Friday Night Lights sees a pivotal match in the season for both Gungahlin United and their visitors Queanbeyan City in the chase for placings in the top four, and finals football, as the pair meet at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.
Both teams are searching for a win in this fixture for the first time with both NPL matches this season ending in a draw, but Queanbeyan holds the edge heading into the match having managed to win four of the last five NPL fixtures, gathering twelve points from the fifteen that have been on offer.
Experienced striker Misko Naumoski has been key to that and, following his match-winner last weekend n Griffith, has now scored three goals in his last four NPL matches, a huge contribution now that Nico Abot has left these shores.
Gungahlin have not kept an NPL clean sheet for their past thirteen matches, the last time they managed to do that was in Round 2 against Queanbeyan City. Matching that will give them the ideal chance to claim the points and close in on those precious finals’ spots.
Attention on Saturday will switch to a trio of matches, with O’Connor Knights and Tigers FC starting the afternoon/evening treat, when they lock horns at O’Connor Enclosed at 3pm.
The Knights showed great fortitude and quality in pushing Australia Cup Qualifiers Canberra Croatia all the way in their match at Hawker Football Centre last weekend, despite falling to a 2-3 loss.
There was a lot to like about the way the Knights refused to back down against Croatia and harnessing that same staying power across ninety minutes is a must against a Tigers FC tea, that has quality in abundance across the park.
Tigers match was postponed last weekend, giving them time to continue to recover from the blight of injuries that have made their season a difficult one to predict. With numbers coming back, and Croatia in their sights, the Tigers will expect to roar.
At the same time as this fixture, Yoogali SC will make the trip to Canberra and head to Deakin Stadium to play league leaders Canberra Croatia, with the hosts fresh off the back of their Australia Cup Round of 32 tie with MetroStars.
On their last foray into the national capital, the men from Griffith were exceptional as they secured a comfortable 2-0 win over O’Connor Knights and probably should have won by an even bigger margin.
In nine trips to Canberra this season Yoogali have only picked up five points but remain within touching distance of the Knights. They’ve never beaten Croatia though, their five previous meetings all going the way of their opponents by an aggregate score of 18-3.
Croatia has nine points lead at the top of the table, having played a game more than the chasing duo of Tigers and Panthers, and with a mammoth 63 goals to their name will be confident they can at least maintain that cushion come the full-time whistle.
Tuggeranong United will be hopeful that they can get their match against Monaro Panthers played on their home venue of Kambah 2 this weekend having seen their last three home matches all moved to neutral venues.
Tuggeranong broke a two-game losing streak with tehri victory over Gungahlin United at Hawker Football Centre last weekend and looked better defensively having conceded sixteen goals in their last six matches in the NPL, having only conceded two in the three games preceding that run.
After picking up one point from two games in Round 12 and 13, the Panthers have now won their last two NPL matches but had to sit out last weekend and watch on as their fixture at Stryda Park was postponed.
With two hot strikers going toe-to-toe in Steve Nealon (15 goals in all competitions) and Daniel Barac (14 goals in all competitions), there is every likelihood that there will be plenty of goals under the floodlights down South.
FIXTURES
ROUND 17
Friday 1 August
Gungahlin United v Queanbeyan City (Gungahlin Enclosed, 19:30)
Saturday 2 August
Tuggeranong United v Monaro Panthers (Kambah 2, 17:15)
O’Connor Knights v Tigers FC (O’Connor Enclosed, 15:00)
Canberra Croatia v Yoogali SC (Deakin Stadium, 15:00)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Croatia | 16 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 63 | 18 | +45 | 39 |
| 2 | Tigers FC | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 32 | 23 | +9 | 30 |
| 3 | Monaro Panthers | 15 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 45 | 17 | +28 | 29 |
| 4 | Queanbeyan City | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 25 | -8 | 23 |
| 5 | Tuggeranong United | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 36 | -16 | 20 |
| 6 | Gungahlin United | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 41 | -19 | 15 |
| 7 | O’Connor Knights | 15 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 25 | 48 | -23 | 10 |
| 8 | Yoogali SC | 16 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 20 | 36 | -16 | 9 |
TOP SCORERS
14: Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
13: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers)
12: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
11: Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia)
10: Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United)
8: Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights/Tigers FC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia)
6: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC)
5: William AKIO (Tigers FC), Jenno CERUTI (O’Connor Knights), Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Own GOALS
4: Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Loick LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC)
3: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Stefan DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Michael JOHN (O’Connor Knights), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Ayumu KIMURA (Gungahlin United), Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Phakedi MANDA (Monaro Panthers/O’Connor Knights), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers / Canberra Croatia), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Sam WHITEHEAR (Tigers FC)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC / Gungahlin United), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Zac LAWRENCE (Tuggeranong United), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia)
1: Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Isaac DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Luca FLOREZ (Gungahlin United), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Nikola JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Chistian JUNNA (O’Connor Knights), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Alex-Junior MALAUULU (Gungahlin United), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), Nathen MEGIC (Tigers FC), Alessandro PENA (Tuggeranong United), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Daniel ROBERTS (Queanbeyan City), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights), Joey SEO (Yoogali SC), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Noah VANDERPOL (Queanbeyan City), Hamish WALES (Tigers FC), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
TOP ASSISTS
18: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
9: Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers)
8: Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
7: Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia)
6: Phakedi MANDA (Monaro Panthers/O’Connor Knights)
5: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers), Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia)
4: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Tigers FC), Kobi YARIYARI (O’Connor Knights)
3: William AKIO (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Josh DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Chaise DONETTO (Yoogali SC), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Cole FALCO (Tuggeranong United), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Loick LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Josh PEDERSEN (Tuggeranong United), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights), Robbie RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
1: Samuel ABA (Queanbeyan City), Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights), Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Riley BROWN (Gungahlin United), Xabier DAVIES (Tuggeranong United), Bailey DICKENSON (Gungahlin United), Jacob DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Marco GAYER (Monaro Panthers), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), AJ MALAUULU (Gungahlin United), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Max MELLICK (Monaro Panthers), Nicholas PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Charlie RAE (Queanbeyan City), Daniel ROBERTS (Queanbeyan City), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Monaro Panthers), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Kristian TOKIC (Queanbeyan City)
