Canberra Juventus began life as a Capital Premier League club with a handsome 3-1 victory over the always tough to defeat White Eagles, storming the Eagles nest to claim a superb success with a sensational performance that will certainly make the rest of the division sit up and take notice.
A tight first-half ended in a stalemate as neither side were able to break down the opposition defence but all that was to change just three minutes into the second half as Juventus grabbed their first goal on their return to this level as Adam Brooks made a crucial breakthrough.
That forced the Eagles to try and come from behind and, when Van Nguyen doubled the Juventus lead in the 63rd minute, the home side were staring down the barrel of a surprise opening day defeat.
Zac Lawrence gave some home to Eagles by striking with five minutes to play, but any hopes of a home comeback were squashed within sixty seconds of the restart as Adam Matthews restored Juventus two-goal cushion, delighting the travelling support, and sending Juventus top of the league after one match.
Player/Coach Darren Bailey scored an opening day hat-trick, but that didn’t prove to be enough for Yoogali SC as ANU FC came out on top by the odd-goal in a seven-goal thriller at Gungahlin Enclosed.
In a fantastic advertisement for the league, and a truly magnificent game of football, the University side were pegged back three times before coming up with the match winner with nineteen minutes remaining as Oliver Grist finally settled an absorbing end-to-end thriller.
Monteagh Grave opened the scoring eight minutes before half-time, only for Bailey to level two minutes later. Rory Spiers restored ANU FC’s lead three minutes after that, but Bailey equalised again in first-half stoppage time.
Nicholas Hope put ANU FC back in front in the 64th minute, but incredibly Bailey equalised for a third time within five minutes. However, it was Grist who had the last word in an incredible match.
Belconnen United, relegated from the NPL last season, got off to a winning start in the CPL as Harry Billington struck the matchwinner with eight minutes to play to earn the Blue Devils a stirring 3-2 success over Wagga City Wanderers.
David McCarron put Belconnen ahead in the eighth minute on debut, and Luke Vallone was on hand to double that advantage with only twenty-five minutes of the match elapsed. Wagga City finally settled into the match and were able to hang on until the break before hitting back in style.
A brace of goals within a quarter of an hour of each other saw Nashwan Sulaiman and Morris Kadzola each score to haul the Wanderers back on terms but, just as they seemed set to return to the Riverina with a share of the spoils, up stepped Billington to secure the maximum haul for Steve Forshaw’s men.
Brindabella Blues, beaten in the Grand Final at this level by promoted Tuggeranong United in 2022, fell on the opening day of the season to highly-fancied Queanbeyan City in a cracker played out at Ipan Park in Calwell.
New signing Niko Abot, formerly of Tigers FC and Gungahlin United, opened his account in the first-half of the match, before City went two-up as Michael Piccolo struck directly from a free-kick, his effort finding a way through the Brindabella wall and into the bottom corner of the net.
The Blues pulled one back late on as Curtis Schaeffer struck, but it was too little, too late and Queanbeyan came away with three hard-earned points from what is always a tricky awayday assignment.
RESULTS
Belconnen United 3 (McCarron 8’, Vallone 25’, Billington 82’) Wagga City Wanderers 2 (Sulaiman 61’, Kadzola 76’)
Brindabella Blues 1 (Schaeffer 90’) Queanbeyan City 2 (Abot 15’, Piccolo 50’)
White Eagles 1 (Lawrence 85’) Canberra Juventus 3 (Brooks 48’, Nguyen 63’, Matthews 86’)
ANU FC 4 (Grace 37’, Spiers 42’, Hope 64’, Grist 71’) Yoogali SC 3 (Bailey 39’, 45+2’, 69’)
TABLE
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
1 | Canberra Juventus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 3 |
2 | ANU FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 3 |
3 | Belconnen United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 3 |
4 | Queanbeyan City | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 3 |
5 | Yoogali SC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 0 |
6 | Wagga City Wanderers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0 |
7 | Brindabella Blues | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
8 | White Eagles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
3 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC)
1 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles), Nathan MATTHEWS (Canberra Juventus), David MCCARRON (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Rory SPIERS (ANU FC), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United)