Wagga City Wanderers moved top of the Capital Premier League with a stunning 4-1 success over the visiting Brindabella Blues at Gissing Oval in the Riverina, a victory that eased them one point clear at the top of the pile, albeit having played a game more than the chasing pack.
The home side were two to the good at half-time, having taken the lead through a sixteenth minute goal from Samson Lucas, a strike added to by a fourth of the season from Morris Kadzola as the Wanderers built up an advantage that they were not to relinquish for the rest of the match.
Thomas Yongai, who is enjoying an excellent start to the year hit the third, taking his tally to half-a-dozen for the season and a joint leadership of the Golden Boot in the early stage of the campaign, made if three, before Riley Williams reduced the arrears with fifteen minutes remaining.
There was still time for a fourth for the home team though, a first of the season for Wyatt Adam, as Wagga flexed their muscles as genuine title contenders.
Belconnen United moved into second place, a point behind the Wanderers with a game in hand, as they celebrated the Blue Devils Gala Day by romping to a comfortable 4-0 success over Canberra Juventus at McKellar Park.
The match was competitive in the first forty-five minutes, both sides enjoying spells of possession and creating openings, but the hosts always appeared more likely, and indeed took the lead after twenty minutes as midfielder Abraham Kemp opened the scoring.
The old guard took centre stage in the early stages of the second-half as Dustin Wells came to the fore by adding the second goal and, when Jayde James-Ward netted the third some seven minutes later, the destination of the victory was never in doubt thereafter.
Wells, as he so often has done in the past of an illustrious career, had the last say, notching his second of the afternoon, his fifth of the season, with sixteen minutes to play to round off an excellent afternoon for Belconnen.
Previous league leaders, Queanbeyan City, dropped from first to third as they were surprisingly handed a first home defeat of the season as ANU FC stormed High Street with a 2-1 success that might just ignite their own hopes of promotion from the CPL to the top-flight.
The University side, who had won two and drawn one of their first three matches in the 2023 season, took the lead when Zac Chadwick scored for the second week in succession, a goal that had the visiting team narrowly ahead when the teams left for the interval.
The hosts would respond well, and eventually drew themselves back on terms with nineteen minutes to play as Nico Abot, who else, found the room to manoeuvre and net his sixth goal of the season. That might have been enough for a point, except that Leo Hadley had other ideas and struck the match-winner with thirteen minutes to go.
Finally, there was joy unconfined at Melrose Synthetic as West Canberra Wanderers finally won a League match, something that they had not done for over a year, as they defeated fellow strugglers White Eagles 2-1 thanks to a brace from French import Virgil Moutaud.
The Wanderers victory song hasn’t had much of an airing over the past twelve months, but the home side gave themselves a chance of the points when Moutaud put them in front just before the half-hour mark from the penalty spot.
The Eagles, who have been struggling themselves in 2024 with just the three points to their name after five matches, fought back after the half-time break and deservedly levelled when Josh Hickman found the back of the net as the clock ticked over to sixty minutes.
For a large period of the second-half that goal appeared to be the one that would see the honours shared, but there was s stunning twist in the tale for Eagles, and one that would send Wanderers into raptures. Four minutes into time added on, Moutaud found the match-winner, a goal that sparked scenes of celebration for the home side.
RESULTS
ROUND 6
11 May
Queanbeyan City 1 (Abot 71’) ANU FC 2 (Chadwick 34’, Hadley 77’)
Wagga City Wanderers 4 (Lucas 16’, Kadzola 37’, Yongai 66’, Adam 87’) Brindabella Blues 1 (Williams 75’)
Belconnen United 4 (Kemp 20’, Wells 57’, 74’, James-Ward 64’) Canberra Juventus 0
West Canberra Wanderers 2 (Moutaud 27’ (p), 90+4’) White Eagles 1 (Hickman 60’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Wagga City Wanderers | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 10 | +8 | 13 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 5 | +12 | 12 |
| 3 | Queanbeyan City | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 10 |
| 4 | ANU FC | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 10 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 7 |
| 6 | Canberra Juventus | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -9 | 3 |
| 7 | White Eagles | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 17 | -12 | 3 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 22 | -17 | 3 |
TOP SCORERS
6: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
5: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
4: Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers)
3: Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United),
2: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Wyatt ADAM (Wagga City Wanderers), Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Daniel FELIZZI (Brindabella Blues), Marcus GRZIC (White Eagles), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Josh HICKMAN (White Eagles), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Jack JANKE (Belconnen United), Bojan JANKULOSKI (West Canberra Wanderers), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), Braulio MELO (White Eagles), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Michael NELSON (Brindabella Blues), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Fahad RAMADHAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Jai TEIN (Canberra Juventus), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Liam VICKERS (White Eagles), Tao WANG (ANU FC), Isaac WEEKLEY (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues), Own GOALS
