Belconnen United swamped Canberra Juventus to secure a second win in succession with a 6-2 hammering of the Capital League newcomers at Ainslie, a result that means the Blue Devils are one of only two teams to have won both matches to begin the 2023 campaign as they seek promotion back to the NPL.
The visitors had the game fully under control in the first-half, leading 4-1 at the interval as they started brightly and left Juventus playing catch-up on a perfect afternoon for football in the National Capital.
Veteran Blue Devils stars Zac Maybury and Dustin Wells got Belconnen off to the best possible start, both scoring inside twenty-five minutes, before a run of the goals in three minutes effectively killed the contest in favour of Steve Forshaw’s men.
Andre Jugovac had briefly given Juventus hopes of carrying on from their Round 1 win over Whites Eagles with a well-taken goal, but Belconnen responded immediately as Luke Vallone restored the two-goal lead, before David Carder extended it just two minutes later as Belconnen went three clear by half-time.
A double from Abraham Kemp added further gloss to the performance, bringing up half-a-dozen goals, meaning that Nathan Duck’s stoppage time strike was moot.
A hat-trick from Zac Lawrence saw White Eagles bounce back from a Round 1 loss with a convincing 6-0 thrashing of Brindabella Blues at Woden Park. Lawrence, who scored in defeat against Canberra Juventus, struck twice late on to complete his treble, by which stage Eagles were in firm control.
The home side took close to half-an-hour to break down the Blues, who reached the Grand Final having finished fourth in this divisions last year, Dejan Santrac finding the way through to open the scoring.
Goran Milutinovic doubled the lead six minuets before the break, but the critical goal was arguably the third, Lawrence’s first of the afternoon, scored two minutes into added time at the end of the first stanza, a strike that gave Eagles a comfortable three-goal cushion to take into the changing rooms.
That left Blues playing catch-up, and they were picked off by the Eagles as Milutinovic made it four in the 65th minute before Lawrence sealed the deal with a brace inside the final five minutes, completing his hat-trick and moving onto four goals for the season.
Queanbeyan City made it two from two for them, as they continued their good start to the new season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Yoogali SC. The visitors from Griffith have had two tough road trips to start the season, but pushed Queanbeyan all the way, ultimately falling just short of a comeback at High Street.
City, who fell short of promotion in 2022, are one of the early season favourites and underlined their credentials by taking the lead before half-time as Hussein Fureje opened the scoring in what was turning into an absorbing contest.
The next goal was likely to be vital in determining the outcome of the points and, to the delight of the home faithful, it went the way of the hosts as Ryan Gulevski found the back of the net to double the Queanbeyan lead. Kolby Sears responded for Yoogali, but they were unable to force an equaliser and gain a share of the spoils.
Wagga City Wanderers stunned ANU FC at ANU South winning a sensational match by the odd goal in seven, a Morris Kadzola hat-trick helping the visitors to the three points, a result only confirmed by a last minute strike from Zac Steele.
The University team, who perhaps had one eye on their Australian Cup Round 5 date with NPL powerhouse Gungahlin United in midweek, scored three times in the opening forty-five minutes, opening the scoring via a penalty from Hassan Alnuwaysir with Nicholas Hope, scoring in consecutive matches, and Jan towering defender Wojna, adding to the tally.
Wagga were never out of it though and in Kadzola have a rare talent who can create and score at will. Deadly from the penalty spot, he netted from 12-yards as part of his trio of goals, Kadzola made sure that the Wanderers were level at 3-3 heading into the last minute when Steele was able to secure the upset victory.
RESULTS
Saturday 15 April
Queanbeyan City 2 (Fureje 12′, Gulevski 83′) Yoogali SC 1 (Sears 90+7′)
Gungahlin Juventus 2 (Jugovac 36’, Duck 90+2’) Belconnen United 6 (Maybury 8’, Wells 23’, Vallone 37’, Carder 39’, Kemp 52’, 77’)
White Eagles 6 (Santrac 28’, Milutinovic 39’, 65’, Lawrence 45+2’, 83’, 85’) Brindabella Blues 0
ANU FC 3 (Alnuwaysir 6’ (p), Hope 39’, Wojna 43’) Wagga City Wanderers 4 (Kadzola 4’, 10’ (p), 81’, Steele 90+3’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 6 |
| 2 | Queanbeyan City | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 |
| 3 | White Eagles | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 3 |
| 4 | Wagga City Wanderers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 3 |
| 5 | Canberra Juventus | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 3 |
| 6 | ANU FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Yoogali SC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 0 |
| 8 | Brindabella Blues | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
4 Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles)
3 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC)
2 Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United)
1 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), David CARDER (Belconnen United), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Hussein FUREJE (Queanbeyan City), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Ryan GULEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Andre JUGOVAC (Canberra Juventus), Nathan MATTHEWS (Canberra Juventus), David MCCARRON (Belconnen United), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Dejan SANTRAC (White Eagles), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Kolby SEARS (Yoogali SC), Rory SPIERS (ANU FC), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Jan WOJNA (ANU FC)
