Tuggeranong United took a major step towards confirming their National Premier League safety, and potentially added a further nail into the coffin of opponents West Canberra Wanderers in the process, as they won a massive Southside derby 2-0 under the floodlights of Kambah 2.
Goals inside the opening twenty minutes from Jordan Rezek and Sam Walker were enough for Tuggeranong to secure the victory in a match that will have major ramifications on the immediate future of both clubs with the hosts extending their advantage over their guests at the bottom of the table to eight points.
United were up for this match from the get-go and were in front after just forty-five seconds of the contest. Immediately from the kick-off Tuggeranong secured possession inside the Wanderers half and Rezek’s cross-shot foxed Wanderers’ stopper Kristian Nel at the near post, the ball clipping the underside of the bar and creeping into the net.
If that wasn’t bad enough for West Canberra, their hopes of a recovery were stymied some eighteen minutes later as Tuggeranong doubled their lead. A cross into the area was cleared only as far as Walker and the United forward struck an unerring drive through a forest of legs into the corner for his fifth goal of the season.
It nearly got worse for the visitors and would have had it not been for the heroic defending of the impressive Daniel Grove, the centre-back clearing off the line twice in rapid fire succession, both times the unfortunate Joaquin Abot the man to be denied.
At the other end goalkeeper Pete Philippa was well on the way to chalking up a second clean-sheet in four days, his involvement in the opening stanza limited to routinely fielding a back-heel flick from Babin Paudyal, one of the rare occasions that the Wanderers were able to penetrate the Tuggeranong defence.
They had little more luck after the break, the United defence led by the peerless combination of Euan Peterkin and Josh Pedersen equal to anything Wanderers could muster, whilst they might have added a third only for Isaac Osborne to be thwarted by Nel and Clancy Hislop by Grove.
It mattered little though as Tuggeranong had already done the damage and took a giant leap towards Premier League safety at the expense of their vanquished opponents.
RESULT
ROUND 15
Wednesday 19 July
Tuggeranong United 2 (Rezek 1’, Walker 19’) West Canberra Wanderers 0
TABLE
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
1 | O’Connor Knights | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 40 | 14 | +26 | 32 |
2 | Tigers FC | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 30 | +15 | 29 |
3 | Canberra Olympic | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 21 | +11 | 26 |
4 | Gungahlin United | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 24 |
5 | Monaro Panthers | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 22 |
6 | Canberra Croatia | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 19 |
7 | Tuggeranong United | 14 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 15 | 44 | -29 | 8 |
8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 10 | 59 | -49 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
13 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
11 Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers)
10 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
9 Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia)
8 Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
7 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United)
6 Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers)
5 Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United)
4 Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
3 Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Tom MCLACHLAN (Gungahlin United), Nathen MEGIC (Canberra Olympic), Jackson PAESLER (Gungahlin United), Kaz PATAFTA (Canberra Croatia), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Kyle SENIOR (Tigers FC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Noah VANDERPOL (Canberra Croatia), Regan WALSH (O’Connor Knights)
1 Badreldin ABBAS (Gungahlin United), Joaquin ABOT (Tuggeranong United), Angus BAILEY (West Canberra Wanderers), Jake BISHOP (Tigers FC), Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC), Riley BROWN (West Canberra Wanderers), Lachlan CAMPBELL (O’Connor Knights), Kofi DANNING (Canberra Olympic), Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Dom GIAMPAOLO (Gungahlin United), Sam HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Patrick HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Tyson LIVERMORE (O’Connor Knights), Tony MADAFFARI (Tigers FC), Archie MCGREGOR (Monaro Panthers), Max MELLICK (Canberra Olympic), Misko NAUMOSKI (Gungahlin United), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Lasse OLRIK (Canberra Olympic), Harrison PALIC (O’Connor Knights), George PAVESE (West Canberra Wanderers), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Jordan REZEK (Tuggeranong United), Jayden RIPPON (West Canberra Wanderers), Nicholas ROUFOGALIS (West Canberra Wanderers), David SESELJA (Canberra Croatia), Callum SMITH (Canberra Olympic), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Hristjan TANOSKI (Tigers FC), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Harry TRUMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers)