Round 12 promises to be an exhilarating weekend, with duels at the top and the bottom of the table. The action starts at McKellar, where arch-rivals Belconnen United and Canberra Croatia meet on Saturday. The task at hand will be even harder given the Blue Devils’ postponed game played on Tuesday, but they have a chance at levelling with Canberra Olympic on the table before their Sunday game.

Scott Conlon’s squad is growing as a team and managed to get a point against the other top team, Canberra Olympic, last time they played at home. Being the first team to take all three points against Canberra Croatia would be a huge boost of confidence.

The rounds pass and the players in red and white chequered jersey remain undefeated. The injuries are starting to pile on for Zoran Glavinic, however. After losing Nat Vasta and Alice Churchill, Canberra Croatia is now without Krista Hagen following a shoulder injury last weekend.

The champions are resourceful and have a comfortable advantage at the head of the table. Their very own “Killer B’s”, Jennifer Bisset, Isabella Barac, Sienna Birnie and Jamie Berkeley have found the back of the net fourteen times in the past five games, showing the firepower in Deakin is not limited to Grace Gill and Brittany Palombi. The Blue Devils have their work cut out for them.

West Canberra Wanderers and Canberra Olympic will face each other at Melrose on Sunday afternoon. The players coached by Rey Castro could be disappointed they had not managed to keep their two-goal advantage against Tuggeranong last weekend but will not have time to dwell on it and they host the blue armada.

Sarah Whitfield, Tara Cannon, and their teammates need to put on a serious performance to even get a point against the Federation Cup winners. If the first game between the two squads this season is any indication (Olympic won 5-0), West Canberra are in their favourite position this weekend: the underdog.

Still four points behind first place after the draw last week, Nicole Begg knows her team cannot lose anymore point in her race to do be Premier for the first time in Olympic’s history.

The players in Blue had the game in the bag early last time around, scoring four times in the first 35 minutes. A similar performance will be needed at Melrose to prevent the Wanderers from getting confident enough to challenge Victoria Jamieson and her troops. Regardless of the result on Saturday, Olympic needs this win to keep up with Croatia.

Canberra United Academy will be at Hawker Football Centre once again on Sunday, welcoming the Wagga City Wanderers at 2.30pm. The defeat to Belconnen on Tuesday needs to be put behind as quick as possible for Sarah West and her team. The Academy will search for an immediate bounce back to try and reduce the gap between top and bottom four.

The Wanderers worked hard to put the Gunners under pressure last week but were not rewarded in the end. The club from the Riverina is improving week after week, finally finding the back of the net. The trip to Hawker will be another opportunity for them to showcase their growth and trying to get that elusive win they are still chasing in 2022.

Gungahlin United and Tuggeranong United will close the weekend of WNPL football at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval. The duel between 6^th and 7^th on the table promised to be intense.

The Gunners will play their first game at home under new coach Andrew Woodman, and undoubtedly will want to celebrate with a win. They were not able to keep their advantage the first time around, but they need a win this weekend to start their resurgence on the table.

The Tuggies stole a point against West Canberra last week, in a game that looked a bit like when they face Gungahlin in the first round. Back in Kambah, the hero of the day was Lauren Hall and her towering header, and the midfielder will have an important role to play this weekend again.

Tuggeranong is praised every week for their defensive work rate, and last Sunday they showed that resilience applied to their offense too, after coming back from 0-2 down. Paulo Romero is finally starting to reap the reward of his team’s hard work and will want to keep the momentum going.

FIXTURES

ROUND 12

Saturday 2 July

Belconnen United v Canberra Croatia (McKellar Park, 15:00)

Sunday 3 July

West Canberra Wanderers v Canberra Olympic (Melrose Synthetic, 12:45)

Canberra United Academy v Wagga City Wanderers (Hawker Football Centre, 14:30)

Gungahlin United v Tuggeranong United (Gungahlin Enclosed, 15:00)

TABLE

		P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Canberra Croatia	11	9	2	0	+54	29
2	Canberra Olympic	11	7	4	0	+40	25
3	West Canberra Wanderers	11	6	3	2	0	21
4	Belconnen United	10	6	1	3	+20	19
5	Canberra United Academy	10	3	2	5	-6	11
6	Gungahlin United	11	2	3	5	-8	9
7	Tuggeranong United	11	1	2	8	-34	5
8	Wagga City Wanderers	11	0	1	10	-66	1

 

Words: Jeremy Magan