ANU FC secured a sixth win in succession and forced Tuggeranong United to put the promotion champagne back on ice with a confident 2-0 win at Greenway Enclosed on Sunday afternoon.
The University side denied Tuggeranong the point the needed to claim the title, and lift the silverware, putting the promotion party off for at least another week and reclaiming second spot in the ladder from Queanbeyan City.
A pair of goals within seven minutes of each other during the first half did the damage for Talal Safar’s team who have found their groove and are hitting the high notes at the right time of the season.
A thirteenth goal of a productive season for Chase Deans settled the visitors after only fourteen minutes and when Rory Spiers doubled the lead in the 21st minute, United were left chasing the game. They battled to get back into it but ANU FC had done enough and look a genuine threat for the finals.
A double from marksman Curtis Schaeffer kept Brindabella Blues hopes of a place in the top four and finals football alive as they edged aside Weston-Molonglo FC 2-1 at Woden Park in a tight match.
Schaeffer struck the winner with two minutes of the match remaining to take his league tally to half-a-dozen and end his personal goal drought. It was a rough ending on the Magpies who have suddenly found some form as the season crawls towards a conclusion, albeit too late to avoid the wooden spoon.
Lachlan Smale bagged his first goal of the year for Weston-Molonglo with eleven minutes to play, equalising Schaeffer’s earlier goal which had given the Blues a 1-0 lead to take into the interval at half-time. The Blues moved to within four points of Wagga City Wanderers in fourth.
That’s because Wagga City Wanderers were unable to keep their recent momentum going as they succumbed to a last minute winner at High Street as Queanbeyan City moved into second place ahead of the Sunday afternoon fixtures.
Abderrahim Dellahi was johnny on the spot to grab the match-winner with time running out, a goal that put City above ANU FC with three rounds of the season remaining. It was a priceless goals for City who had coughed up early leads to suffer two heavy defeats in their previous two outings.
Striker Michael Mensah had broken the deadlock with sixteen minutes remaining, his third goal in two game sand his seventh of the season, only for Samson Lucas to silence the home crowd by levelling within a minute. City would have the last laugh though as Dellahi claimed the match-winner.
An eighteenth league goal of the season from ace striker Cuneyt Caglar ensured that White Eagles returned from Griffith with all three points following a 1-0 win over Yoogali SC.
Caglar bagged the matchwinner with five minutes to play prompting excited scenes from the travelling Eagles support. The win could prove priceless for Eagles who could move to within a point of the finals’ places should they win their game in hand against Brindabella Blues.
Yoogali remain seventh, nine points behind the Blues and look likely to end the 2022 season in that position.
RESULTS
ROUND 18
Saturday 20 August
Weston-Molonglo FC 1 (Smale 79’) Brindabella Blues 2 (Schaeffer 25’, 88’)
Queanbeyan City 2 (Mensah 74’, Dellahi 89’) Wagga City Wanderers 1 (Lucas 75’)
Sunday 21 August
Yoogali SC 0 White Eagles 1 (Caglar 85’)
Tuggeranong United 0 ANU FC 2 (Deans 14’, Spiers 21’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Tuggeranong United | 18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | +52 | 43 |
| 2 | ANU FC | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | +17 | 34 |
| 3 | Queanbeyan City | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | +9 | 33 |
| 4 | Wagga City Wanderers | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 28 |
| 5 | White Eagles | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | +15 | 24 |
| 6 | Brindabella Blues | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | -5 | 24 |
| 7 | Yoogali SC | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | -20 | 15 |
| 8 | Weston-Molonglo FC | 18 | 1 | 1 | 16 | -55 | 4 |
