Belconnen United’s title chase took a blow in midweek as they coughed up a two-goal lead and were forced to settle with only a point from a 2-2 draw with White Eagles at Melrose Synthetic.
The visiting team, Eagles’ home ground not available for the fixture, looked set fair to be increasing their advantage at the top of the table to five points after Jayde James-Ward, with his fifth goal of the season, and Eddie Coggan, a mid-season signing with his first, put them 2-0 ahead just before the hour.
However, the Eagles responded well and, within the space of three minutes of each other, found the goals that drew them level. Ali Sohani, who has proved an astute signing, netted his third goal of the season, before Ramon Lindner levelled matters with twelve minutes remaining.
It got worse for the Blue Devils on the weekend as they dropped more points as Canberra Juventus stormed McKellar Park and came away with a 2-1 success that pushes them into contention.
Juventus need a strong end to the season if they are to make the top four, and potentially pish for the crown, and they had the perfect start to this game as they lead by two goals at the interval, Cristian Barresi scoring twice, once from the spot.
Jake Bishop pulled one back three minutes into the second-half, but the subsequent sending off of Joshua Martelli left the home team with too much to do and Juventus claimed the points.
Canberra Olympic were unable to take advantage of the Belconnen United slip-up as they too succumbed to a home defeat, Brindabella Blues returning from their visit to O’Connor Enclosed with an excellent 2-0 win.
The goals were scored in either half from David Gurney after a quarter of an hour, and via a last-minute penalty, converted by Ollie Witrzens, as the Blues stunned high-flying Olympic.
ANU FC are right back in the title hunt as they moved level on points with Canberra Olympic after a comfortable 4-0 success over West Canberra Wanderers at Hawker Football Centre.
Max Mottl struck twice, as did Orlando Jeffery, as the University side waltzed to an eighth win of the year that moves them to within touching distance of the top spot, and with a game in hand.
Meanwhile, White Eagles followed up their midweek point at Belconnen with three more on their visit to the Riverina, as they defeated Wagga City Wanderers 3-0 at Gissing Oval.
Ali Sohani’s fifth goal of the season for the Eagles was followed by strikes from Dean Tomeski and Ramon Lindner, the latter with his second goal in successive games as well.
RESULTS
ROUND 7
Wednesday 9 July
White Eagles 2 (Sohani 75’, R. Lindner 78’) Belconnen United 2 (James-Ward 27’, Coggan 59’)
ROUND 14
Saturday 12 July
Wagga City Wanderers 0 White Eagles 3 (Sohani 25’, Tomeski 50’, R. Lindner 79’)
ANU FC 4 (Mottl 56’, 69’, Jeffery 82’, 90+1’) West Canberra Wanderers 0
Canberra Olympic 0 Brindabella Blues 2 (Gurney 15’, Witrzens 90’ (p))
Belconnen United 1 (Bishop 48’) Canberra Juventus 2 (Barresi 25’ (p), 43’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 17 | +18 | 31 |
| 2 | Canberra Olympic | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 39 | 18 | +21 | 28 |
| 3 | ANU FC | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 28 |
| 4 | Canberra Juventus | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 33 | 26 | +7 | 23 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 28 | 24 | +4 | 17 |
| 6 | White Eagles | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 27 | 32 | -5 | 15 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 26 | 46 | -20 | 10 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 11 | 58 | -47 | 4 |
TOP SCORERS
14: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
11: Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
10: Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers). Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
8: Cristian BARRESI (Canberra Juventus)
7: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic)
6: Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Own GOALS
5: Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Ali SOHANI (White Eagles)
4: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Jak MATIC (Canberra Juventus), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Canberra Olympic), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
3: Micheal ADAMS (Canberra Juventus), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Juan DIAZ-TELLEZ (West Canberra Wanderers), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Samuel LYE (ANU FC), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Zachary MILCZAREK (Canberra Olympic), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues)
2: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Marcus GRZIC (West Canberra Wanderers), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Orlando JEFFERY (ANU FC), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Ramon LINDNER (White Eagles), Tony MADAFFARI (Canberra Juventus), Jasper MILIN (Canberra Juventus), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Babin PAUDYAL (Canberra Juventus), Tupaia RINGI (Belconnen United), Bailey SORENSON (Canberra Olympic), Oliver WIRTZENS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Andrew AITCHISON (West Canberra Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Dylan BARRETO (Canberra Juventus), Nikolas BLASKOVIC (Brindabella Blues), Elijah BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Isaac BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Eliseo CASTRO (Canberra Juventus),Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Eddie COGGAN (Belconnen United), Juan DIAZ-BURGOS (Wes Canberra Wanderers), Lewis DOBBIN (ANU FC), Nick FAUST (Canberra Olympic), Daniel FOX (West Canberra Wanderers), Josh GASPARI (Canberra Juventus), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), David GURNEY (Brindabella Blues), Benjamin HADFIELD (ANU FC), Ben HICK (White Eagles), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Damien KENNEDY (White Eagles), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Van NGUYEN (West Canberra Wanderers), Nik NOVESKI (White Eagles), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Ferney RENTERIA (White Eagles), Pedro SERRANO (Belconnen United), Patrick SHORE (Canberra Juventus), Kye SMITH (Belconnen United), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Ethan STAMATIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Dean TOMESKI (White Eagles), Ethan TUDEHOPE (ANU FC), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Regan WALSH (Belconnen United), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Kyle YEATES (Wagga City Wanderers)
