A sensational Friday night feast saw South Canberra Swift defeat North Canberra Fire in a classic encounter, winning a seven-goal thriller by 4-3 in front of an appreciative crowd at Daramalan College.
A superb first-half showed the quality of the CFL competition as the two teams went toe-to-toe in a breathless opening twenty minutes. The Swift started the better and forged into a two-goal lead inside the opening five minutes as Alessandro Pena and Hassan Alnuwaysir bagged goals within two minutes of each other.
The Fire response was brilliant as they struck a pair of goals within the space of a couple of minutes themselves, the combination of Bailey Sorenson and Elie Darwich easing last season’s Grand Final winners back into the contest at 2-2.
Darwich then had Fire in the front with a perfect penalty, finding the top corner from the spot in the twelfth minute, only for the Swift to level matters close to the half-time interval. Fernando saw his first effort, an audacious volley blocked, but was alert to the rebound, slamming home for 3-3.
The second-half was a far feistier affair, and it was Swift who went back in front via a wonderful free-kick netted by Atiya Waraga, a strike that secured the three points for the Swift and a lead of the table heading into the Saturday matches.
Marco Gayer netted a superb treble as Queanbeyan-Palerang Power claimed a second victory of the season as they defeated ANU Apex 6-3 in a thrilling match to open proceedings on Saturday evening.
A sensational first-half saw the teams share six goals with the teams all-square at the break after Gayer struck three times himself in the early stages. The Power’s dynamic driving force opened the scoring after three minutes and, after Jenno Ceruti had levelled the scores after nine minutes, restored the lead three minutes later.
Two goals in a minute turned it around for the Apex however as firstly Johnny Hajdu blasted home his thirteenth of the season, before Bruno Melo swept home at the end of a lightning-fast Apex counter to have the ANU squad in front.
But Power were level by the break as Gayer completed his hat-trick in devastating fashion. Awarded a free-kick just inside Apex territory, Gayer blasted a thunderbolt high into the top corner, in off the post, giving goalkeeper Gareth Veitch no chance and a contender for goal of the season.
The second-half belonged to the Power and Tony Spaseski who capped a devastating display with a pair of well-taken goals despite carrying an ankle injury. Ed McCarthy also added his name to the scoreboard as the Power finished strongly for an important victory.
Title-chasing UC Stars were held to a thrilling 7-7 draw in a CFL epic on Sunday as West Canberra Lightning secured what might prove to be a vitally important point in a fixture that was a magnificent advertisement for the sport.
The match ebbed and flowed from the outset, the only surprise that it took eighteen minutes for the first goal to arrive. However, once Nicholas Subasic had opened the scoring for the Lightning, the goals suddenly flowed thick and fast. Incredibly, the Stars were in front at half-time as Luca Macor and Micheal Rinaudo struck.
Callum Smith levelled for Lightning early in the second stanza, only for Jayde James-Ward to net twice within seconds of each other to seemingly put the Stars on course for the win, but the Lightning had other ideas as Smith and Ashley Blount levelled the match up at 4-4.
The teams weren’t down and traded goals until the conclusion as the Stars could not shake off the Lightning. Rinaudo’s second was cancelled out by Ben Basser-Silk, Robert Tkatchenko’s goal by Michael Southam. Rinaudo completed a hat-trick, but Subasic book-ended the classic by equalising again late on.
RESULTS
Fri: South Canberra Swift 4 (Pena 3’, Alnuwaysir 5’, Fernando 18’, Waraga 21’) North Canberra Fire 3 (Darwich 7’, 12’ (p), Sorenson 9’)
Sat: ANU Apex 3 (Ceruti 9’, Hajdu 17’, Bruno Melo 18’) QP Power 6 (Gayer 3’, 12’, 19’, Spaseski 31’, 39’, McCarthy 37’)
Sun: West Canberra Lightning 7 (Subasic 18’, 38’, Smith 21’, 24’, Blount 26’, Basser-Silk 31’, Southam 35’) UC Stars 7 (L. Macor 20’, Rinaudo 20’, 29’, 35’, James-Ward 23’, 23’, Tkatchenko 33’)
TABLE
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
1 | South Canberra Swift | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 44 | 29 | +15 | 21 |
2 | UC Stars | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 25 | +17 | 19 |
3 | West Canberra Lightning | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 42 | 40 | +2 | 8 |
4 | QP Power | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 39 | 44 | -5 | 7 |
5 | North Canberra Fire | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 30 | -13 | 4 |
6 | ANU Apex | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 36 | 52 | -16 | 4 |
TOP SCORERS
13 Johnny HAJDU (Apex)
12 Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
10 Marco GAYER (Power)
9 Alessandro PENA (Swift)
8 Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars), Doug WOODIWISS (Power)
7 Daniel FULTON (Lightning), FERNANDO Jorquera (Swift)
6 Nic DAHL (Stars), Elie DARWICH (Fire), Luca MACOR (Stars), Bailey SORENSON (Fire)
5 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Ed MCCARTHY (Power), Nick PRATEZINA (Stars), Nick RATHJEN (Stars), Atiya WARAGA (Swift)
4 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Swift), Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Stephen DOMENICI (Lightning), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Aisosa IHEGIE (Swift), Marley JACKSON (Power), Nathen MEGIC (Lightning), Braulio MELO (Apex), Adam NEOU (Power), Michael RINAUDO (Stars), Robert TKATCHENKO (Stars)
3 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Bailey DICKINSON (Apex), Connor FALUSI (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Tony SPASESKI (Power), Jake WILSENER (Stars), Own GOALS
2 Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Daniel GIOVINAZZO (Lightning), Bradley MALONE (Fire), Angus PITKIN (Swift), Nik POPOVICH (Lightning), Callum SMITH (Lightning), Kai THORNTON (Apex)
1 Micheal ADAMS (Swift), Elliot ALBERTO (Fire), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Adrian DAWSON (Power), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Power), Jason FARRELL (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Apex), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), William MANOLO (Stars), Van NGUYEN (Swift), Johnny PHAM (Swift), Jeremy SALEH (Power), David SESELJA (Swift), Michael SOUTHAM (Lightning)