Three goals in eleven second-half minutes enabled Brindabella Blues to stun League leaders Yoogali SC, inflicting only a third defeat of the season on the visitors and keep alive their own top four hopes with a superb 3-1 win at Melrose Synthetic in the Capital League Round 14 encounter.
It appeared business as usual for Yoogali as Darren Bailey struck after only two minutes, a goal that put the Scottish star clear at the top of the Golden Boot standings, and yet the Blues were able to repel Yoogali and not allow them to build on that early advantage.
The game spun in that goal-laden spell nine minutes after the resumption as Curtis Schaeffer, the Blues main goal threat, moved onto seven goals for the season by striking a brace of goals within three minutes of each other.
By the time that Jayden Deighan-Smith added the third goal in the 65th minute, Yoogali were rocking, and they had no answer to the belligerent Blues who seemed to be finding form when it is most needed.
For the second time in 2023, Wagga City Wanderers forward Jake Ploenges struck a CPL hat-trick against White Eagles, this time the striker’s treble being the only difference as Wagga took advantage of Yoogali’s defeat to edge three points closer to their Riverina rivals with a 3-1 success.
All four goals were scored in the first-half, and it was the Wanderers who got off to a flyer as Ploenges scored twice in the opening twenty minutes to take command of the contest. The big forward was in no mood to be denied bludgeoning the Eagles into submission.
Cuneyt Caglar pulled one back for the Eagles on the half-hour, but Ploenges completed his treble three minutes before half-time, taking his season’s goal tally to eleven as the Wanderers moved on to 22 points with seven victories.
Queanbeyan City reduced Yoogali’s lead to seven points, with a game in hand, as they defeated Canberra Juventus 3-1 at Ainslie off the back of a match-winning treble for Argentinean striker Niko Abot.
Abot netted three times in the second-half to shake off a stubborn Juventus, a team that had found its feet at CPL level, and more than matched their high-flying opponents for large parts of an entertaining fixture.
Indeed, they were on terms when Nathan Duck struck for the eighth time this season to level Abot’s opener that had broken the deadlock just four minutes after the resumption following a goalless opening forty-five minutes.
Abot restored the visitor’s lead in the 69th minute, but it wasn’t until stoppage time that Queanbeyan were able to finally rest easy, Abot notching his tenth of the campaign to record a treble and secure the points.
ANU FC won a five-goal thriller at McKellar Park in a match switched to the Blue Devils venue, emerging with a 3-2 success against Belconnen United to move four points clear of their rivals in the chase for finals football.
Hayden Tunney gave Belconnen the lead in the sixth minute, only for two goals in the space of two minutes to turn the contest on its head as Andrew Manley and Tim Lopez scored within quick succession.
Liam Rae was able to pull Belconnen level in the second-half, bagging his third goal since his mid-season signing, but the University side would come out on the right side of the ledger as they won it with what proved to be the winning goal in the 66th minute as Max Mottl scored for the second time this term.
RESULTS
ROUND 14
Saturday 15 July
Wagga City Wanderers 3 (Ploenges 3’, 19’, 42’) White Eagles 1 (Caglar 30’)
Brindabella Blues 3 (Schaeffer 54’, 57’, Deighan-Smith 65’) Yoogali SC 1 (Bailey 2’)
Canberra Juventus 1 (Duck 63’) Queanbeyan City 3 (Abot 49’, 69’, 90’)
ANU FC 3 (Manley 25’, Lopez 27’, Mottl 66’) Belconnen United 2 (Tunney 6’, Rae 52’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Yoogali SC | 14 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 44 | 21 | +23 | 31 |
| 2 | Queanbeyan City | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 26 | 23 | +3 | 24 |
| 3 | Wagga City Wanderers | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 37 | 25 | +12 | 22 |
| 4 | ANU FC | 14 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 32 | 26 | +6 | 21 |
| 5 | Belconnen United | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 17 |
| 6 | Brindabella Blues | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 19 | 26 | -7 | 17 |
| 7 | Canberra Juventus | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 20 | 40 | -20 | 11 |
| 8 | White Eagles | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 33 | -14 | 10 |
TOP SCORERS
13 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC)
12 Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers)
11 Jake PLOENGES (Wagga City Wanderers)
10 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC)
8 Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC)
7 Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Rory SPIERS (ANU FC), Own GOALS
5 Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Hayden TUNNEY (Belconnen United)
4 Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Andrew MANLEY (ANU FC), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
3 Reuben DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Steven KRESKAS (White Eagles), Tim LOPEZ (ANU FC), Liam RAE (Belconnen United), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), 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), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Federico PROIA (Canberra Juventus), Nikola TRAJKOVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues)
1 Tyler ALLEN (Wagga City Wanderers), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Aleksander BELJANSKI (White Eagles), Harry BILLINGTON (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), William DWIGHT (Canberra Juventus), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), David GURNEY (Brindabella Blues), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Christian JUNNA (Queanbeyan City), Roshan LAMICHHANE (White Eagles), Jacob LEONARD (Brindabella Blues), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Tim NGUYEN (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Luca NOVOSEL (Canberra Juventus), Rowan PETERKIN (ANU FC), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Romain PINTO (Yoogali SC), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC), Robert RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Dejan SANTRAC (White Eagles), Kolby SEARS (Yoogali SC), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Jan WOJNA (ANU FC)
