A sensational eight-goal performance saw Wagga City Wanderers emerge as genuine promotion contenders as they hammered an out of sorts White Eagles at Woden Park to the tune of 8-1, a result that sent shockwaves throughout the Capital Premier League.
There was little indication of what was to come when Maxwell Prest opened the scoring after only seven minutes, but a three-goal burst in seventeen magnificent minutes ripped up the expectations as the Wanderers blitzed the out-gunned Eagles in a plethora of finely taken goals.
Morris Kadzola added the second, his eighth of the season, before striker Jake Ploenges took centre-stage. Ploenges had only managed one goal to his name before this fixture but struck twice in the space of six minutes as Wanderers took complete and utter control of the Round 7 clash.
Ploenges would later complete his hat-trick, with the seventh goal for the visitors, by that stage Chaise Donetto and Prest had added to the tally, their goals sandwiched between an effort from Zac Lawrence for the home team which would be of no consolation to the Eagles’ faithful.
Thomas Yongai wrapped it all up with nine minutes to play as the Wanderers enjoyed a day of days and sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the Division.
Queanbeyan City eased to an expected 3-1 win over Canberra Juventus at High Street in a clash that evoked memories of years gone past as two proud Canberra footballing institutions met in front of a large and appreciative crowd.
Gabriel Ayuel was the difference for City in the opening half, his double giving Goran Josifovski’s team a strangleholds on proceedings, something that they were never to relinquish despite the best efforts of a Juventus team that are proving to be better than their results suggest.
Nathan Duck has been their main source of goals in 2023 and the CPL newcomers leading scorer reduced the arrears in the 69th minute to spark a glimmer of hope that they could tune this one around, but City’s main marksman, Niko Abot, responded in kind three minutes later to seal the victory.
Two first-half goals gave ANU FC the platform to claim an important 3-0 win over Belconnen United at ANU South Oval, the visitors run deep into the Australian Cup Qualifying tournament, reaching the Semi-Finals, appeared to catch-up with them as they looked lethargic against a vibrant ANU.
Nicholas Hope has enjoyed an excellent season in front of goal and the talented midfielder bagged his fifth of the campaign to get the home team off to the best possible start, a beginning that was built upon as Tim Lopez doubled the University advantage, crucially scoring in first-half stoppage time.
The Blue Devils clawed their way back into contention in an even second-half but were caught out at the very death as Rory Spiers, on as a substitute for Jack Gibson during the half-time interval, found the net for the fourth time in the CPL in 2023 in stoppage time to round off the win.
Sunday saw Yoogali SC return to the top of the league table as they edged a tight affair with Brindabella Blues at Solar Mad Stadium, a pair of second-half goals helping the home side to emerge with a 2-1 success.
After a goalless opening period, Joe Preece broke the deadlock almost immediately after the restart, bagging his third goal of the season to give the home side the advantage. But it was short-lived as eleven minutes later the Blues managed to haul themselves level through a maiden goal of the campaign for Jacob Leonard.
Yoogali pushed for a match-winner and Mason Donadel, later voted as man of the match, was the man for job, also on target for the third time in the 2023 Capital League season, as Yoogali moved to a point ahead of Queanbeyan City at the summit.
RESULTS
ROUND 7
Saturday 20 May
White Eagles 1 (Lawrence 53’) Wagga City Wanderers 8 (Prest 7’, 64’, Kadzola 25’, Ploenges 36’, 42’, 76’, Donetto 49’, Yongai 81’)
Queanbeyan City 3 (G. Ayuel 11’, 38’, Abot 72’) Canberra Juventus 1 (Duck 69’)
ANU FC 3 (Hope 23’, Lopez 45+1’, Spiers 90+2’) Belconnen United 0
Sunday 21 May
Yoogali SC 2 (Preece 46’, M. Donadel 68’) Brindabella Blues 1 (Leonard 57’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Yoogali SC | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 11 | +10 | 15 |
| 2 | Queanbeyan City | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 14 |
| 3 | Wagga City Wanderers | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 12 |
| 4 | ANU FC | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 11 |
| 5 | Belconnen United | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 13 | +1 | 11 |
| 6 | Brindabella Blues | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | -6 | 8 |
| 7 | White Eagles | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 19 | -6 | 5 |
| 8 | Canberra Juventus | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 25 | -16 | 3 |
TOP SCORERS
8 Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers)
6 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles)
5 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City) Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC)
4 Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Jake PLOENGES (Wagga City Wanderers), Rory SPIERS (ANU FC), Own GOALS
3 Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Steven KRESKAS (White Eagles), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
2 Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Ryan GULEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Tim LOPEZ (ANU FC), David MCCARRON (Belconnen United), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Hayden TUNNEY (Belconnen United), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
1 Tyler ALLEN (Wagga City Wanderers), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Aleksander BELJANSKI (White Eagles), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), David CARDER (Belconnen United), Robbie CATTANACH (Belconnen United), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Reuben DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Chaise DONETTO (Wagga City Wanderers), William DWIGHT (Canberra Juventus), Hussein FUREJE (Queanbeyan City), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Andre JUGOVAC (Canberra Juventus), Christian JUNNA (Queanbeyan City), Roshan LAMICHHANE (White Eagles), Jacob LEONARD (Brindabella Blues), Andrew MANLEY (ANU FC), Nathan MATTHEWS (Canberra Juventus), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Romain PINTO (Yoogali SC), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC), Dejan SANTRAC (White Eagles), Kolby SEARS (Yoogali SC), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Nikola TRAJKOVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Jan WOJNA (ANU FC)
