Round 15 Wrap up | 2020-2021 Macron SFL WA

A high scoring round, with a couple of exciting close encounters, but also lots of one sided affairs.

Cockburn EWA FC 5 – 5 Perth Lions FA

Friday night lights at the Pro Futsal Centre and Round 16 of the SFL opened with a thriller. Cockburn missed the opportunity to make it 3 wins in a row as The Lions roared their way back from a 3 goal deficit to earn a draw. The Lions started well with an early goal from the returning Dorian Mardi giving them the lead. EWA responded with a quickfire double from Niko Cvijanovic midway through the 1st half. Further goals from Jesse Lazzaro and Alex Gamble stretched the lead at the halfway mark of the match. An early goal in the 2nd half via James Oldroyd gave The Lions hope of a rebound, but Aden Da Luz restored Cockburn’s 3 goal advantage 5 minutes later. Further strikes from Oldroyd, to secure his hattrick, made for an exciting finish, and a last ditch effort from Moh Totonchy gave The Lions a famous draw in what proved to be the match-of-the-round.

Curtin Footbalista FC 3 – 9 Stirling Braza Ginga FC

Stirling (5th) narrowed the gap on 4th placed Cockburn to 2 points, as they extended their winning to 4 matches with a commanding victory over Curtin. Braza flew out of the blocks taking a 4 goal lead in the opening 5 minutes, via Connor Crews, Pavel Parihuzic, Victor Brauner & Claudio Tavares. 4 more 1st half goals via new recruit Josh Ban, Tavares & a double for Brauner to secure an early hattrick put this match out of Footbalista’s reach. Curtin battled back in the 2nd half with strikes from Farzam Mehrabi and a double from Keivan Baghban. There was enough time for Tavares to complete his hattrick as well. A heavy defeat for Curtin, as Brauner feasted for the 2nd time this season; 7 goals in 2 matches against Footbalista.

South Perth FC 10 – 1 Canning Ultra Tigers FC

South Perth retained 3rd on the ladder with an imposing performance against Canning, anchored by a 4-goal return from new recruit and man-of-the-match Danilo Neves. The Ultra Tigers started well, and kept South Perth at bay until a 3 goal burst in 3 minutes midway through the 1st half, via Remo Capitani, James Toth & Daniel Muzzarelli. Canning responded with a strike from Renato Zapata, only for Jaime Serrano to restore South Perth’s 3 goal advantage. The 2nd half was the Neves show, with the reigning SFL MVP scoring a double early in the half & a further double late on. Sandwiched in between was a double from Filip Rojnica as South Perth completed a comprehensive victory.

Perth Longobarda FC 7 – 2 Byford Venom FC

Saturday’s run of fixtures opened with Longobarda (2nd) completing the double over a gallant Byford. Cristiano Dos Santos opened the scoring virtually from kick-off to give Longo the perfect start. Further strikes from Vaughan Audrain, against his former club, Alex Kretowicz (with a double) and Bruno Di Gregorio completed a 5 star 1st half performance by Longobarda. The Venom responded well in the 2nd half, with Travis Bosveld and Johan Van Den Dolder on the scoresheet, along with the ageless Jeevan Krishnan and Massimo Basolu for Longobarda.

Fremantle FC 6 – 1 Joondalup ECU Jets

Fremantle (8th) made it 2 wins in a row with an impressive performance against Joondalup. ECU kept Fremantle at bay in the early stages, until Diego Florenca opened the scoring in the 8th minute. The floodgates seemed to open from there as further strikes from man-of-the-match Luke Tidy (a double) and Jake Pizzuto gave Fremantle a 4 goal advantage at half time. The Jets responded early in the 2nd half via Adrian Rossi, but, further strikes from Allister Gomes and Pizzuto completed the scoring. The 3 points helped Fremantle narrow the gap to 6th placed Lions to 5 points.

Murdoch Warriors FC 2 – 5 Balga FC

Balga (7th) avenged their 2nd round loss to a valiant Murdoch (10th) in a physical encounter that included 6 yellow and 2 red cards. Balga took an early lead via captain Luqman Sayyed, and doubled that lead via Eraste Vyamungu to take a notable advantage into the halftime break. An eventful 2nd half saw Conor O’Driscoll pick up 2 early goals & complete his hattrick late on, followed by 2 late cards as well. In between those events Jamie Rossi and Shayan Bahmani scored for The Warriors, but it was not enough as they are now 14 points outside the Top 6. Balga, for their part, narrowed the gap on the Top 6 to just 4 points.

Rockingham Cambio Cumbre FC 9 – 0 Perth AFC

The final match of Round 15 featured two of the entertainers in the SFL, but it was Cumbre who turned on the style. Rockingham (1st) retained their 4 point lead at the summit with a masterful performance over AFC (9th). AFC managed to keep Cumbre at bay until young gun Tyler Garner opened the scoring midway through the 1st half. Two further goals from Nestor Fonseca and Garner gave Rockingham a comfortable lead at the halftime break. Former AFC spearhead Spiro Nenadic added a 4th early in the 2nd half, as Faris Noor Rani scored a double, and, both Garner & Fonseca completed their hattricks. An impressive effort by Cumbre who are now averaging just under 6 goals per game, and conceding under 2 goals per game. They lead the league in most wins (13), lowest goals against (27, 10 better than the next best), highest goal difference (57), and, obviously, total points (40).