A hat-trick from Lucas Florez gave Canberra Olympic the perfect start to the season as they turned in a superb second half performance to sweep aside West Canberra Wanderers 5-0 at Greenway Enclosed.
It took until the dying embers of the first-half for Olympic to hit the front, Florez meeting an in-swinging Thomas James free-kick to flick a header past Alex Connell on debut in the Wanderers goal.
And James was provider again eight minutes into the second half, taking a pass from Nik Popovich and skipping past Daniel Grove to send over a low cross that Florez tucked into the net from the top of the six-yard box.
Florez, celebrating the release of his band Muesli’s new single in the evening, grabbed his treble just past the hour as he controlled a crossfield pass from Alen James to belt a low effort past Connell and into the bottom corner of the goal.
By now Olympic were rampant and substitute Elie Darwich exchanged passes with Popovich to arrow in the fourth, Popovich himself rounding off the scoring in stoppage time, brushing off a challenge and strolling around Connell to seal the victory for Paul Macor and his troops.
The Croatian derby at O’Connor Enclosed ended honours even as the O’Connor Knights came from behind to earn a point against Canberra Croatia who ended the match with ten men following the second half dismissal of defender Marco Gayer, who received a second yellow card for a rash challenge.
Knights started superbly and could have scored inside the opening two minutes as Aisosa Ihegie stabbed a shot at goal that was sensationally kept out by a one-handed save by Sam Brown in the visiting goal, the custodian leaping to his left to palm the ball up and over the bar for a corner.
But, after a bright Knights opening it was the League Champions who struck first. Daniel Sparrow sent in a flat free-kick that was met by Daniel Barac at the near post, the ball coming off the striker and taking a massive deflection off Knights’ Connor Bill and flashing past Seb Arranz in goal.
Knights drew level at the start of a fast-paced second half as Phakedi Manda twinkle-toed his way through the Croatia defence and stabbed the ball past Brown low into the back of the net, much to the delight of the home support.
The sending off of Gayer opened the door for the Knights to gain the victory but Brown denied substitute Lachlan Campbell with a superb save, shortly after a goalmouth scramble saw the ball hacked off the line. Late shouts for a penalty for handball were also waved away and the match ended 1-1.
A brace of red cards in the opening forty-five minutes saw Monaro Panthers reduced to nine men as they fell to a 0-3 defeat to Tigers FC in the Battle of the Big Cats at Riverside Stadium. A blistering Tigers FC start had the game virtually out of reach by the break, the twin dismissals of Gabe Cole and Roko Strika, likely making that a certainty.
The visitors were ahead in only the sixth minute as Amilio Kista found Josh Gulevski free in the middle of the penalty area. His effort was beaten away by Jordan Thurtell in the Panthers goal but only as far as Nik Taneski who tapped in from close range.
Gulevski’s next involvement also ended in a goal, but this time one for himself. Collecting a pass on the angle of the penalty box, Gulevski danced past a couple of Panthers’ challenges before curling a beauty into the top corner for his 50th senior men’s NPL first grade goal.
After that the Panthers world fell apart. Cole saw red for violent conduct, reacting to a contretemps with Gulevski in midfield and Strika followed, his offence dissent, leading to the issuing of a second yellow card and subsequent expulsion. Tigers made the numerical advantage count as Ed McCarthy rammed home the third before the interval.
After the break, the nine-men defended stoically and even won themselves a penalty as Connor Mynott-Smith was hauled back at the end of an excellent run. Jakob Cole guessed correctly from the resultant spot-kick and pushed away Mynott-Smith’s well-struck effort to preserve his club’s clean sheet.
Tuggeranong United’s return to the NPL didn’t go according to their home script as Gungahlin United, courtesy of a brace on debut from Maxx Green, cruised to a 4-1 win at Kambah 2 in what was an inventive, imaginative and exciting performance from Chris Caggiano’s team.
The Gunners might have had a penalty after only forty seconds but shouts were waved away, however the opening goal did come from the spot as Jack Green was upended in the sixteenth minute, Maxx Green cracking home the resultant award, confidently sending Jimmy Benivento the wrong way.
Before Tuggeranong could recover it was two. Antoni Timotheou swept over a superb corner that central defender Jack Green met to power a header underneath Benivento, an advantage to which Gungahlin were well-deserved.
And it was to get even better six minutes before the half-time break as Jackson Paesler, who gave left-back Frazer Burns a torrid re-introduction to life back in the top flight, arrived at the end of a fast, attacking move, to sweep a stunning right-foot shot high into top corner rounding off a sensational Gunners move.
Tuggeranong pulled one back in the second half, Sam Walker confidently sliding home a penalty with eighteen minutes remaining, but Gungahlin had the last word moments later, Josh Gaspari finding Maxx Green who took a touch before lashing a shot high into the roof of the net, his fourth goal in two competitive outings.
RESULTS
Saturday 1 April
Canberra Olympic 5 (Florez 45+1’, 53’, 66’, Darwich 80’, Popovich 90+2’) West Canberra Wanderers 0
O’Connor Knights 1 (Manda 53’) Canberra Croatia 1 (Bill 11’ (og))
Monaro Panthers 0 Tigers FC 3 (Taneski 6’, Gulevski 24’, McCarthy 42’)
Sunday 2 April
Tuggeranong United 1 (Walker 72’(p)) Gungahlin United 4 (M. Green 6’ (p), 75’, J. Green 19’, Paesler 39’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Olympic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 3 |
| 2 | Gungahlin United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 3 |
| 3 | Tigers FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 3 |
| 4 | Canberra Croatia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | O’Connor Knights | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Tuggeranong United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| 7 | Monaro Panthers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
3 Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic)
2 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
1 Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Jackson PAESLER (Gungahlin United), Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United), Own GOALS
