West Canberra Wanderers staged a remarkable comeback, one for the ages, as they clawed back a four-goal interval deficit against Wagga City Wanderers to record a 4-4 draw in an epic match down in the Riverina.
The home Wanderers looked to have given their flagging title challenge a well-needed boost by blitzing their visitors in the opening forty-five minutes, taking the lead through a Morris Kadzola goal, and then seeing Zac Steele take centre-stage, the Wagga player bagging a hat-trick as West Canberra were put to the sword.
It looked like another bad day at the office for the Canberra version of the Wanderers, but whatever was said during the interval, or whatever was in the half-time water, certainly did the trick as West Canberra came roaring back.
Daniel Fox started the recovery ten minutes into the second-half, but it was the two goals in a minute with twelve minutes to play that suddenly raised expectations of an unlikely recovery. Liam Cristofani and Baxter Donohoe netted within sixty second of each other and it was game on.
A strike from Owen Stephenson, three minutes from time, secured a memorable point with this game potentially an opportunity for West Canberra to kick-start their campaign as they moved into sixth place on four points.
Queanbeyan City moved to the top of the Capital Premier League in midweek as they defeated Canberra Juventus 2-0 at the South Jerrabomberra Sporting Complex. In the first of a double-header against Juventus in the space of four days, a ninth of the season from Argentinean forward Niko Abot, and a fourth of the campaign from Abderrahim Dellahi did the damage.
Abot struck inside the opening ten minutes for the first official goal at the new playing fields across the border in New South Wales, and Dellahi doubled the lead ten minutes before the break as City reinstated their credentials as promotion favourites ahead of the return clash on the Saturday afternoon.
Abot was at it again on the weekend when the two met once more, this time in Ainslie, as the forward took his season tally to eleven with a brace as City moved three points clear of the pile with a 4-1 success, Juventus not able to live with the table-toppers.
Abot scored twice in the first-half, either side of a goal from Mohammed Yansanneh as Queanbeyan led by three at the break, before Dellahi took his season total to five with the fourth, seven minutes after the resumption. A goal from Adrian Macor, six minutes past the hour, was mere consolation for Juventus who dropped to seventh.
Belconnen United were unable to take advantage of Wagga dropping points as they too were held to a stalemate, coming away from the visit to Ipan Park and the Brindabella Blues with a 1-1 draw.
A third goal of the season for Riley Williams gave the Blues the lead right on the stroke of half-time, whilst the Blue Devils were able to draw themselves back on level terms through Tim Nguyen ten minutes later.
Belconnen dropped three points off the league leaders, Queanbeyan City, whilst Brindabella are eight off the summit, but right back in the mix for the top four places and potential finals football.
ANU FC left it late to secure a 3-1 win over White Eagles, netting a trio of goals in the final eighteen minutes to overturn a 0-1 half-time deficit courtesy of an own goal from defender Jan Wojna.
The dismissal of Dillon Blackwood three minutes into the second stanza swung the momentum back in favour of ANU FC, and the University team was able to make the numerical advantage count, albeit having to wait until the final quarter of the match to do so.
Jack Gibson continued his fine form by equalising in the 72nd minute, and Max Mottl put them in front almost immediately as Eagles brave resistance was finally broken. With the home side seeking an equaliser for a point, Gibson struck again in stoppage time to confirm the result.
RESULTS
ROUND 8
22 May
Queanbeyan City 2 (Abot 9’, Dellahi 35’) Canberra Juventus 0
25 May
Canberra Juventus 1 (Macor 66’) Queanbeyan City 4 (Abot 7’, 41’, Yansanneh 17’, Dellahi 52’)
Wagga City Wanderers 4 (Kadzola 3’, Steele 8’, 34’, 43’) West Canberra Wanderers 4 (Fox 55’, Cristofani 78’, Donohoe 79’, Stephenson 87’)
ANU FC 3 (Gibson 72’, 90+3’, Mottl 74’) White Eagles 1 (Wojna 37’ (og))
Brindabella Blues 1 (Williams 45’) Belconnen United 1 (T. Nguyen 55’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Queanbeyan City | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 6 | +20 | 19 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 6 | +16 | 16 |
| 3 | ANU FC | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 10 | +12 | 16 |
| 4 | Wagga City Wanderers | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 14 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 11 |
| 6 | West Canberra Wanderers | 9 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 28 | -18 | 4 |
| 7 | Canberra Juventus | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 24 | -15 | 3 |
| 8 | White Eagles | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 23 | -17 | 3 |
TOP SCORERS
11: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City)
6: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (ANU FC), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers), Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
5: Abderrahim DEALLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Jack GIBSON (ANU FC), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Virgil MOUTAUD (West Canberra Wanderers), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers)
4: Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City)
3: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Nathan DUCK (Canberra Juventus), Abraham KEMP (Belconnen United), Babin PAUDYAL (Belconnen United), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues), Own GOALS
2: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Leo HADLEY (ANU FC), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Samson LUCAS (Wagga City Wanderers), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Steven SRBINOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Jamie WARD (Brindabella Blues), Ollie WITRZENS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Wyatt ADAM (Wagga City Wanderers), Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Frazer BURNS (Canberra Juventus), Liam CRISTOFANI (West Canberra Wanderers), Baxter DONOHOE (West Canberra Wanderers), Daniel FELIZZI (Brindabella Blues), Daniel FOX (West Canberra Wanderers), Marcus GRZIC (White Eagles), Nahuel GUERRERO (Queanbeyan City), 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), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Braulio MELO (White Eagles), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Michael NELSON (Brindabella Blues), Tim NGUYEN (Belconnen United), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Fahad RAMADHAN (Wagga City Wanderers), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Nashwan SULAIMAN (Wagga City Wanderers),Owen STEPHENSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Jai TEIN (Canberra Juventus), Luke VALLONE (Belconnen United), Liam VICKERS (White Eagles), Tao WANG (ANU FC), Isaac WEEKLEY (Brindabella Blues), Mohammed YANSANNEH (Queanbeyan City)
