The wait for promotion to the National Premier League goes on for Queanbeyan City who edged slightly closer following a 1-1 home draw with Brindabella Blues at High Street, on an afternoon in which none of the top four were to win, the duels between them ending in stalemate.

For City, playing their last home game of the season in front of their loyal and passionate fan base, the afternoon turned sour on the stroke of half-time when Nahuel Guerrero unfortunately put one past his own goalkeeper to offer the lead to the visiting Brindabella outfit.

The Blues, secure in finals football and still very much in with a shout of finishing second on the table, battled hard to contain the free-scoring hosts, but were unable to keep the clean-sheet that would have moved them level with ANU FC and Belconnen United on points.

Unsurprisingly, it was Argentinean marksman Niko Abot that spoiled their afternoon, the prolific forward scoring his twenty-fifth goal of the season to earn the draw. City have two games remaining and know a point at ANU FC next weekend would see them promoted.

ANU FC themselves could become a quiet contender for the top-spot after the held Belconnen United to a 1-1 draw at McKellar Park, the match being switched to the Blue Devils home ground following ANU South being deemed unplayable during the week. The point means that the University side must beat Queanbeyan next week to stand a chance of sending the race to the final day.

ANU FC took the lead early on in the piece as Jacob Hart found the back of the net inside the opening five minutes of the contest, meaning the Blue Devils, keen on cementing a top-two spot of their own, were forced to come from behind if they were to retain their second-place on the table.

That they did so just before half-time was as unsurprising as the nature of the goalscorer as midfielder David Reitstatter struck for the eighth time since signing for the club in the June window. Neither team could find a winner though and, with Queanbeyan and Blues dropping points, the status quo was preserved.

Canberra Juventus stormed into fifth place on the table with a convincing 3-0 defeat of West Canberra Wanderers at Ainslie Oval, a result that coupled with Wagga City Wanderers dropping points, enable Juventus to reach their highest position on the league table in 2024 as they became favourites to be ‘best of the rest’.

All the damage was done inside the opening half-an-hour as Juventus raced into a three-goal lead that they were never likely to relinquish, The home side struck first after four minutes, Adrian Macro netting with a spectacular half-volley from distance after seeing is team pass up a brace of presentable opportunities within moments of the start of the match.

Nathan Duck doubled the lead after eight minutes and the forward was credited with a second just before the half-hour by the match officials, although there was some conjecture over whether this might have been awarded as an own goal. It mattered little though as Wanderers were beaten for the fifteenth time and have now conceded 75 times in nineteen matches.

Wagga City Wanderers were left frustrated by their inability to defeat bottom of the table White Eagles, the visitors from the Riverina leaving Woden Park with a point as the teams shared the honours in a match that ended all-square at 1-1.

Finlay Jenkins struck the opening blow for Wagga City, the Wanderers player scoring his first goal of the CPL season just two minutes into the second-half of the contest. But that was not to be enough as White Eagles levelled matters some five minutes later through Riley Angelosante.

The draw means the Eagles moved to within a point of West Canberra Wanderers with two rounds to play, although the Eagles do have a game in hand, albeit against high-flyting ANU FC.

ROUND 19

17 August

Queanbeyan City 1 (Abot 58’) Brindabella Blues 1 (Guerrero 45’ (og))

ANU FC 1 (Hart 5’) Belconnen United 1 (Reitstatter 45’)

White Eagles 1 (Angelosante 52’) Wagga City Wanderers 1 (Jenkins 47’)

Canberra Juventus 3 (Macor 4’, Duck 8’, 28’) West Canberra Wanderers 0

TABLE

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Queanbeyan City	19	14	4	1	62	10	+52	46
2	Belconnen United	19	11	5	3	58	20	+38	38
3	ANU FC	18	12	2	4	50	23	+27	38
4	Brindabella Blues	19	10	6	3	45	29	+16	36
5	Canberra Juventus	19	6	2	11	23	43	-20	20
6	Wagga City Wanderers	19	5	4	10	35	46	-11	19
7	West Canberra Wanderers	19	2	2	15	18	75	-57	8
8	White Eagles	18	2	1	15	11	57	-46	7

 

TOP SCORERS

25: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City)

17: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)

11: Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)

10: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)

9: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC)

8: Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), David REITSTATTER (Belconnen United)

7: Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)

6: Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Own GOALS

5: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Baxter DONOHOE (West Canberra Wanderers), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers)

4: Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Mohammed YANSANEH (Queanbeyan City)

3: Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Cuneyt CAGLAR (Brindabella Blues), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Liam CRISTOFANI (West Canberra Wanderers), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Michael NELSON (Brindabella Blues), Marko SAVKOVIC (Queanbeyan City), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Tao WANG (ANU FC), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)

2: Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Riley ANGELOSANTE (White Eagles), Seth BONNET (Queanbeyan City), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Bryce FALEPAU (Wagga City Wanderers), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Braulio MELO (White Eagles), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Vasko PETROVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Steven SRBINOSKI (Queanbeyan City)

1: Wyatt ADAM (Wagga City Wanderers), David CARDER (Belconnen United), Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Lachlan DENLEY (White Eagles), Daniel FELIZZI (Brindabella Blues), Daniel FOX (West Canberra Wanderers), Marcus GRZIC (White Eagles), Clayton GUNNING (West Canberra Wanderers), Josh HICKMAN (White Eagles), Jack JANKE (Belconnen United), Bojan JANKULOSKI (West Canberra Wanderers), Finley JENKINS (Wagga City Wanderers), Deakin JEWELL (Belconnen United), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), Jiachan LANG (ANU FC), Owen LEARMONTH (Brindabella Blues),Tony MADDAFARI (Canberra Juventus), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Tim NGUYEN (Belconnen United), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Fahad RAMADHAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Nicholas ROUFAGALIS (Canberra Juventus), Mark SHIELDS (Queanbeyan City), Nathan SINGH, Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Ethan STAMATIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Owen STEPHENSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Jai TEIN (Canberra Juventus), Reece UPTON (White Eagles), Liam VICKERS (White Eagles), Isaac WEEKLEY (Brindabella Blues)