All the latest news and results from the National Premier League Boys competition, compile and written by Billy Ansell.
NPL14
Canberra Olympic has shocked the ladder with an important win against Canberra Croatia, gaining an early goal in the first half, leading to their one-nil victory. A close match came to a close between Majura FC and Brindabella Blues after a dominant first half by Majura, gaining a two-nil lead in just five minutes. The second half came, and Mathew Groves stepped up to put one away from the spot, but unfortunately, not enough to get any points. Saturday brought Gungahlin United versus Monaro Panthers to an interesting result. Monaro, facing top of the table, did well to hold on to the nil-all half-time score, but then couldn’t stop the leaders from putting two away in seven minutes. Gungahlin is looking to continue its winning streak, and Monaro is hoping to gain some points from its fixture against Woden Valley. Sunday brought a dominant win from West Canberra Wanderers, with Chang Keun Kim getting two in the first half and Semi Bakare getting two in the second half, as well as a goal from Hamish Koc-McDonald. Tigers FC grabbed a late one by William Morey to cancel the clean sheet, but it wasn’t enough for any points. Belconnen United take the three points after a great 4-nil win against Woden Valley, Logan George taking two, as well as Louis Harding getting one and Vincent Burton scoring from the spot. Radford College versus O’Connor Knights ended with O’Connor continuing their winning streak, hoping to take top of the table after a 3-0 win, with Radford hoping to give Olympic a run for their money next round Wagga started strong against Tuggeranong, gaining an early goal after only six minutes, and ended strong to take a 5-1 win away.
RESULTS
Wed: Brindabella Blues P O’Connor Knights P
Sat: Canberra Croatia 0 Canberra Olympic 1, Brindabella Blues 1 Majura FC 2, Monaro Panthers 0 Gungahlin United 2
Sun: Tigers FC v West Canberra Wanderers, Belconnen United 4 Woden Valley 0, Radford College 0 O’Connor Knights 3, Tuggeranong United 1 Wagga City Wanderers 5
NPL15
Tigers FC braved the wet and windy conditions to come away with three points against Canberra Olympic on Wednesday evening at Nicholls Synthetic as Henry Shoring, Dylan Bates, and Jonah Seselja struck for the victors. And it was déjà vu for Olympic on the weekend as they travelled to take on Canberra Croatia and were again defeated by the same scoreline. An early goal from Cooper San Juan inside 15 minutes, kept Croatia top of the table, pushing for a 10-point gap from second. Kick off at Calwell 2 saw the home side Brindabella Blues take a 5-0 win against Majura, with Yuvraj Uppal starting the scoring on six minutes and ending the scoring at 85 minutes. Top of the table, Gungahlin United, gained a 5-1 win against Monaro, with the Panthers doing well to hold onto a 1-all draw at half time, but couldn’t stop the Gunners from putting the game to bed with John Jayan getting his hat-trick. Sunday brought Tigers FC against West Canberra Wanderers to a dominant performance with Tigers FC up 3-0 by half time, only to lose their clean sheet in the second half. Belconnen United versus Woden Valley brought a close but classic comeback game, ending the first half at two apiece. Woden Valley doing well to come back to even at half time after being down 2-0, only to walk away with the win, with Nicholas Lutnant with the winner early in the second half. After Radford College opened with an early goal inside five minutes, O’Connor Knights switched on and not long after, putting two away with Logan Volkert and Gerard Van Den Bos ensuring their victory. A tough result for Tuggeranong United against Wagga City, as the hosts lost 2-0. Conceding an early goal inside five minutes as well as a late goal in the 80th minute.
RESULTS
Wed: Tigers FC 3 Canberra Olympic 0, Monaro Panthers P Belconnen United P
Sat: Canberra Croatia 3 Canberra Olympic 0, Brindabella Blues 5 Majura FC 0, Monaro Panthers 1 Gungahlin United 5
Sun: Tigers FC 3 West Canberra Wanderers 1, Belconnen United 2 Woden Valley 3, Radford College 1 O’Connor Knights 2, Tuggeranong United 0 Wagga City Wanderers 2
NPL16
Midweek action kicked off the National Premier League U16 competition this week as Canberra Croatia cruised to a 7-1 win over Woden Valley in wet and blustery conditions at Nicholls Synthetic. Lemar Katawazai and Cristiano Subasic both scored twice in the win with Nicholas Lutnant netting for Woden. A Sam Wilcox brace led Radford College to a 3-0 win over West Canberra Wanderers on Wednesday, and Tuggeranong United’s Matthew Sheriff claimed a hat-trick as United won 503 away for Majura FC. Saturday’s Round 16 matches kicked off with a massive scoring game of 9-2 with Gungahlin taking the away win against Monaro with a hat-trick from Maxwell Agbonzikilo, four from Omar Hamid and Kobe Holt and Elliot Head being the other goal scorers. Canberra Croatia and Canberra Olympic brought yet another hat-trick from one of the competition’s highest scorers, Lemar Katawazai in a 6-1 win as Croatia kept their winning streak going. An important 4-0 win for Brindabella Blues against Majura FC closed the gap to at the top, with an unfortunate own goal from Gideon Walters giving Brindabella Blues a 3-0 lead in just fifteen minutes. With a tough top of the table fixture next week, will Majura give Gungahlin a run for their money to try to keep the gap from closely chasing Brindabella? Another heavily weighted match ended between Belconnen United and Woden Valley with a result of 9:2, including a hat-trick from Sam York in 25 minutes, as well as Jonah Briggs, Ignacio Meneses, Liam Kneeshaw from the spot, and Neil Sidhu with two scoring for the Blue Devils. A very one-sided game with a scoreline of 15-0 ended with Tigers FC in perfect form against West Canberra Wanderers, giving Sean Singh a hat-trick as well as Anthony Grgic ending with four. A strong performance from 5th place, looking to the next round where they face Canberra Croatia, which will be an enticing game. O’Connor Knights gained an important three points after their strong 8-0 win over Radford College in hopes to overtake Tigers FC who are just two points ahead. coming into round 17 O’Connor looking to get points of the Tuggeranong fixture while Tigers face a strong Canberra Croatia side. To wrap up round 16, Wagga City came away from Kambah 2 with a 2 nil win from Ollie Felke and Joshua Carroll as the full-time scoreline.
RESULTS
Tues: Canberra Croatia 7 Woden Valley 1
Wed: Radford College 3 West Canberra Wanderers 0, Majura FC 3 Tuggeranong United 5
Sat: Monaro Panthers 2 Gungahlin United 9, Canberra Croatia 6 Canberra Olympic 1, Brindabella Blues 4 Majura FC 0
Sun: Belconnen United 9 Woden Valley 2, Tigers FC 15 West Canberra Wanderers 0, Radford College 0 O’Connor Knights 8, Tuggeranong United 0 Wagga City Wanderers 2
NPL18
Another double from Riley Brown gave Brindabella Blues a midweek 3-0 win over O’Connor Knights in the NPL18 competition in a match played at Nicholls Synthetic. Brown’s brace sandwiched a penalty from Duot Mabior. Elsewhere on Tuesday evening, a goal from Jebediah Jeffery helped Canberra Croatia to a barrow 1-0 win over Woden Valley at the same venue. On Wednesday, a late goal from Nithin Naveen earned Majura a 2-2 draw at home to Tuggeranong United, Osama Ahmed scored three, and Luke Linton and Wiliam McCracken one, as Radford College were too string for West Canberra Wanderers in a 5-1 win at Melrose Synthetic, whilst Tyler Andreatta helped himself to a hat-trick in Tigers FC 4-2 win over Canberra Olympic, Alex Couldrick scoring the other. Brindabella Blues took the three points again in the same week with another 3-0 win against Majura, with Luka Dzaja, Cooper Gavin and Duot Mabior finding the back of the net. Down in South Jerrabomberra, Gungahlin United gained a strong 6-0 win over Monaro adding another 3 points to their lead trying to break free from Belconnen who are hot on their heels. Belconnen took the three points away from McKellar Park with a 4-1 win against Woden Valley, knocking on Gungahlin’s door trying to get on top of the ladder Canberra Croatia gained their second win in a row after a rough patch winning 7-3 against Canberra Olympic. Croatia now only one point behind Olympic with two games in hand. Wagga and Tuggeranong ended at 3-3 with an injury that sent the game to bed 20 minutes early. Tuggeranong now pushing to widen the gap between Wagga. O’Connor made a bold statement after a strong performance ending as 7-1. Radford College looking to challenge Canberra Olympic in Round 17.
RESULTS
Tues: Brindabella Blues 3 O’Connor Knights 0, Canberra Croatia 1 Woden Valley 0
Wed: Tigers FC 4 Canberra Olympic 2, Radford College 5 West Canberra Wanderers 1, Monaro Panthers P Belconnen United P, Majura FC 2 Tuggeranong United 2
Sat: Brindabella Blues 3 Majura FC 0, Monaro Panthers 0 Gungahlin United 6, Belconnen United 4 Woden Valley 1, Canberra Croatia 7 Canberra Olympic 3
Sun: Tuggeranong United 3 Wagga City Wanderers 3, Tigers FC P West Canberra Wanderers P, Radford College 1 O’Connor Knights 7
