White Eagles staged a sensational second-half comeback to earn a point in a 4-4 draw with Brindabella Blues at Woden Park in a fixture in which the visiting team led by four goals to nil at the interval in what was a Capital League sensation.
The Blues, for whom Curtis Schaeffer scored a hat-trick inside forty-five minutes, were in brilliant form in the opening half as the striker scored twice by the fourteen minute mark of the contest.
Finn Harmer made it three on the half-hour, and when Schaeffer completed his treble on the stroke of half-time it looked nailed on like the Blues would take the points. Cue the second-half resurgence.
Five minute into the second period Ferney Renteria had pulled one back, and when Abderrahim Dellahi made it 4-2 three minutes later, the Eagles were suddenly believing in their chances, And so they should.
The league’s leading scorer, Sergio Lindner, pulled another back in the 63rd minute before Dellahi equalised with thirteen minutes left to earn the home side an incredible point in a wonderful match.
Belconnen United eased to the top of the table ahead of the lone Sunday afternoon match as they did enough to claim a second win of the season with a 3-1 success over West Canberra Wanderers at Melrose Synthetic.
The Blue Devils led 2-0 at the break, Michael Rinaudo putting them in front on seventeen minutes with Dustin Wells adding the second goal from the penalty spot seven minutes later.
It was a penalty that gave West Canberra a lifeline in the match, Andrew Aitchison scoring to reduce the arrears, but an unfortunate own goal from Seth Wright two minutes later restored Belconnen’s cushion.
Wagga City Wanderers and ANU FC shared the honours in the Riverina as their head-to-head at Gissing Oval ended all-square at 2-2.
Max Mottl and Jack Gibson, the latter with his second goal of the season were on target for the away team, however, strikes from Jacob Ochieng and Zac Steele made sure the Wanderers came away with a point.
It was Wagga’s first point of the season, whilst ANU FC have five points from a win and a brace of draws.
A goal ten minutes into stoppage time from Adam Neou gave Canberra Olympic a priceless 2-1 won over Canberra Juventus in a match that exploded into life in the final eight minutes.
Before then there had been little indication of the fireworks to come as the match was deadlocked at 0-0 but French striker Remi Gachet finally found a way through for Olympic with eight minute to play.
That goal was almost immediately cancelled out by an equaliser from the penalty spot from Tony Madaffari, Juventus on course for a point until a remarkable conclusion when Neou netted deep into time added on.
RESULTS
ROUND 4
Saturday 3 May
Wagga City Wanderers 2 (Ochieng, Steele) ANU FC 2 (Mottl 11’, Gibson 54’)
White Eagles 4 (Renteria 50’, Dellahi 53’, 77’, Lindner 63’) Brindabella Blues 4 (Schaeffer 4’, 14’, 45’, Harmer 30’)
West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Aitchison 63’ (p)) Belconnen United 3 (Rinaudo 17’, Wells 24’ (p)), Wright 65’ (og))
Sunday 4 May
Canberra Olympic 2 (Gachet 82’, Neou 90+10’) Canberra Juventus 1 (Madaffari 85’ (p))
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Olympic | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 4 | +12 | 10 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 8 |
| 3 | White Eagles | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +6 | 7 |
| 4 | Brindabella Blues | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 7 |
| 5 | Canberra Juventus | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| 6 | ANU FC | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 1 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 16 | -15 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
6: Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
5: Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
4: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles)
3: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
2: Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic), Antoni TIMOTHOEU (Canberra Olympic)
1: Andrew AITCHISON (West Canberra Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Dylan BARRETO (Canberra Juventus), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Elijah BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Eliseo CASTRO (Canberra Juventus), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Ben HICK (White Eagles), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Tony MADAFFARI (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Ferney RENTERIA (White Eagles), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Pedro SERRANO (Belconnen United), Kye SMITH (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
