Belconnen United and Canberra Olympic will face each other at the AIS on Wednesday evening for an unusual midweek game to kick off the third round of the Women’s National Premier League competition.
Both teams are undefeated after the opening two rounds, with Olympic having the better start. Nicole Begg and her players have already found the net 19 times and are yet to concede a goal. This will be their first real test against another aspirant to post-season football.
The Blue Devils have had to come back from behind to see off Gungahlin United last weekend, showing their mettle. The game against Olympic will have a special favour for Belconnen, with Sarah Johnston, Vanessa Ryan, Nicole Jalocha and Michaela Thornton facing their former squad for the first time.
Tuggeranong United don’t have the easiest season start in 2022. After losing to Belconnen and Canberra Olympic, they host reigning champions Canberra Croatia on Friday night at Greenway Enclosed. It will be another opportunity for Paulo Romero and his players to measure against a top team, with the hope of creating an upset.
Canberra Croatia are already sitting at the top of the table after a brace of emphatic wins against the Canberra United Academy and Wagga City Wanderers. Zoran Glavinic would expect his team to make it three out of three after the trip southside, but last year they struggled to close out the game against the Tuggies and had to wait until the final ten minutes to seal the deal.
The first battle of the Wanderers for 2022 will happen at Melrose Synthetic on Sunday as West Canberra Wanderers play host to Wagga City Wanderers. West Canberra were able to see off the Academy by the thinnest of margins last week and will look to bounce back on Sunday after a defeat in Federation Cup against Canberra Croatia.
Wagga City will hopefully have put some of their injury woes behind them during the Easter break. Sam Gray and his squad have conceded the most goals in the league to start the season and will look to consolidate their defence first when they travel to the capital on Sunday.
The last game of the week will take place at Hawker Football Centre on Sunday afternoon. Canberra United Academy will play their first home game of the season against the Gunners from Gungahlin United. Yet to get their first point, the Academy, coached by Sarah West, will hope that playing at home changes their fate.
The Gunners have lost their only season game so far, in Belconnen a fortnight ago and, even though they had opened the score, they have shown some weakness defensively in the second half, something that Pat Mills would have worked on during the Easter break. The Academy is never an easy place to get a result from, and Gungahlin won’t need reminding that they were leading twice before losing 3-2 in 2021.
FIXTURES
Wednesday 20 April
Canberra Olympic v Belconnen United (AIS Grass Field 2, 19:45)
Friday 22 April
Tuggeranong United v Canberra Croatia (Greenway Enclosed, 19:45)
Sunday 23 April
West Canberra Wanderers v Wagga City Wanderers (Melrose Synthetic, 12:45)
Canberra United Academy v Gungahlin United (Hawker, 17:10)
Words: Jeremy Magan
