South Canberra Swift moved to within three points of league leader the UC stars the catch-up game played at the MPowerdome in Fadden, as they resisted a late Queanbeyan-Palerang Power surge to claim a 7-4 success.
Most of the damage was done in an exhilarating first-half for the Swift who took a three-goal lead into the interval and, after increasing the lead to 7-1 by the 27th minute, were unable to find a way past the stubborn Power defence as the Queanbeyan-Palerang team slowly chiseled their way back into the contest.
Swift set the tone for the afternoon with a goal inside the opening minute, Hassan Alnuwaysir driving low into the bottom corner of the net before Alessandro Pena struck the first of his brace.
Marley Jackson, who would grab two of his own, pulled one back for the Power, but after that Power were very much on the defensive as goals from David Seselja, his first at this level, and Pena again made the half-time score 4-1.
A second for Alnuwaysir was followed by a quickfire brace from Aisosa Ihegie as Swift exerted their dominance, only for Power to slowly claw their way back into the match with three goals in as many minutes.
Doug Woodiwiss struck first, his seventh goal of a productive campaign, before Jackson and Caleb Cullen-Rua reduced the deficit, the latter striking from range off the base of the post, but ultimately Power ran out of time to claim what would have been an unlikely comeback point.
R1: Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 4 (Jackson 11’, 31’, Woodiwiss 30’, Cullen-Rua 32’) South Canberra Swift 7 (Alnuwaysir 1’, 24’, Pena 11’, 20’, Seselja 18’, Ihegie 26’, 27’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | UC Stars | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 15 |
| 2 | South Canberra Swift | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 18 | +11 | 12 |
| 3 | West Canberra Lightning | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 24 | +4 | 7 |
| 4 | QP Power | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 30 | -1 | 4 |
| 5 | North Canberra Fire | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 26 | -12 | 4 |
| 6 | ANU Apex | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 1 |
TOP SCORERS
8 Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
7 Doug WOODIWISS (Power)
6 Nic DAHL (Stars), Marco GAYER (Power), Johnny HAJDU (Apex)
5 Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars), Alessandro PENA (Swift), Nick PRATEZINA (Stars), Bailey SORENSON (Fire)
4 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Elie DARWICH (Fire), Stephen DOMENICI (Lightning), FERNANDO Jorquera (Swift), Aisosa IHEGIE (Swift), Ed MCCARTHY (Power), Adam NEOU (Power)
3 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Swift), Marley JACKSON (Power), Luca MACOR (Stars), Nathen MEGIC (Lightning), Robert TKATCHENKO (Stars), Own GOALS
2 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Bailey DICKINSON (Apex), Connor FALUSI (Apex), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Daniel GIOVINAZZO (Lightning), Bradley MALONE (Fire), Angus PITKIN (Swift), Nik POPOVICH (Lightning), Nick RATHJEN (Stars), Kai THORNTON (Apex)
1 Micheal ADAMS (Swift), Elliot ALBERTO (Fire), Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Adrian DAWSON (Power), Jason FARRELL (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Apex), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), William MANOLO (Stars), Bruno MELO (Apex), Braulio MELO (Apex), Johnny PHAM (Swift), Michael RINAUDO (Stars), David SESELJA (Swift), Jeremy SALEH (Power), Tony SPASESKI (Power), Jake WILSENER (Stars)
