Queanbeyan City became the only team left in the Capital Premier League with a 100% record as they claimed a third win three with a come from behind 3-1 success over ANU FC at ANU South Oval. City led 2-1 at the interval before seeing off a rather flat University side after the break.
Perhaps it was understandable that the hosts struggled to match the intensity of their midweek Australia Cup Qualifying exploits against NPL Gungahlin United, but there was little sign of that early on as Andrew Manley opened the scoring in only the fifth minute of the encounter.
It was important for City to hit back early, and they did as Abderrahim Dellahi found the leveller after quarter of an hour. And it was the visitors who led at the interval as Ryan Gulevski followed up his goal in Round 2 with his second of the season to edge Queanbeyan ahead.
A third killed it off, and it was supplied by midfielder Nikola Trajkovski twenty minutes into the second, giving Queanbeyan a lead that ANU FC, despite their best efforts, could not claw back.
It was a tale of late goals at Hawker Football Centre as both goals in the 1-1 draw between Belconnen United and Brindabella Blues arrived in the final four minutes, the draw getting the Blues off the mark for the season and seeing the Blue Devils relinquish their 100% winning start.
Belconnen appeared to be on course to making it nine points from nine in their opening three matches at this level following their relegation from the top tier last season when young midfielder Hayden Tunney opened the scoring in the 86th minute, a goal that looked to have dragged the Blue Devils over the line.
But Brindabella had other ideas and, with less than a minute left of regulation time, Henry Wilks found a way through the home team’s defence, Belconnen having played a Cup Quarter Final in midweek, unable to hold out for the victory.
A brace from the early Capital League Golden Boot pace-setter Morris Kadzola gave Wagga City Wanderers a second win in succession as, for the second Round in a row, the visitors netted four goals away from home in a 4-1 come from behind success against Canberra Juventus.
In a fixture that saw Juventus reduced to ten men after 36 minutes when Andre Jugovac was shown a straight red card, the Wanderers were able to make the numerical advantage count with two goals in each half.
Nathan Duck’s second goal of the season put Juventus in front, only for Kadzola to level before the hosts saw Jugovac dismissed. Kadzola grabbed his sixth of the season three minutes into first-half stoppage time to send Wagga City into the changing rooms in the lead and in a buoyant mood.
They still needed to finish the game off however, and two goals in the space of ten minutes did just that as Maxwell Prest made it three before Jake Ploenges was able to seal the points with the fourth in the 71st minute.
Yoogali Soccer Club recorded their first win of the season with a convincing 3-1 success over the visiting White Eagles at Solar Mad Stadium on a beautiful sunny day in Griffith. The home side looked to be in control of the match as they led 2-0 at the break only for the Eagles to force their way back into it, before a third for Yoogali secured the points.
The result continued White Eagles topsy-turvy start to 2023, having lost two and won handsomely in between. A fourth goal of the season for Darren Bailey after just eleven minutes got Yoogali off to the perfect start before a second was added by impressive midfielder Joshua De Rossi a minute shy of the half-time interval.
Aleksander Beljanski netted his first of the season five minutes after the resumption to get the Eagles back into the game, only for Mason Donadel to restore the lead, and seal the win, on the hour.
RESULTS
ROUND 3
Saturday 22 April
Canberra Juventus 1 (Duck 22’) Wagga City Wanderers 4 (Kadzola 32’, 45+3’, Prest 61’, Ploenges 71’)
ANU FC 1 (Manley 5’) Queanbeyan City 3 (Dellahi 15’, Gulevski 36’, Trajkovski 65’)
Belconnen United 1 (Tunney 86’ (p)) Brindabella Blues 1 (Wilks 89’)
Sunday 23 April
Yoogali SC 3 (Bailey 31’, De Rossi 44’, M. Donadel 60’) White Eagles 1 (Beljanski 50’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Queanbeyan City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 9 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 7 |
| 3 | Wagga City Wanderers | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 6 |
| 4 | White Eagles | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 3 |
| 5 | Yoogali SC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | ANU FC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 3 |
| 7 | Canberra Juventus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 3 |
| 8 | Brindabella Blues | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | -7 | 1 |
TOP SCORERS
6 Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers)
4 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles)
2 Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Ryan GULEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), 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), Aleksander BELJANSKI (White Eagles), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), David CARDER (Belconnen United), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Hussein FUREJE (Queanbeyan City), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Andre JUGOVAC (Canberra Juventus), Andrew MANLEY (ANU FC), Nathan MATTHEWS (Canberra Juventus), David MCCARRON (Belconnen United), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Jake PLOENGES (Wagga City Wanderers), 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), Nikola TRAJKOVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Hayden TUNNEY (Belconnen United), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues), Jan WOJNA (ANU FC)
