An eight-point gap and another giant step towards the ultimate goal of promotion to the National Premier League was the reward for Queanbeyan City at the end of the Capital Premier League Round 15 as the swamped Canberra Juventus 6-1 at High Street whilst their two nearest rivals fought out a draw.
The table-toppers were in no mood for a slip-up on a bitterly cold day in New South Wales as they took the lead in only the ninth minute, a rip-snorter of a strike from midfielder Marko Savkovic from distance flashing into the roof of the net past Juventus goalkeeper Peter Phillipa in just the ninth minute of the match.
It was two shortly afterwards as Abderrahim Dellahi netted from close-range after excellent approach work from Gabriel Ayuel out wide and, when Dellahi struck again three minutes before the half-time break, the destination of the points was never really in doubt.
Juventus did pull one back from Frazer Burns early in the second-half, and briefly threatened a renaissance, only for Queanbeyan to go up through the gears once more and extend their lead through further goals from Mohammed Yansaneh and Ayuel himself.
The only real surprise was that Argentine ace Nico Abot hadn’t joined the scoring party, but the prolific frontman wasn’t to be denied his say and, in stoppage time, he rounded off a comprehensive win by nabbing the sixth, his twenty-fourth goal of the season as City edged ever closer.
A 2-2 draw at McKellar Park preserved the status quo in the chasing pack as Belconnen United and Brindabella Blues shared the points with a point apiece not really helping either side in their chase for promotion as Queanbeyan extended their lead over the teams in second and third.
In a blistering opening to the match, midfielder David Reitstatter gave the Blue Devils a ninth minute lead, his sixth goal in the last four matches being a productive return from then mid-season signing, but it was an advantage that lasted a mere four minutes as an own goal from Luke Vallone levelled matters.
The hosts were able to restore their lead some six minutes into the second-half as Jake Bishop moved onto double figures for the season, banging in his tenth goal of the campaign but, once more, the lead lasted only five minutes. Curtis Schaeffer, the Blues hitman, also moved onto ten for the year by equalising again.
Both teams sought a winner, Belconnen playing the final seven minutes plus stoppage time a man down following the dismissal of Joel Baird for a second yellow card offence, but neither could make what would have been a critical breakthrough and both had to settle for an unsatisfactory draw.
Wagga City Wanderers ended a run of eight games without a win by securing the points in the battle of the Wanderers as they travelled to Melrose Synthetic and came away with an important 2-1 win over West Canberra Wanderers.
The first-half brought little in the way of opportunities for either team, both cancelling each other out, but that all changed after the break, with three goals in the second stanza, the visitors taking the lead through a third goal of the campaign for Kade Lyons.
Wagga held that advantage for no more than seven minutes however as West Canberra hit back in emphatic fashion. Concerted attacks earned them a penalty and Liam Cristofani duly obliged, doing the honours from the spot to level the scores and set up a grandstand finale.
It was Wagga who would emerge victorious, Zac Steele again proving to be the man for the occasion as he found the net for the sixth time in 2024, a goal that secured the points and moved Wagga to within seven points of the top-four and, potentially, in position to push for finals in the final stages of the season.
The fixture between ANU FC and White Eagles fell foul of the inclement weather that plagued the capital over Friday evening and Saturday morning.
RESULTS
ROUND 15
20 July
Queanbeyan City 6 (Savkovic 9’, Dellahi 16’, 42’, Yansaneh 65’, Ayuel 74’, Abot 90+2’) Canberra Juventus 1 (Burns 56’)
West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Cristofani 65’ (p)) Wagga City Wanderers 2 (Lyons 58’, Steele 80’)
Belconnen United 2 (Reitstatter 9’, Bishop 51’) Brindabella Blues 2 (Vallone 13’ (og), Schaeffer 56’)
ANU FC v White Eagles – Match Postponed
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Queanbeyan City | 15 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 53 | 9 | +44 | 38 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 47 | 16 | +31 | 30 |
| 3 | Brindabella Blues | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 41 | 24 | +17 | 29 |
| 4 | ANU FC | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 36 | 20 | +16 | 25 |
| 5 | Wagga City Wanderers | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 31 | 37 | -6 | 18 |
| 6 | Canberra Juventus | 15 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 41 | -25 | 11 |
| 7 | West Canberra Wanderers | 15 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 17 | 58 | -41 | 8 |
| 8 | White Eagles | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 46 | -37 | 6 |
TOP SCORERS
24: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City)
13: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
10: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
8: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
7: Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
6: Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), David REITSTATTER (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues)
5: Baxter DONOHOE (West Canberra Wanderers), Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers), Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United)
4: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Mohammed YANSANEH (Queanbeyan City), Own GOALS
3: Cuneyt CAGLAR (Brindabella Blues), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Michael NELSON (Brindabella Blues), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
2: Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Liam CRISTOFANI (West Canberra Wanderers), Bryce FALEPAU (Wagga City Wanderers), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Braulio MELO (White Eagles), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Marko SAVKOVIC (Queanbeyan City), Steven SRBINOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United)
1: Wyatt ADAM (Wagga City Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), 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), Deakin JEWELL (Belconnen United), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), 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), 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), Tao WANG (ANU FC), Isaac WEEKLEY (Brindabella Blues)
