It’s an understatement that Queanbeyan City rose to the occasion of an Australia Cup Qualifying Final.

To not only hold out an utterly dominant 2025 Canberra Croatia for much of the contest, but to go toe to toe with them, and put the National Premier League table-toppers off their game for 120 minutes, should not go unmentioned.

Despite falling to defeat 2-1 in the final minute of the contest, the nature of Queanbeyan’s incredible display saw their key performer Gabriel Ayuel stand above the rest.

The fullback typified his side’s fearless and unwavering team display, putting in a tireless full 120-minute performance, which saw Queanbeyan’s number 10 contributing superbly from a defensive perspective and at times in the final third.

Overall, Ayuel says there can be plenty to take out of what was in the end a valiant defeat.

“Of course, yeah heaps of good,” he said. “Thanks to the boys man, we put in all we can, it’s unfortunate we didn’t get the win, but yeah it’s good.”

With the match on a knife edge for the entire contest, and tension-filled from minute one to 120, it was always going to come down to fine margins in determining a victor.

“It could’ve gone either way,” Ayuel said, when asked about his thoughts on the match. “[It’s] just one of those games, 1-0, 2-1, it is what it is.”

For Ayuel personally, to be named best on ground in a match littered with tension and overwhelming pressure cannot be overlooked, however the fullback describes his approach to the contest as focusing on it as just another game.

“Just play football, legit just play football and nothing else,” he said. “[it’s the] same game, another 90 minutes, in this case 120 minutes, it is what it is.”

In terms of the buildup to the contest, to match, and at some stages rattle such a high quality outfit required a superbly-executed game plan, as well as a strong message in the build up to the match from Head Coach Goran Josifovski.

“Just respect them but respect ourselves more, just go that way,” Ayuel said, describing his coach’s approach. “Just give it to them as much as they’ll give it to us, so that’s it.”

For Queanbeyan, while victory would have represented an incredible achievement for the club, to get to the Federation Cup Final and perform to such a good level against a team of Croatia’s quality is a commendable achievement, particularly considering how far the club have come in a year, having played second tier football just last season.

It’s a rise that Ayuel attributes to one thing.

“It’s a great feeling, just hard work really, hard work and [credit] to the boys, they put in all that work so it’s good,” he said.

With a cup final appearance signifying a potentially positive new era for the club, particularly after the much sought-after promotion to the NPL in 2024, Ayuel said Queanbeyan wants to continue evolving to greater heights, while still focusing on the near future.

“Hopefully, hopefully up from here, we can’t keep going down,” he said. “But yeah in the next game another three points hopefully.”

“We’ve set the benchmark, we just have to keep going from there.”

Words: Sam Watson