Highly-fancied Tigers FC crashed out of the Capital Football Australia Cup Qualification tournament as they were defeated 3-1 by League Champions Canberra Croatia on a hot Saturday afternoon at Deakin Stadium.
The hosts were in triumphant form off the back of a Charity Shield win over Monaro Panthers and, even without the strike quartet of Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu, Stephen Domenici, Kaz Patafta and Jason Ugrinic, boasted too much firepower for their visitors who, for large parts, looked disjointed.
The opening stages were fairly even, and it took an error from the Tigers to allow Croatia to open the scoring twenty minutes in. Kyle Senior left his crossfield back-pass short and Daniel Barac needed no second invitation, nipping in ahead of Tigers goalkeeper Jakob Cole as he attempted to clear and running the ball into the empty net to put his team ahead.
Sam Brown in the opposite goal was left with little to do in the opening half but was made to work harder after the break as Tigers came out of the changing rooms in an attacking mood. However, it was Croatia who were to net the crucial second goal of the contest.
Unsurprisingly, it came from a set-piece, surprisingly it was Croatia’s first attack of the second half on the hour mark. Franc Greco, who had enjoyed a terrific midfield battle against Amilio Kista, sent over a pinpoint corner and Ryan Keir climbed highest to meet it, powering a header into the bottom corner of the goal.
Tigers reduced the arrears in stoppage time, giving themselves a glimmer of hope, as substitute Ed McCarthy got on the end of a Josh Gulevski pass at the back post to sweep home from close range, but any thoughts of a remarkable denouement to the encounter were swiftly dispelled by Croatia.
Tomohiro Ogawa’s attempted pass was intercepted by young replacement Timothy Santos who advanced towards the Tigers goal, before finding Noah Vanderpol in support, the latter firing in a shot that beat Cole and entered the net off the base of the ‘keeper’s left-hand post to extinguish Tigers FC cup ambitions.
Saturday 18 March
Canberra Croatia 3 (Barac 20’, Keir 60’, Vanderpol 90+4’) Tigers FC 1 (McCarthy 90+2’)