Canberra Olympic continued their unbeaten start to the 2025 Capital Premier League season by defeating White Eagles 5-1 with another excellent performance under the blue skies at O’Connor Enclosed.
On an unseasonably balmy afternoon, Olympic’s task was made easier by the early dismissal of Gonzalo Neila, the Eagles player sent off in only the seventh minute, seven minutes before Mate Barisic opened the scoring.
Sergio Lindner, the league’s top scorer, netted his seventh league goal of the season to level for the visitors before half-time, but that was as good as it got for Eagles as Julian Borgna restored the Olympic lead four minutes after the break.
Barisic bagged his second of the match, and sixth of the season, to make sure of the points before Remi Gachet took his season tally to five with a pair of late goals to sub salt into White Eagles wounds.
ANU FC out-lasted Canberra Juventus in a seven-goal thriller at Ainslie Oval as Samuel Lye scored twice for the visitors who came away with a 4-3 success.
Lye had the University team in front on ten minutes, and they appeared to be cruising to a win when Jack Gibson made it 2-0 nine minutes later with Canberra Juventus reeling and on the back foot.
But the hosts responded well and a brace from Babin Paudyal drew them level before half-time, the striker scoring both goals within the space of eight minutes to change the complexion of the match.
ANU FC did not panic though and went back in front with a Lye goal twenty minutes from time and, when Jasper Milin equalised again for Juventus, ANU FC won it late on thanks to a strike from Andre Oliveira.
Brindabella Blues have had a good start to the campaign, and they continued their fine form by bouncing back from midweek Hahn Australia Cup Qualifying disappointment to brush aside a listless West Canberra Wanderers to the tune of 4-0.
Ollie Witrzens gave the Blues the perfect antidote to their cup hangover with the opening goal of the game on the quarter hour mark, but the crucial strike came right on the cusp of half-time as Riley Williams was able to make it 2-0 with his first of the new campaign.
Wanderers, who are without a point and have just one goal to their name so far, attempted to get back into the game but Henry Wilks first of the fixture six minutes after the resumption killed off any hopes of a Wanderers comeback.
Wilks added a second with nine minutes of the match to play, a reward for his perseverance and hard work, and Brindabella secured a third win from five and a tenth point of 2025.
Belconnen United meanwhile continues to hound the heels of Olympic after coming from behind to win 2-1 against Wagga City Wanderers on their return to action at McKellar Park under the floodlights.
The visiting team had begun much the better side and had taken the lead in the thirteenth minute through Kyle Yeates, a lead they were to take into the half-time break and deservedly so.
However, the Blue Devils were a different team in the second-half and managed to level the scores when forcing Maxwell Prest to put through his own goal in the 55th minute.
From there, Belconnen always looked the more likely, and they duly got the match-winning goal with seventeen minutes remaining. Michael Rinaudo provided the moment of inspiration, his second goal of the season, as Belconnen snuck the points and remain two behind the early pacesetters from O’Connor.
RESULTS
ROUND 5
Saturday 10 May
Canberra Juventus 3 (Paudyal 35’, 43’, Milin 80’) ANU FC 4 (Lye 10’, 70’, Gibson 19’, Oliveira 85’)
Brindabella Blues 4 (Witrzens 15’, Williams 45’, Wilks 51’, 81’) West Canberra Wanderers 0
Canberra Olympic 5 (M. Barisic 14’, 61’, Borgna 49’, Gachet 86’, 89’) White Eagles 1 (Lindner 45’)
Belconnen United 2 (Prest 55’ (og), Rinaudo 73’) Wagga City Wanderers 1 (Yeates 13’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Olympic | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 13 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 11 |
| 3 | Brindabella Blues | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 10 |
| 4 | ANU FC | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 8 |
| 5 | White Eagles | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 7 |
| 6 | Canberra Juventus | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 6 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -8 | 1 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 20 | -19 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
7: Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
6: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic)
5: Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
4: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Own GOALS
3: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
2: Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Samuel LYE (ANU FC), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Babin PAUDYAL (Canberra Juventus), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic), Antoni TIMOTHOEU (Canberra Olympic), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Andrew AITCHISON (West Canberra Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Dylan BARRETO (Canberra Juventus), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic), 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), Jasper MILIN (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Ferney RENTERIA (White Eagles), Pedro SERRANO (Belconnen United), Kye SMITH (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Oliver WIRTZENS (Brindabella Blues), Kyle YEATES (Wagga City Wanderers), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
