The race for promotion to the National Premier League took another twist as Yoogali SC stumbled at bottom of the table White Eagles whilst the chasing Queanbeyan City closed the gap by a couple of points as they shook off a tough and fast finishing ANU FC to move to within four points of the Capital League leaders with a game in hand.
Free-scoring Yoogali SC, who have netted over fifty times in the division in the 2023 season, were unable to find a way past the White Eagles defence which, despite being rooted to the bottom of the league table, has only conceded seven more goals than third placed Wagga City Wanderers, as the match at Woden Park ended 0-0.
The Eagles ended the ninety minutes a man down, combative midfielder Ohio Ashikhia shown a straight red card four minutes from full-time. Fortunately for the hosts, the numerical disadvantage wasn’t costly, and the Eagles were able to frustrate Yoogali’s push for promotion to the top tier.
Queanbeyan City moved ever closer and continued their recent impressive form as they defeated ANU FC 3-2 at High Street to keep alive their hopes of making it to the top of the pile at the most important time of the season, the time when the prizes are handed out.
Gabriel Ayuel opened the scoring for City just past the twenty-minute mark, before Rory Spiers equalised for the visitors four minutes before the half-time break. Unfortunately for ANU FC they were caught cold in stoppage time as the in-form Niko Abot struck once more to edge City ahead.
Abot was at it again in the second-half, scoring his fifteenth goal of the season with twenty minutes remaining and making life difficult for an ANU team who are chasing a top-four spot themselves. A late goal from Rowan Peterkin raised hopes of a dramatic conclusion, but City held firm.
Belconnen United remained fourth and kept Brindabella Blues at arm’s length as the match at Ipan Park ended all-square at 1-1. The Blues started the day two points adrift of the Blue Devils who currently occupy the coveted fourth-position, and that was how they ended it, after a game that saw two goals swapped in two minutes.
Jamie Ward gave Brindabella the lead three minutes after the restart following a goalless opening forty-five minutes, sparking hopes amongst the home faithful that the Blues would be able to leapfrog Belconnen. Those hopes were dashed two minutes later as Hayden Tunney restored parity.
A hat-trick from Nathan Duck was the highlight as Canberra Juventus put a major spanner in the works for Wagga City Wanderers, out-shooting their hosts 3-2 in a thrilling encounter played at Gissing Oval.
Jake Ploenges, who has been in some hot form in front of goal himself this term, put the Wanderers ahead before half-time, a lead that was preserved until only two minutes after the resumption when Duck levelled matters.
Duck then put Juventus ahead two minutes later, only for Ploenges to net a thirteenth goal of the campaign and draw the teams all-square at 2-2. Just when it appeared that the points would be shared, Duck popped up in stoppage time to complete a treble, move to eleven goals on the top scorers’ chart, and secure the win.
RESULTS
ROUND 17
Saturday 5 August
Wagga City Wanderers 2 (Ploenges 40’, 69’) Canberra Juventus 3 (Duck 47’, 49’, 90+3’)
Queanbeyan City 3 (Ayuel 21’, Abot 45+4’, 70’) ANU FC 2 (Spiers 41’, Peterkin 89’)
Brindabella Blues 1 (Ward 48’) Belconnen United 1 (Tunney 50’)
White Eagles 0 Yoogali SC 0
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Yoogali SC | 17 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 51 | 24 | +27 | 35 |
| 2 | Queanbeyan City | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 28 | +5 | 31 |
| 3 | Wagga City Wanderers | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 23 |
| 4 | Belconnen United | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 29 | 26 | +3 | 24 |
| 5 | ANU FC | 17 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 22 |
| 6 | Brindabella Blues | 17 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 28 | -5 | 22 |
| 7 | Canberra Juventus | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 25 | 48 | -23 | 15 |
| 8 | White Eagles | 17 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 37 | -16 | 12 |
TOP SCORERS
16 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC)
15 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City)
13 Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Jake PLOENGES (Wagga City Wanderers)
11 Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus)
10 Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC)
9 Own GOALS
8 Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Rory SPIERS (ANU FC)
6 Hayden TUNNEY (Belconnen United)
5 Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
4 Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Andrew MANLEY (ANU FC), Liam RAE (Belconnen United)
3 Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Reuben DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Steven KRESKAS (White Eagles), Tim LOPEZ (ANU FC), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Nikola TRAJKOVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
2 Toni ANGELKOSKI (White Eagles), 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), Luca NOVOSEL (Canberra Juventus), Rowan PETERKIN (ANU FC), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Federico PROIA (Canberra Juventus), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
1 Tyler ALLEN (Wagga City Wanderers), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Ohio ASIKHIA (White Eagles), Aleksander BELJANSKI (White Eagles), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Phil BORGEAUD (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), Bailey DICKINSON (Belconnen United), William DWIGHT (Canberra Juventus), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), David GURNEY (Brindabella Blues), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Josh HICKMAN (White Eagles), Christian JUNNA (Queanbeyan City), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Roshan LAMICHHANE (White Eagles), Jacob LEONARD (Brindabella Blues), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Tim NGUYEN (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Romain PINTO (Yoogali SC), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC), Fahad RAMADHAN (Canberra Juventus), Robert RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Dejan SANTRAC (White Eagles), Kolby SEARS (Yoogali SC), Sachin SIRKARI (ANU FC), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Jan WOJNA (ANU FC)
