Belconnen United took a giant step towards claiming the Capital Premier League title with a 3-1 victory over nearest challengers ANU FC at McKellar Park on a cold and windy evening in the North of Canberra.
The Blue Devils were forced to come from behind to do so as Nicholas Hope gave the University side the early advantage, only for Belconnen talisman Dustin Wells to equalise from the penalty spot nineteen minutes later.
The home side took the lead twelve minutes into the second stanza as Tupaia Ringi struck and, when Michael Rinaudo added the third with eleven minutes to play, the points were secured for the home side.
Canberra Juventus pushed themselves to a tenth win of the season and remain six points behind the league leading Belconnen as they claimed a 4-0 home victory over White Eagles, despite ending the game with ten men.
Luca Macor was dismissed again for Juventus, before which Adrian Macor had given the home team the lead. Cristian Barresi doubled the lead five minutes into the second half as Juventus took control.
Micheal Adams notched the third goal nine minutes later, before Adrian Macor completed the scoring with three minutes left on the clock, rounding out another competent display from the hosts.
Wagga City Wanderers were involved in another high-scoring games as, following an eleven-goal clash with Canberra Olympic last week, they came out on top of a seven-goal thriller, winning 4-3 against Brindabella Blues at Ipan Park.
After Zac Steele put Wanderers ahead early on, the Blues suddenly took control of the game as Daniel Makeny, and then Curtis Schaeffer twice scored for the hosts, the latter moving onto fourteen goals for the season.
Wagga would not lie down though and fought back to score through Steele again and Kade Lyons to bring the match back to 3-3. And Wanderers won it with ten minutes to play as Maxwell Prest netted the matchwinner.
Canberra Olympic were given a scare on Sunday afternoon requiring a penalty five minutes from time to finally shake off the challenge of West Canberra Wanderers, running out 4-2 winners at Melrose Synthetic,
Mate Barisic put Olympic ahead on 22 minutes, the first of a brace of first-half goals, only for Van Nguyen to equalise before Barisic restored the Olympic lead. Adam Neou added the third four minutes after the break.
Wanderers refused to buckle and a sixth of the season from Juan Diaz-Tellez made for a nervy ending until Antoni Timotheou scored from the spot as time was ticking away.
RESULTS
ROUND 17
Saturday 2 August
Canberra Juventus 4 (A. Macor 5’, 87’, Barresi 50’, Adams 68’) White Eagles 0
Brindabella Blues 3 (Makeny 19’, Schaeffer 21’, 27’) Wagga City Wanderers 4 (Steele 10’, 55’, Lyons 64’, Prest 80’)
Belconnen United 3 (Wells 27’ (p), Ringi 57’, Rinaudo 79’) ANU FC 1 (Hope 8’)
Sunday 3 August
West Canberra Wanderers 2 (Nguyen 24’, Diaz-Tellez 61’) Canberra Olympic 4 (M. Barisic 22’, 33’, Neou 49’, Timotheou 85’ (p))
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 43 | 19 | +25 | 37 |
| 2 | Canberra Olympic | 16 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 50 | 29 | +21 | 34 |
| 3 | ANU FC | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 45 | 22 | +23 | 31 |
| 4 | Canberra Juventus | 17 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 43 | 29 | +14 | 31 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 34 | 28 | +6 | 20 |
| 6 | White Eagles | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 25 | 41 | -16 | 14 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 17 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 38 | 60 | -22 | 13 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 17 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 21 | 71 | -50 | 7 |
TOP SCORERS
16: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
14: Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
13: Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers)
11: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
10: Cristian BARRESI (Canberra Juventus)
9: Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
7: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
6: Juan DIAZ-TELLEZ (West Canberra Wanderers), Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
5: Micheal ADAMS (Canberra Juventus), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Zachary MILCZAREK (Canberra Olympic), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Ali SOHANI (White Eagles), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Canberra Olympic)
4: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Ramon LINDNER (White Eagles), Jak MATIC (Canberra Juventus), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic)
3: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Samuel LYE (ANU FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Van NGUYEN (West Canberra Wanderers), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Tupaia RINGI (Belconnen United), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues)
2: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Juan DIAZ-BURGOS (Wes Canberra Wanderers), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), 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), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Zac OWERS (Wagga City Wanderers), Babin PAUDYAL (Canberra Juventus), 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), 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), Geordie FREEMAN (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), Tyler LOCHNER (Canberra Juventus), Daniel MAKENY (Brindabella Blues), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Nik NOVESKI (White Eagles), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Riley PATTERSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Noah PRAIL (West Canberra 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)
