Belconnen United moved a step closer to the Capital Premier League title with a narrow 1-0 win over West Canberra Wanderers at McKellar Park under the lights on Saturday evening.
The Blue Devils made hard work of gaining the three points many expected them to collect, missing a first-half penalty through Dustin Wells, and spurning a plethora of opportunities to score.
When they did make the breakthrough it was a scrappy goal in keeping with the display, a corner appearing to deflect into the net of midfielder Regan Walsh. Not that it matters at this stage of the season, as Belconnen edged closer to top spot and the second tier crown.
ANU FC failed to bridge the gap to those above them in their midweek catch-up match as they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against a tough White Eagles at Melrose Synthetic.
The home side were to take the lead on the half-hour mark as Jack Murray netted for the second consecutive match, finding the space to put his team in front and dent ANU’s hopes of closing the gap on top-placed Belconnen United.
The University side did set up the grandstand finale by equalising with eighteen minutes to play as Zac Chadwick netted his third goal of the season to draw his team back on level terms, but they were unable to find the winner and remain in third place on the table.
And there were more goals for the Students in the weekend match as ANU FC spoiled Wagga City Wanderers last home match in the CPL with a blitzkrieg 8-2 victory away from home at Gissing Oval.
The teams traded goals early on as Nicholas Hope put ANU ahead, only for Thomas Yongai to level, before Zac Chadwick restored the away lead all before 23 minutes had elapsed.
Andre Oliviera added a third for ANU before the break, and quickfire second-half goals from Jacob Hart and Max Mottl took the game away from the home team, for whom Zac Steele responded. Late goals from Hart, and a double to Jack Gibson moving him to sixteen for the season, secured an impressive away win.
Brindabella Blues claimed three points in their away trip to the Nest, as they ransacked Woden Park with a 2-0 away win over White Eagles in the race to finish fifth in the league table.
The two key moments came in the second-half as the Blues scored two goals within the space of eight minutes to take the match away from the home team with Christopher John opening the scoring on 65 minutes.
A second, added by Curtus Schaeffer eight minutes later, the striker’s fifteenth goal of what has been a productive season, gave Blues a seventh win of the season and kept mathematical hopes of finals football alive ahead of Canberra Juventus trip to take on Canberra Olympic.
Canberra Juventus were to take a vital point in that encounter as a last-gasp equaliser from Jak Matic enabled them to curtail Canberra Olympic hopes as the match at O’Connor Enclosed ended all-square at 2-2.
That result meant that Belconnen could wrap up the title with a midweek win, but Olympic appeared on course to get the result they needed as they overturned an early goal from Cristian Barresi, Juventus’ playmaker’s twelfth of the season, before the late denouement.
Luca Florez levelled for Olympic early in the second-half before a maiden goal of the season for big centre-back Daniel Linstead put Olympic ahead and within touching distance of the posts. Matic made sure Juventus got a return for their troubles though with a late goal.
RESULTS
ROUND 16
Wednesday 13 August
White Eagles 1 (Murray 30’) ANU FC 1 (Chadwick 72’)
ROUND 19
Saturday 16 August
Wagga City Wanderers 2 (Yongai 14’, Steele 64’) ANU FC 8 (Hope 5’, Chadwick 23’, Oliveira 38’, Hart 51’, 77’, Mott 57’, Gibson 78’, 84’)
White Eagles 0 Brindabella Blues 2 (C. John 65’, Schaeffer 73’)
Belconnen United 1 (Walsh 79’) West Canberra Wanderers 0
Sunday 17 August
Canberra Olympic 2 (Florez 51’, Linstead 75’) Canberra Juventus 2 (Baresi 7’, Matic 90+2’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 48 | 21 | +27 | 43 |
| 2 | Canberra Olympic | 19 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 56 | 36 | +20 | 38 |
| 3 | ANU FC | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 57 | 27 | +30 | 38 |
| 4 | Canberra Juventus | 19 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 47 | 34 | +13 | 32 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 36 | 30 | +6 | 23 |
| 6 | White Eagles | 19 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 29 | 45 | -16 | 18 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 19 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 43 | 70 | -27 | 16 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 19 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 22 | 75 | -53 | 7 |
TOP SCORERS
18: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
15: Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
13: Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers)
12: Cristian BARRESI (Canberra Juventus), Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
9: Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
8: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic)
7: Juan DIAZ-TELLEZ (West Canberra Wanderers), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Own GOALS
6: Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United)
5: Micheal ADAMS (Canberra Juventus), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Jak MATIC (Canberra Juventus), Zachary MILCZAREK (Canberra Olympic), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Ali SOHANI (White Eagles), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Canberra Olympic)
4: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Ramon LINDNER (White Eagles), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic)
3: Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Orlando JEFFERY (ANU FC), Samuel LYE (ANU FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Van NGUYEN (West Canberra Wanderers), Tupaia RINGI (Belconnen United), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues)
2: Dylan BARRETO (Canberra Juventus), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Izach CLEMENTS (Belconnen United), Juan DIAZ-BURGOS (Wes Canberra Wanderers), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Marcus GRZIC (West Canberra Wanderers), Christopher JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Tony MADAFFARI (Canberra Juventus), Jasper MILIN (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Jack MURRAY (White Eagles), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Zac OWERS (Wagga City Wanderers), Babin PAUDYAL (Canberra Juventus), Bailey SORENSON (Canberra Olympic), Regan WALSH (Belconnen United), Oliver WIRTZENS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Andrew AITCHISON (West Canberra Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Joel BAIRD (Belconnen United), Nikolas BLASKOVIC (Brindabella Blues), Elijah BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Isaac BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Eliseo CASTRO (Canberra Juventus), 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), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Damien KENNEDY (White Eagles), Tomas KRKLEC (Canberra Olympic), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Daniel LINSTEAD (Canberra Olympic), Tyler LOCHNER (Canberra Juventus), Daniel MAKENY (Brindabella Blues), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Nik NOVESKI (White Eagles), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Riley PATTERSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Noah PRAIL (West Canberra Wanderers), Max RAWLINSON (ANU FC), 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), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Kyle YEATES (Wagga City Wanderers)
