Brindabella Blues took their unbeaten run to five matches and moved into second place in the Capital Premier League with an 8-0 evisceration of a White Eagles side that was blown away by a four-goal spree inside the final eight minutes, plus stoppage time, of the encounter at Ipan Park in Calwell.
The Blues, who took advantage of a slip-up by Belconnen United to jump five points the league leading Queanbeyan City, were comfortably in control in the first-half leading 2-0 at the break, before closing out the second stanza in a plethora of goals that the Eagles appeared powerless to prevent.
Riley Williams opened the scoring for Ray Junna’s outstanding young charges netting the first of his double before a quarter-of-an-hour had been played, before Ollie Witrzens struck his fourth goal of the season just four minutes later to give the Blues some breathing room.
After the resumption it took Brindabella just twelve minutes to add a third, Williams getting his second, before former Eagle Cuneyt Caglar heaped more misery on the visitors by making it four just a couple of minutes later.
More was to follow as the Blues scented blood. Jamie Ward was the man to cash in, the striker helping himself to a thirteen-minute hat-trick after bagging his first of the afternoon in the 82nd minute, the other two coming in injury time after Deng Aleer Deng had added his name to the burgeoning scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Queanbeyan City scored an all-important win away to Belconnen United at the top of the table thanks to a nineteenth minute goal from their superstar South American centre-forward Niko Abot.
Abot scored his eighteenth league goal of the season just before the midway point of the half in the close encounter at McKellar Park, City’s main man coming up trumps yet again in 2024, netting for the seventh match in succession as the title favourites extended their lead at the top of the pile.
The Blue Devils, who started the day in second place on the placings, now find themselves down in fourth after wins for the Brindabella Blues and ANU FC in the chasing pack, and with plenty of work to do if they are to climb up the table and challenge for promotion back to the National Premier League.
City introduced two of their new signings off the bench late on in the match, former Canberra Olympic duo Mark Shields and Patrick Shore adding to the raft of talent at Head Coach Goran Josifovski’s disposal.
ANU FC are well positioned on the table in third, currently six points behind Queanbeyan City but with a game in hand, following a 6-0 away win over West Canberra Wanderers who continue to leak goals at an alarming rate.
The University team were always in command of the match at Melrose Synthetic, the early afternoon kick-off appearing to suit Tom Crossley and his troops as they roared into action, effectively killing off the match as a contest by claiming a four-goal cushion by the half-time break.
Hassan Alnuwaysir opened their account as early as the fourth minute, and Jack Gibson and Zac Chadwick added to that goal by the time half-time was closing in. There was still enough time left in the half for Gibson to get his second, and the forward would claim a treble by the time the final whistle blew, taking his season total to nine.
Not to be outdone, Alnuwaysir was able to add his second of the match, and eighth of the season, shortly after the second-half restarted, and despite there being no more goals after the 52nd minute, there was no chance that the Wanderers would be staging a comeback.
Down in the Riverina, Canberra Juventus scored a second win in succession as they stunned the home side, Wagga City Wanderers, by claiming all three points with a narrow 1-0 victory at Gissing Oval.
Adrian Macor, perhaps fittingly at the end of a tough week for him and his family, netted the match-winner, the midfielder being on the end of a move in the nineteenth minute to score the goal that was the match-winner.
In an evenly fought match, both teams had chances, but it was Juventus who held on for the victory, moving onto nine points and within six of the Wanderers above them, hinting perhaps at a surge towards a potential place in challenging for finals football. With matches to come against those around them in the division, keep an eye on the resurgent Juventus.
RESULTS
ROUND 10
15 June
Belconnen United 0 Queanbeyan City 1 (Abot 19’)
Brindabella Blues 8 (Williams 14’, 57’, Witrzens 18’, Caglar 59’, Ward 82’, 90+1’, 90+5’, Aleer Deng 87’) White Eagles 0
West Canberra Wanderers 0 ANU FC 6 (Alnuwaysir 4’, 49’, Gibson 32’, 41’, 52’, Chadwick 38’)
Wagga City Wanderers 0 Canberra Juventus 1 (Macor 19’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Queanbeyan City | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 37 | 6 | +31 | 25 |
| 2 | Brindabella Blues | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 20 |
| 3 | ANU FC | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 13 | +16 | 19 |
| 4 | Belconnen United | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 25 | 11 | +14 | 17 |
| 5 | Wagga City Wanderers | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 15 |
| 6 | Canberra Juventus | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 24 | -11 | 9 |
| 7 | West Canberra Wanderers | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 44 | -34 | 4 |
| 8 | White Eagles | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 34 | -28 | 3 |
TOP SCORERS
18: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City)
9: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
8: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC)
7: Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
6: Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
5: Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues)
4: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City)
3: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United), Own GOALS
2: Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Steven SRBINOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Mohammed YANSANNEH (Queanbeyan City)
1: Wyatt ADAM (Wagga City Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Cuneyt CAGLAR (Brindabella Blues), Liam CRISTOFANI (West Canberra Wanderers), Baxter DONOHOE (West Canberra Wanderers), Daniel FELIZZI (Brindabella Blues), Daniel FOX (West Canberra Wanderers), Marcus GRZIC (White Eagles), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Josh HICKMAN (White Eagles), Jack JANKE (Belconnen United), Bojan JANKULOSKI (West Canberra Wanderers), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), Owen LEARMONTH (Brindabella Blues), Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers), Braulio MELO (White Eagles), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Michael NELSON (Brindabella Blues), Tim NGUYEN (Belconnen United), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Fahad RAMADHAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Nicholas ROUFAGALIS (Canberra Juventus), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers),Owen STEPHENSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Jai TEIN (Canberra Juventus), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Liam VICKERS (White Eagles), Tao WANG (ANU FC), Isaac WEEKLEY (Brindabella Blues)
