A second treble in three weeks from Argentinean super-striker Niko Abot gave Queanbeyan City a crucial three points in a five-goal thriller against Yoogali SC at High Street as City reduced the gap at the top of the Capital Premier League to just six points with a game in hand.
Abot moved onto thirteen goals for the season with his second hat-trick of the campaign, three goals that gave City a comfortable lead over their rivals for promotion to the National Premier League, with the forward scoring just before the interval, and twice more in a thirteen minute spell after the break.
There was still time for Yoogali to make it a nervy finale, Joe Preece pulling one back with seven minutes remaining, and Darren Bailey bagging a league-leading sixteenth goal of the season from the penalty spot in the 88th minute, but Queanbeyan had already done enough to claim what might prove to be a vital win.
Belconnen United moved level on points with Wagga City Wanderers in third as they eased to a comfortable 4-0 away victory over Canberra Juventus, three second half goals eventually seeing the Blue Devils to a win in a clustered, tight race for the top four finals positions.
A first goal of the season from Phil Borgeaud gave Belconnen the lead just before the half-hour at Ainslie, the veteran defender making the key breakthrough to give the visiting team a narrow half-time advantage.
Two goals within five minutes of each other from Dustin Wells and Abraham Kemp gave Belconnen more breathing space, just reward for their attacking endeavour at the commencement of the second-half, before Baily Dickinson’s first CPL goal of the season sealed a fine day at the office for the Blue Devils.
Brindabella Blues moved to within two points of the top four and closed the gap to ANU FC by a couple of points, as they recorded a routine 2-0 away victory over White Eagles at Woden Park.
The result continued a miserable season for the Eagles who remain rooted to the foot of the table, still one point behind Canberra Juventus, and looking for an upturn in fortunes before the curtain comes down on the 2023 campaign.
They were in this encounter for large parts of the match but found themselves two adrift at the interval as the Blues scored twice in the space of nine minutes. An own goal from Ohio Asikhia, who rescued the Eagles a point in Round 15, opened the scoring before an eighth of the campaign from striker Curtis Schaeffer confirmed the result.
The points were shared at ANU South Oval as ANU FC and Wagga City Wanderers could not be separated as a goal in each half saw the match between two teams fighting for the top four end in a 1-1 stalemate.
Only two points now separate third from sixth in a congested race for the finals as the University team slipped up in their attempt to close the gap on the Wanderers who themselves dropped five points behind Queanbeyan City.
Morris Kadzola scored his thirteenth goal of the season to give Wagga the lead nine minutes before the half-time break, before a goal a quarter of an hour from time, netted by Sachin Sirkari, his first of the CPL year, earned ANU a draw.
RESULTS
ROUND 16
Saturday 29 July
Queanbeyan City 3 (Abot 44’, 66’, 79’) Yoogali SC 2 (Preece 83’, Bailey 88’ (p))
Canberra Juventus 0 Belconnen United 4 (Borgeaud 29’, Wells 54’, Kemp 59’, Dickinson 88’)
White Eagles 0 Brindabella Blues 2 (Asikhia 31’ (og), Schaeffer 40’)
ANU FC 1 (Sirkari 75’) Wagga City Wanderers 1 (Kadzola 36’)
TABLE
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
1 | Yoogali SC | 16 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 51 | 24 | +27 | 34 |
2 | Queanbeyan City | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 26 | +4 | 28 |
3 | Wagga City Wanderers | 15 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 38 | 27 | +11 | 23 |
4 | Belconnen United | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 28 | 25 | +3 | 23 |
5 | ANU FC | 16 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 33 | 32 | +1 | 22 |
6 | Brindabella Blues | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 27 | -5 | 21 |
7 | Canberra Juventus | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 22 | 46 | -24 | 12 |
8 | White Eagles | 16 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 21 | 37 | -16 | 11 |
TOP SCORERS
16 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC)
13 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers)
11 Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Jake PLOENGES (Wagga City Wanderers)
10 Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC)
9 Own GOALS
8 Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
7 Rory SPIERS (ANU FC)
5 Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Hayden TUNNEY (Belconnen United), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
4 Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Andrew MANLEY (ANU FC), Liam RAE (Belconnen United)
3 Reuben DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Steven KRESKAS (White Eagles), Tim LOPEZ (ANU FC), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Nikola TRAJKOVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
2 Toni ANGELKOSKI (White Eagles), Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Nikolas BLASKOVIC (Brindabella Blues), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Chaise DONETTO (Wagga City Wanderers), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Hussein FUREJE (Queanbeyan City), Ryan GULEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Andre JUGOVAC (Canberra Juventus), Nathan MATTHEWS (Canberra Juventus), David MCCARRON (Belconnen United), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Luca NOVOSEL (Canberra Juventus), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Federico PROIA (Canberra Juventus), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
1 Tyler ALLEN (Wagga City Wanderers), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Ohio ASIKHIA (White Eagles), Aleksander BELJANSKI (White Eagles), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Phil BORGEAUD (Belconnen United), Jordan CACHIA (White Eagles), Cuneyt CAGLAR (White Eagles), David CARDER (Belconnen United), Robbie CATTANACH (Belconnen United), Charlie D’ADDARIO (Belconnen United), Chase DEANS (ANU FC), Jayden DEIGHAN-SMITH (Brindabella Blues), Bailey DICKINSON (Belconnen United), William DWIGHT (Canberra Juventus), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), David GURNEY (Brindabella Blues), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Josh HICKMAN (White Eagles), Christian JUNNA (Queanbeyan City), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Roshan LAMICHHANE (White Eagles), Jacob LEONARD (Brindabella Blues), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Tim NGUYEN (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Rowan PETERKIN (ANU FC), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Romain PINTO (Yoogali SC), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC), Fahad RAMADHAN (Canberra Juventus), Robert RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Dejan SANTRAC (White Eagles), Kolby SEARS (Yoogali SC), Sachin SIRKARI (ANU FC), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Jan WOJNA (ANU FC)