Gungahlin United moved to the top of the NPL table after the completion of three rounds with a convincing, and comprehensive, three-goal win away to Belconnen United under a blue sky bereft of clouds at McKellar Park, inflicting a second three-goal home loss on the Blue Devils.
Having been defeated by Monaro Panthers in Round 1, the home side were hoping to put on a better display for their loyal home support and they had the best early chance of the contest when winger Christian Kreskas, who was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Gunners throughout, stabbed just wide after a glorious through-ball from Chris Reay.
It was an uncharacteristic mistake from Belconnen captain Izach Clements that paved the way for the opening goal of the fixture, Clements misjudging a pass through the heart of the Blue Devils defence, allowing Jeremy Habtemariam to run clear and place an accurate finish past Alex Connell for his second goal in two matches.
The killer goal arrived on the stroke of half-time and it was a thing of beauty. Josh Gaspari and Michael John exchanged passes with the latter freeing the former into the area for Gaspari to lash a violent finish under Connell. A third strike, finished from close range by substitute Samuel Habtemariam on his 50th NPL appearance, rounded off the win and put Gunners clear of the chasing pack.
League Champions Tigers FC dealt the O’Connor Knights a dose of reality at the AIS with a 3-1 victory which inflicted a first loss on the Knights since their return to the elite level. It wasn’t as simple as the score may suggest though as the Knights pushed their opponents to the max and only succumbed deep into stoppage time.
The opening goal of the clash, finished with aplomb by Antoni Timotheou, was a first-class demonstration of why the Tigers held the league and cup in 2021, a multi-player, multi-pass move ended with a super strike. If that was quality, the equaliser was just as good, albeit in a different manner as Connor Mynott-Smith bent an exquisite free-kick over the Tigers wall and beyond the grasp of Jakob Cole.
Josh Gulevski has started the new season in good form and scored for the third successive league appearance ten minutes into the second half to restore the Tigers advantage and, despite having most of the possession thereafter, Tigers had to wait until time added on to settle the result once and for all as Nik Popovich made it certain with the third.
There was a vital return to form for Canberra Olympic who moved off the bottom of the NPL table with a 3-1 win over West Canberra Wanderers who replace them at the foot of the pile after three rounds. Having leaked 14 goals in their opening two matches of the year, Olympic were much better defensively and made their chances count on their forays into the Wanderers final third.
A brace of goals in the five-minutes before the interval dealt the harshest blow to Wanderers hopes as Alen James struck first before Elie Darwich landed his second penalty of the season, proving to be a deadly ace from the spot, to give Olympic a comfortable cushion heading into half-time.
Wanderers responded well and, with just three minutes left on the clock, forced themselves back into the contest as Beau Harvey, a summer signing from Monaro Panthers, underlined his burgeoning reputation with a well-taken goal to give the visiting team hope of an unlikely comeback.
That was snuffed out when, in the final minute of the match, Olympic substitute Aisosa Ihegie, who top scored for his club in 2021, grabbed his first of the new campaign.
Canberra Croatia will perhaps be wondering quite how they didn’t take the maximum return from their visit to Monaro Panthers on Saturday evening, but the form of the Panthers gloveman Jordan Thurtell was the critical difference. Thurtell made a string of outstanding stops, none better than the one in the first-half when he miraculously clawed away a Stephen Domenici pile-driver that appeared destined for the top corner.
There are counter-arguments to the made that the Panthers themselves might well have stolen the points and they can point to a glorious opening wasted by Kofi Danning in the early exchanges, the former A-League front-man volleying over when well-placed inside the penalty area.
As ever, the truth lies somewhere in between, and a draw was probably a fair result and one that both teams would have been happy with. No goals, but a fine example of a match which was eminently watchable from a neutral perspective and did little to dissuade the notion that both are more than capable of challenging for honours.
Saturday 23 April
NPL1: ROUND 3
Belconnen United 0 Gungahlin United 3 (J. Habtemariam 26’, Gaspari 45’, S. Habtemariam 65’)
Canberra Olympic 3 (James 40’, Darwich 45’ (p), Ihegie 89’) West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Harvey 87’)
Tigers FC 3 (Timotheou 8’, Gulevski 55’, Popovich 90+5’) O’Connor Knights 1 (Mynott-Smith 28’)
Monaro Panthers 0 Canberra Croatia 0
