ANU FC have moved into second place in the race for the Capital Premier League title as they claimed another victory with the scalp of Canberra Olympic at O’Connor Enclosed securing a 4-1 success.
Alasdair Moore gave the University side a twentieth minute lead against Olympic, for whom Mate Barisic looked likely to bring his team back on level terms before the half-time break.
However, things turned a minute before the interval when Jacob Hart restored the ANU advantage and, a second half brace from league Golden Boot leader Jack Gibson, consigned Olympic to another damaging defeat, and allowed ANU FC to jump into pole position to challenge the Blue Devils.
Belconnen United meanwhile ensured they would end the weekend top of the table again and bolstered their goal difference with a 5-1 home win over White Eagles at McKellar Park.
A Lachlan Terry own goal opened the scoring, and Dustin Wells added a second before the interval as Belconnen took control. Izach Clements’ first of the season increased the lead only for Ramon Lindner to reply instantaneously.
The Blue Devils recuperated though and goals from Joel Baird, and a second from Wells, ensured a modicum of comfort at the end.
Brindabella Blues continued their run for a push to the top four and finals with a second successive mammoth away victory as they followed up success on the road to Canberra Olympic with a crushing 3-0 away win over Canberra Juventus at Ainslie Oval.
The win moved the Blues to within three points of Juventus and left the hosts playing catch-up at the top. A double from Curtis Schaeffer, moving him onto a dozen for the season, set the tone, the second with six minutes remaining, whilst Christopher John sealed the result in stoppage time.
Thomas Cosentini was sent off for Juventus, for receiving a pair of yellow cards, and Cristian Barresi missed from the spot, a rare occurrence, as Juventus had an off day that was brutally exposed by the Blues.
There was an eight-goal epic at the bottom of the table as West Canberra Wanderers overturned a 1-3 deficit to claim a memorable 5-3 win over Wagga City Wanderers at Melrose Synthetic.
After Thomas Yongai had fired Wagga City ahead, and Noah Prail levelled for the home team, a pair of goals from Zac Owers either side of half-time, had the visiting Wanderers in a seemingly controllable position.
West Canberra retaliated though and forced their way into the game via a Juan Diaz-Burgos goal before two goals in a minute from Juan Diaz-Tellez and Illies Saadi turned the match on its head. A late fifth, netted by Riley Patterson secured an incredible comeback and a sensational West Canberra win.
RESULTS
ROUND 15
Saturday 19 July
West Canberra Wanderers 5 (Prail 23’, Diaz-Burgos 54’, Diaz-Tellez 73’, Saadi 74’, Patterson 86’) Wagga City Wanderers 3 (Yongai 12’, Owers 26’, 47’)
Canberra Juventus 0 Brindabella Blues 3 (Schaeffer 34’, 84’, C. John 90+4’)
Sunday 20 July
Belconnen United 5 (Terry 10’ (og), Wells 44’, 90’, Clements 53’, Barid 75’) White Eagles 1 (R. Lindner 54’)
Canberra Olympic 1 (M. Barisic 36’) ANU FC 4 (Moore 20’, Hart 44’, Gibson 46’, 90+5’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 34 |
| 2 | ANU FC | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 19 | +25 | 31 |
| 3 | Canberra Olympic | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 40 | 22 | +18 | 28 |
| 4 | Canberra Juventus | 15 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 33 | 29 | +4 | 23 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 20 |
| 6 | White Eagles | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 28 | 37 | -9 | 15 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 15 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 29 | 51 | -22 | 10 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 15 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 16 | 61 | -45 | 7 |
TOP SCORERS
16: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
12: Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
11: Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
10: Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers)
8: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Cristian BARRESI (Canberra Juventus), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
7: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
6: Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic)
5: Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Ali SOHANI (White Eagles), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
4: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Juan DIAZ-TELLEZ (West Canberra Wanderers), Ramon LINDNER (White Eagles), Jak MATIC (Canberra Juventus), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Canberra Olympic)
3: Micheal ADAMS (Canberra Juventus), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Jacob HART (ANU FC), 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), Juan DIAZ-BURGOS (Wes Canberra Wanderers), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Marcus GRZIC (West Canberra Wanderers), Orlando JEFFERY (ANU FC), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Tony MADAFFARI (Canberra Juventus), Jasper MILIN (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Zac OWERS (Wagga City Wanderers), 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), Joel BAIRD (Belconnen United), 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), Izach CLEMENTS (Belconnen United), Eddie COGGAN (Belconnen United), 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), Christopher JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Damien KENNEDY (White Eagles), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Van NGUYEN (West Canberra Wanderers), Nik NOVESKI (White Eagles), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Riley PATTERSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Noah PRAIL (West Canberra Wanderers), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Ferney RENTERIA (White Eagles), Ilies SAADI (West Canberra Wanderers), Pedro SERRANO (Belconnen United), Patrick SHORE (Canberra Juventus), Kye SMITH (Belconnen United), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Ethan STAMATIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Ethan TUDEHOPE (ANU FC), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Regan WALSH (Belconnen United), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Kyle YEATES (Wagga City Wanderers)
