Queanbeyan-Palerang Power claimed a first ever CFL victory with an astonishing 8-7 victory over the UC Stars in a Christmas epic. Marco Gayer netted four and Hassan Alnuwaysir three in a match that lit up Sunday evening and had the watching crowd on the edge of their seats throughout.
The Power led 2-0 at the break having hit the woodwork three times, Gayer and Alnuwaysir finally finding a way past Jamie-Lee Guo in quick succession in the final minute of the half and, when Gayer struck twice early in the second stanza, a four-goal cushion appeared enough for Queanbeyan-Palerang.
That merely set up an incredible spell of eleven goals in the space of fourteen minutes as the match reached a crescendo.
Marko Rathouski, Sherab Guo and Vinnie Brasil reduced the gap to one, only for Caleb Cullen-Rua to strike one of the goals of the season, a stunning half-volley lofted over the retreating Jamie-Lee Guo from the edge of his own area thumping into the Stars net.
Suddenly the Power were back and they managed to gain a four-goal lead again as Gayer claimed a fourth and Alnuwaysir completed a treble. And yet the Stars weren’t finished and late goals from an Arnold Choi own goal, a second from Rathouski and a goal from Lachlan Harrington set up a nervy finale, but Power held on.
South Canberra Swift recorded their fifth win in succession as they defeated ANU Apex 10-4 to start Round 8, an important victory to enable them to close to within a point of the league leading North Canberra Fire ahead of their Saturday matches.
The Apex made them work hard, particularly in the opening half as they twice took the lead in quick succession early on. Jake Fitzgerald and Luke Stevens both netted to give ANU the lead only for Lucas Alcazar-Stevens and Ed McCarthy to peg them back
McCarthy then put the Swift in front, and they were able to build on that lead as Alen James, an unfortunate own goal from Gareth Veitch in the Apex goal, deflecting in a thumping Nic Dahl shot, and Vanh Nguyen, turning in an exquisite finish off one of two assists from goalkeeper James Benivento, put them clear at the break.
Michael Adams, Jackson Paesler and James added to the Swift tally before Stevens pulled one back with his eighth of the campaign. Herbert Yeung netted the final goal of the night, a bulldozing header from a lofted Blaise Vlazlovski pass to end the evening on a high. By then though, the Swift had long secured the points.
The same two teams met again on Saturday evening in a rearranged Round 3 encounter and, just as they had less than 24-hours earlier, the Swift emerged triumphant, moving to the top of the table ahead of the Fire versus Lightning match-up after an 11-4 success.
Apex can count themselves unfortunate though having struck the woodwork three times in the opening half and seeing numerous other chances saved but the Swift’s incisiveness was the difference.
Leading 5-1 at the break Swift saw off an ANU barrage and responded with quickfire goals to kill off the match. Jackson Paesler led the way with a hat-trick, moving onto double figures for the season, whilst there were doubles for Daniel Roberts, Edward McCarthy, and Lucas Alcazar-Stevens.
Alen James successfully netted from a penalty, with Sebastian Ospina adding the other Swift goal. Luke Stevens grabbed one back for the Apex, with a Blaise Vlazlovski double and a Bruno Melo strike from close range seeing ANU push the Swift to the limit.
West Canberra Lightning reignited their title hopes by inflicting a first defeat of the season on North Canberra Fire in a blockbuster encounter that saw Lightning win 4-2 to move to within four points of the summit.
Brett Forward pounced on a mistake to put Lightning ahead after seven minutes and when Michael Sydney doubled the lead seven minutes later, the experienced West Canberra had a foothold.
Samuel Thomson netted his twelfth goal of the season to pull one bac for Fire, only for Daniel Fulton to restore the Lightning’s two-goal cushion within two minutes of the resumption.
Brandon Hawker ensured that the Fire went into the break in the contest, but a vital goal from player/coach Grant Davoren eased Lightning home. Ray Moon made a series of important stops late on to preserve the cushion and really open up the race for the league title.
MEN
Friday 9 December
ANU Apex 4 (Fitzgerald 2’, Stevens 3’, 37’, Yeung 38’) South Canberra Swift 10 (Alcazar-Stevens 2’, 23’, McCarthy 4’, 5’, James 16’, 29’, Veitch 19’ (og), Nguyen 20’, Adams 35’, Paesler 35’)
Saturday 10 December
South Canberra Swift 5 (McCarthy 6’, 17’, Ospina 15’, James 18’ (p), Roberts 19’, 35’, Paesler 23’, 34’ 40’, Alcazar-Stevens 37’, 38’) ANU Apex 1 (Vlazlovski 19’, 35’, Stevens 23’, Bruno Melo 35’)
North Canberra Fire 2 (Thomson 15’, Hawker 20’) West Canberra Lightning 4 (Forward 7’, Sydney 14’, Fulton 17’, Davoren 30’)
Sunday 11 December
UC Stars 7 (Rathouski 26’, 39’, S. Guo 28’, Brasil 29’, Moscaritolo 35’, Choi 37’ (og), Harrington 39’) Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 8 (Gayer 19’, 23’, 24’, 35’, Alnuwaysir 19’, 34’, 35’, Cullen-Rua 31’)
TABLE
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Swift | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 61 | 27 | +34 | 18 |
| 2 | Fire | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 64 | 32 | +32 | 16 |
| 3 | Lightning | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 38 | 20 | +18 | 14 |
| 4 | Apex | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 40 | 53 | -13 | 5 |
| 5 | Power | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 24 | 75 | -51 | 4 |
| 6 | Stars | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 36 | 56 | -20 | 2 |
LEADING SCORERS
18 Maxx GREEN (Fire)
12 Samuel THOMSON (Fire)
11 Edward MCCARTHY (Swift)
10 Alen JAMES (Swift), Jackson PAESLER (Swift)
9 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Luca FLOREZ (Fire), Luke STEVENS (Apex)
7 Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Patrick SHORE (Apex), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning), Own GOALS
6 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Power), Michael ADAMS (Swift), Riley BROWN (Fire), Juan Sebastian OSPINA (Swift), Bailey SORENSON (Fire)
5 Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Clyde HOLO (Stars), Kai THORNTON (Apex), Blaise VLAZLOVSKI (Apex)
4 Vinnie BRASIL (Stars), Marco GAYER (Power), Sherab GUO (Stars), Johnny HAJDU (Stars), Brad MALONE (Fire), Michael MOSCARITOLO (Stars), Michael SYDNEY (Lightning)
3 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Brett FORWARD (Lightning), David JENKINS (Power), Marko RATHOUSKI (Stars), Michael RINAUDO (Stars), Daniel ROBERTS (Swift)
2 Andrew AITCHISON (Stars), Julian BRITTON (Apex), Sam CARTERS (Lightning), Alistair DAVIS (Fire), Jason FARRELL (Lighting), Connor FALUSI (Stars), Lachlan HARRINGTON (Stars), Hamed JADEER (Stars), Phakedi MANDA (Swift), Bruno MELO (Apex), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Power), Will SHEPPARD (Lightning), James WILSON (Power)
1 Michael CAHILL (Power), Arnold CHOI (Power), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Grant DAVOREN (Lightning), Daniel FELIZZI (Power), Marco GAYER (Power), Robert MCKAY (Fire), Braulio MELO (Apex), Vanh NGUYEN (Swift), Michael NOLAN (Lightning), Zach PRITCHARD (Stars), Martin SANTOS (Power), Jordan SELEMS (Power), Robert TKATCHENKO (Swift), Herbert YEUNG (Apex)
