Yoogali SC moved to the top of the Capital Premier League with a fourth win of the season as they completed a professional away day win in Canberra, seeing off Canberra Juventus with a comfortable 4-0 success.

The team from Griffith have suddenly found form in recent weeks as player/coach Darren Bailey begins to exert his methods on the squad, and they are repaying the Scotsman’s enthusiastic teachings with a string of fine performances. Bailey is leading by example and did so again at Ainslie Oval.

Yoogali were given a helping hand when they took the lead after only eight minutes when Nathan Matthews put through his own net, but it was the two-goal blitz before half-time that was to push the points the way of the visiting team.

Bailey himself helped the cause, grabbing a sixth goal of the season in the 37^th minute, before Mason Donadel landed the killer blow, adding the third goal right on the half-time whistle. A fourth goal, six minutes upon the resumption from Romain Pinto shredded any doubt as Yoogali marched on.

A sublime finish from Robbie Cattanach proved the difference at the Australian Institute of Sport as Belconnen United edged past a stubborn White Eagles to claim a narrow, yet important, 1-0 victory.

The evergreen Cattanach struck a minute into the second half for the Blue Devils, his first goal for his new club following his return from retirement. The three points, for which the home team were made to work hard, moved Belconnen up into second place just a point behind leaders Yoogali.

Following their exit from the Australia Cup Qualifying competition at the Semi-Final stage, a match in which they lost David Carder and Dave McCarron to injury, this was a welcome return to the winner’s stage for Steve Forshaw and his group who came into the game on a wretched recent run of form. This win might just propel them on a title charge.

Wagga City Wanderers moved up into fourth place on the table as they claimed a 2-0 home win over Queanbeyan City at Gissing Oval. The Wanderers’ win was their third from six matches in the Capital League in 2023 and closed the gap on their opponents to two points, only one off the league leaders.

The defeat was Queanbeyan City’s first of the season, and came courtesy of two late goals, Wanderers’ not opening the scoring until twenty-five minutes from time, the two-goal salvo breaching what had been a sold looking Queanbeyan defensive set-up.

Unsurprisingly, it was Morris Kadzola who opened the scoring, the talented playmaker finding the back of the net for the seventh time in half-a-dozen games, the goal keeping him at the top of the Golden Boot standings just ahead of Yoogali’s Bailey. Thomas Yongai added the second with twelve minutes remaining to secure the maximum points.

It was honours even at Ipan Park in Calwell as Brindabella Blues and ANU FC shared a 2-2 draw with both first-half strikes coming within two minutes of each other in a rapid-fire sequence of action around the half-hour mark of what was an even, yet exciting contest, with nothing to choose between the teams.

Blues’ talisman Curtis Schaeffer gave the home team the lead, his third goal of the campaign in the 31^st minute, but ANU FC only waited two minutes to restore parity, Jack Gibson striking for the second time in 2023.

Chances came and went for both teams before the ninety minutes were up, Henry Wilks putting the Blues ahead, before Leo Hadley levelled for the second time with two minutes to play and, in the end, both had to settle for the draw. The point keeps ANU FC ahead of then Blues by virtue of goal difference, both on eight points from two wins, two draws and two defeats.

RESULTS

ROUND 6

Saturday 13 May

Wagga City Wanderers 2 (Kadzola 65’, Yongai 78’) Queanbeyan City 0

Brindabella Blues 2 (Schaeffer 31’, Wilks 75′) ANU FC 2 (Gibson 33’, Hadley 88′)

Canberra Juventus 0 Yoogali SC 4 (Matthews 8’ (og), Bailey 37’, M. Donadel 45’, Pinto 51’)

Belconnen United 1 (Cattanach 46’) White Eagles 0

TABLE

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Yoogali SC	6	4	0	2	19	10	+9	12
2	Belconnen United	6	3	2	1	14	10	+4	11
3	Queanbeyan City	6	3	2	1	11	9	+2	11
4	Wagga City Wanderers	6	3	0	3	15	13	+2	9
5	ANU FC	6	2	2	2	17	15	+2	8
6	Brindabella Blues	6	2	2	2	7	12	-5	8
7	White Eagles	6	1	2	3	12	11	+1	5
8	Canberra Juventus	6	1	0	5	8	22	-14	3

 

TOP SCORERS

7 Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers)

6 Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC)

4 Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Zac LAWRENCE (White Eagles), Own GOALS

3 Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Steven KRESKAS (White Eagles), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Rory SPIERS (ANU FC), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)

2 Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Ryan GULEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), David MCCARRON (Belconnen United), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Hayden TUNNEY (Belconnen United), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United)

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), 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), Tim LOPEZ (ANU FC), Andrew MANLEY (ANU FC), Nathan MATTHEWS (Canberra Juventus), Zac MAYBURY (Belconnen United), Van NGUYEN (Canberra Juventus), Michael PICCOLO (Queanbeyan City), Romain PINTO (Yoogali SC), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Jake PLOENGES (Wagga City Wanderers), 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), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)