Queanbeyan City roared back into form by hitting seven goals in thrashing Wagga City Wanderers 7-0 at High Street in Queanbeyan. The table-topping Wanderers were given a salient reality check by City who reignited their form and sent out a scintillating warning to the rest of the division in the process.
The home team got off to flier netting inside the opening minute of the match through Misko Naumoski and adding a second just six minutes later via Argentinean defender Nahuel Guerrero.
By the time that Niko Abot added the third goal midway through the first-half, the points were secure, and the only outstanding matter was how many the home side would get. There were no more goals before the break, but Abot was able to notch his eighth of the season with twenty-five minutes to play.
An own goal from Nathan Singh added to the Queanbeyan tally before substitute Steven Srbinoski bagged a brace within minutes of each other in stoppage time to complete the rout.
Belconnen United took advantage of the Wanderers slip up as they won their fifth game of the season with a 3-0 battering of White Eagles at Woden Park heaping more misery on the Eagles as they struggle to get their 2023 season kick-started.
Two goals within three minutes of each other in the first-half had the Blue Devils in command of the match, as first Dustin Wells opened the scoring in the eighteenth minute, before Jake Bishop added the second goal moments later to put the away team into a half-time advantage.
Eagles battled well and held firm until the final seven minutes of the match when Harry Billington found the space to bag a third and send Belconnen to the top of the table, two points ahead of the chasing pack.
That pack includes ANU FC, the University side moving into third place on the league table following a 3-1 win over Canberra Juventus at Ainslie Oval, a late third securing the points in an entertaining match.
Jack Gibson opened the scoring in the eleventh minute, the speedy forward bagging his third goal of the campaign to get Tom Crossley’s team off to the perfect start in front of the Juventus faithful.
The visiting team struck for a second time twenty minutes before the half-time break as Leo Hadley was on hand to strike, but any thoughts of a comfortable ride to the interval was snuffed out by Juventus in the shadow of the referee’s whistle as Adam Brooks reduced the deficit.
The second stanza was close, and Juventus battled hard to find the leveller, only for ANU FC to seal the deal with a third goal with ten minutes remaining. Hassan Alnuwaysir was on target again, taking his season tally to half-a-dozen and allow his team to claim a fourth win from six.
Another team to score a couple of goals within minutes of each other claimed the spoils of the points at Ipan Park in Calwell as Brindabella Blues defeated bottom-of-the-table West Canberra Wanderers 2-1.
Curtis Schaeffer managed to break the deadlock five minutes before the half-time whistle with his sixth goal of the season, after a tense match with not much to show between the teams.
The Wanderers tough start to the season continued though as defender Ollie Witrzens doubled the lead just three minutes after the opener, the twenty-fourth goal the Wanderers have conceded in just eight matches this campaign.
French import Virgil Moutaud has been a bright spark for the Wanderers in what has been a difficult season, bagging his fifth of the year from the penalty spot twenty minutes after the resumption, but it wasn’t enough for the visitors to stage a comeback and they remain eighth.
RESULTS
ROUND 7
18 May
Queanbeyan City 7 (Naumoski 1’, Guerrero 7’, Abot 22’, 65’, Singh 70’ (og), Srbinoski 90+1’, 90+3’) Wagga City Wanderers 0
Canberra Juventus 1 (Brooks 43’) ANU FC 3 (Gibson 11’, Hadley 25’, Alnuwaysir 80’)
Brindabella Blues 2 (Schaeffer 40’, Witrzens 43’) West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Moutaud 65’ (p))
White Eagles 0 Belconnen United 3 (Wells 18’, Bishop 21’, Billington 83’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 15 |
| 2 | Queanbeyan City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 13 |
| 3 | ANU FC | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 9 | +10 | 13 |
| 4 | Wagga City Wanderers | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 17 | +1 | 13 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 10 |
| 6 | Canberra Juventus | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 19 | -11 | 3 |
| 7 | White Eagles | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 20 | -15 | 3 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 8 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 24 | -18 | 3 |
TOP SCORERS
8: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City)
6: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
5: Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers)
4: Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City)
3: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United),
2: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Steven SRBINOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues), Own GOALS
1: Wyatt ADAM (Wagga City Wanderers), Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Daniel FELIZZI (Brindabella Blues), Marcus GRZIC (White Eagles), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Josh HICKMAN (White Eagles), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Jack JANKE (Belconnen United), Bojan JANKULOSKI (West Canberra Wanderers), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), 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)
