O’Connor Knights and Weston-Molonglo both overturned half-time deficits to come out victorious in their Capital League semi-finals on Saturday.
ANU FC 1 (Andrew Manley 2′) def. by O’Connor Knights 2 (Danny Krajacic 47′, 65′)
After an incredibly close Capital League season came down to the final game last weekend, ANU and O’Connor Knights met once more in the major semi-final at the University of Canberra..
With a spot in the Grand Final to play for, the Knights took out a hard-fought 2-1 win, with Danny Krajacic netting a second-half brace after his side went behind early on.
A tense affair from the get-go, both sides looked to have an early impact on the game, but it was the ANU who would strike first with a silky move down the right hand side that was coolly finished off by A. Manley after just two minutes.
The minor premiers were given the chance to extend their lead with a spot kick on 6 minutes, but Max Mottl failed to hit the target, sending his effort inches wide of the Knight’s goal.
The Knights found their first goal just two minutes into the second half, capitalising on a slow-starting ANU side and pressing forward to equalise through Krajacic in the 47th minute.
The winner came in the 65th minute, as the Knights were awarded a penalty of their own and Krajacic stepped up to slot home, with the Knights holding on to claim the first spot in the grand-final, where they await the winner of ANU and Weston Molonglo in the Preliminary Final next Saturday.
Weston-Molonglo 4 (Aaron Cashman 52′, 53′, Ciaran Rayment 76′, Carl Hynes 86′) def. Canberra Olympic 1 (Victor Yanes 9′)
Weston-Molonglo turned a one-nil deficit at the break into a 4-1 win over an under-manned Canberra Olympic in Saturday afternoon. Victor Yanes opened the scoring for Olympic, who only had one substitute, after just nine minutes as they took the game to Weston-Molonglo early.
However the hosts started to turn the pressure around during the first half and came close twice approaching the break when they struck the crossbar.
Aaron Cashman turned the tide of the game after the break though with a scintillating brace inside two minutes. His first came in the 52nd minute as he turned in a cross with a simple finish, before recieving the ball over the back from a corner, turning and firing across the keeper and in.
Olympic were out on their feet for much of the second half as the lack of substitutes began to take its toll, and Ciaran Rayment’s close range tap in with just under 15 minutes left really broke the game open.
And with just four minutes remain they put the game entirely to bed as Carl Hynes finished off a good move, to put Weston-Molonglo into a sudden-death Preliminary final against ANU next weekend.
