a vital win on their push towards finals with an 8-2 success over North Canberra Fire with most of the damage done inside the opening half.
The first twenty minutes was a glorious affair, a ding-dong battle with both teams going toe-to-toe and trading some spectacular goals. Dylan Deep-Jones opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the third minute after Tony Spaseski was upended inside the area, and the lead was doubled three minutes later as Ed McCarthy scored via deflection.
At 2-0 Power were in control, but the Fire hit back with two goals within seconds of each other as firstly Arnold Choi deflected a cross into his own goal before a moment of magic from 14-year-old Toby McPherson.
The teenager collected a pass with a superb first touch, before adroitly lifting a finish past Jeremy Saleh in the Power goal. However, Power git back with a thunderous drive from Choi, met with a guttural roar from the scorer, a sensational solo goal from Marco Gayer, and a second from McCarthy to lead by three at the break.
A strike from Tony Spaseski ensured there would be no coming back for Fire, had when Adrian Dawson and McCarthy added to the tally, the latter completing a treble, it was game over as Power secured an important success.
Nick Pratezina helped himself to a Capital Futsal League record seven goals in a match as the UC Stars swept aside ANU Apex in a devastating display that saw them claim a 16-2 victory.
The Stars took the lead in the seventh minute with a well-worked team goal converted by Luca Macor, but the Apex were able to hit back just five minutes later as Bruno Melo squared a pass for Max Trushell to slide home a goal on his debut.
Incredibly, Stars were able to swing the match back in their favour with a brace of goals within seconds of each other. Michael Rinaudo netted the first, finishing off a slick attack, and then turned provider for Pratezina who had the simple task of stroking home from close range.
That kick-started an unbelievable five-minute spell for the talented Pratezina who struck a further four times in succession to take his tally to five in as many minutes, an to take the game away from the Apex who were behind 1-7 at the half-time interval.
And the goals continued to flow for Pratezina who added his sixth two minutes after the restart and was able to set the new goals in a game record with his seventh of the match shortly after Jayde James-Ward added his name to the tally.
There were plenty more to come as well, Macor ending with a double hat-trick, as the Stars turned on the style to dismantle their opponents and maintain their unbeaten record.
End-to-end Futsal was the order of the day in the Sunday evening battle as West Canberra Lightning upset South Canberra Swift in a 6-4 epic.
Nathen Megic, who enjoyed an exceptional National Futsal Championships, opened the scoring with a slick one-two with Stephen Domenici and firing home from in front of goals to get Lightning off to a flying start.
And they made it two five minutes later with another beautiful goal. Callum Smith sent an eye of the needle pass into Chris Lee who exquisitely flicked a heel at the passing ball to divert it past Callum Cook.
Immediately, Swift replied as Asisa Ihegie lifted a corner to the far post where Fernando Jorquera arrived and nodded home across goal. That sparked a momentum shift as Ihegie pounced on an error by the otherwise imperious Benjamin Southam before a brace of unfortunate own goals from Ben Basser-Silk and Callum Smith.
Trailing 4-2 at the break Lightning needed a quick start and they got it within twelve seconds as Megic found Domenici who swept a sensational finish into the top corner, and three minutes later they were level as Basser-Silk accelerated up field and finished with cool aplomb.
Unbelievably, just past the half-hour Lightning were back in front as Domenici spun on a dime to strike again and the forward was able to complete his treble and secure the points for his team.
RESULTS
Fri: QP Power 8 (Deep-Jones 3’ (p), McCarthy 6’, 20’, 36’, Choi 9’, Gayer 14’, Spaseski 29’, Dawson 35’) North Canberra Fire 2 (Choi 7’ (og), McPherson 7’)
Sat: ANU Apex 2 (Trushell 12’, Bruno Melo 33’) UC Stars 16 (Macor 7’, 35’, 36’, 38’, 39’, 39’, Rinaudo 13’, Pratezina 13’, 15’, 17’, 18’, 18’, 22’, 31’, James-Ward 30’, 35’)
Sun: West Canberra Lightning 6 (Megic 7’, Lee 12’, Domenici 21’, 31’, 31’, Basser-Silk 24’) South Canberra Swift 4 (Fernando 12’, Ihegie 18’, Basser-Silk 19’ (og), Smith 20’ (og))
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | UC Stars | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 58 | 27 | +31 | 22 |
| 2 | South Canberra Swift | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 35 | +13 | 21 |
| 3 | West Canberra Lightning | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 48 | 44 | +4 | 11 |
| 4 | QP Power | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 47 | 46 | +1 | 10 |
| 5 | North Canberra Fire | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 38 | -19 | 4 |
| 6 | ANU Apex | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 38 | 68 | -30 | 4 |
TOP SCORERS
13 Johnny HAJDU (Apex)
12 Luca MACOR (Stars), Nick PRATEZINA (Stars), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
11 Marco GAYER (Power)
10 Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars)
9 Alessandro PENA (Swift)
8 FERNANDO Jorquera (Swift), Ed MCCARTHY (Power), Doug WOODIWISS (Power)
7 Stephen DOMENICI (Lightning), Daniel FULTON (Lightning)
6 Nic DAHL (Stars), Elie DARWICH (Fire), Bailey SORENSON (Fire), Own GOALS
5 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Aisosa IHEGIE (Swift), Nathen MEGIC (Lightning), Nick RATHJEN (Stars), Michael RINAUDO (Stars), Atiya WARAGA (Swift)
4 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Swift), Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Marley JACKSON (Power), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Adam NEOU (Power), Tony SPASESKI (Power), Robert TKATCHENKO (Stars)
3 Bailey DICKINSON (Apex), Connor FALUSI (Apex), Jake WILSENER (Stars)
2 Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Adrian DAWSON (Power), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Power), Daniel GIOVINAZZO (Lightning), Bradley MALONE (Fire), Angus PITKIN (Swift), Nik POPOVICH (Lightning), Callum SMITH (Lightning), Kai THORNTON (Apex)
1 Micheal ADAMS (Swift), Elliot ALBERTO (Fire), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Arnold CHOI (Power), Jason FARRELL (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Apex), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Chris LEE (Lightning), William MANOLO (Stars), Toby MCPHERSON (Fire), Van NGUYEN (Swift), Johnny PHAM (Swift), Jeremy SALEH (Power), David SESELJA (Swift), Michael SOUTHAM (Lightning), Max TRUSHELL (Apex)
