Brindabella Blues staged a remarkable comeback to end Queanbeyan City’s unbeaten 100% start to the season with a brace of goals in the last ten minutes ensuring that the home team secured a point from an exhilarating 3-3 draw at Ipan Park in Calwell.

Queanbeyan appeared to be sailing towards three points, and recovering from their midweek cup exit, as goals from Gabriel Ayuel in the first-half, and Niko Abot fourteen minutes after the break, had the visitors 2-0 ahead and looking the goods.

The Blues had other ideas though and reduced the arrears when Daniel Felizzi struck with fifteen minutes remaining before, just six minutes later, central defender Ollie Witrzens levelled matters with his first goal of the season.

Queanbeyan thought they had won it when Abot scored his second goal of the afternoon with three minutes to play, only for an injury time goal from Isaac Weekley to level the scores in a fixture which ended with a flurry of yellow cards in the final ten minutes of action.

Wagga City Wanderers moved joint level at the top of the table with Queanbeyan on ten points inflicting a third 5-0 defeat in succession on White Eagles whose season has yet to kick into gear and has seen them lose three on the bounce, this one down in the Riverina.

Wanderers had the points done and dusted by the eighteen-minute mark, by which stage they were already three goals to the good. Zac Steele had the home team ahead in the seventh minute, with Thomas Yongai doubling the lead just five minutes later. By the time that Samson Lucas made it three after eighteen minutes, Wagga looked home.

As if to add salt into the gaping wound, Wagga were awarded a penalty with six minutes of the half left, and unsurprisingly, Morris Kadzola took responsibility and calmly despatched the spot-kick.

Eagles stemmed the flood of goals in the second stanza, but still conceded again, Naser Smoqy finding the back of the net in the 67^th minute to inflict more pain on a leaky Eagles defence.

Belconnen United moved into third place on the table, closing the gap on the leaders to a point, with a vital 3-1 win over ANU FC at McKellar Park, the Blue Devils scoring twice in the opening forty-five minutes and keeping ANU FC at arm’s length thereafter, before sealing the points late on.

Harry Billington struck first, opening the scoring in eleven minutes, before Jake Bishop added the second a minute before the interval, an important strike as it would turn out with ANU FC making a better fist of it after the break.

Zac Chadwick reduced the gap with his first ever goal at this level for the University outfit, but try as they might, they were unable to grab an equaliser and suffered heartbreak at the end as Belconnen secured all three points in stoppage time when Monteagh Grace steered past his own ‘keeper.

At the other end of the table Canberra Juventus secured their first win of the season, and inflicted a fifth straight loss on West Canberra Wanderers who are suffering in the Capital Premier League, Juventus winning 3-1 at Melrose Synthetic.

Wanderers are struggling at both ends of the park, having managed only three goals so far this term, and having shifted twenty-one in their own net, losing three to Juventus by the half-hour mark in this one.

Adam Brooks have Juventus a seventh minute lead, but it was the two goals in a minute just before the thirty-minute mark that was to kill off the Wanderers. Frazer Burns struck a stunner for the second, with Fahad Ramadhan adding to the tally a minute later as Juventus roared.

Virgil Moutaud, who has been a bright spark in the Wanderers outfit, reduced the scoreline before the interval, and there were no further goals after the break, the damage having already been done.

RESULTS

ROUND 5

4 May

Brindabella Blues 3 (Felizzi 75’, Witrzens 81’, Weekley 90+1’) Queanbeyan City 3 (G. Ayuel 38’, Abot 59’, 87’)

Belconnen United 3 (Billington 11’, Bishop 44’, Grace 90+4’ (og)) ANU FC 1 (Chadwick 71’)

Wagga City Wanderers 5 (Steele 7’, Yongai 12’, Lucas 18’, Kadzola 39’ (p), N. Smoqy 69’) White Eagles 0

West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Moutaud 39’) Canberra Juventus 3 (Brooks 7’, Burns 29’, Ramadhan 30’)

TABLE

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Queanbeyan City	4	3	1	0	13	3	+10	10
2	Wagga City Wanderers	5	3	1	1	14	9	+5	10
3	Belconnen United	4	3	0	1	14	5	+8	9
4	ANU FC	4	2	1	1	14	7	+7	7
5	Brindabella Blues	4	2	1	1	12	9	+3	7
6	Canberra Juventus	4	1	0	3	7	12	-5	3
7	White Eagles	4	1	0	3	4	15	-11	3
8	West Canberra Wanderers	5	0	0	5	3	21	-18	0

 

TOP SCORERS

5: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)

3: Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)

2: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues)

1: Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Daniel FELIZZI (Brindabella Blues), Marcus GRZIC (White Eagles), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Jack JANKE (Belconnen United), Bojan JANKULOSKI (West Canberra Wanderers), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Braulio MELO (White Eagles), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Michael NELSON (Brindabella Blues), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Fahad RAMADHAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Jai TEIN (Canberra Juventus), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Liam VICKERS (White Eagles), Tao WANG (ANU FC), Isaac WEEKLEY (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues), Own GOALS