A quite bonkers match at the Riverside Stadium in Queanbeyan ended up in favour of Tigers FC who moved level on points at the top of the National Premier League table with Canberra Olympic after defeating Gungahlin United 6-4 on a night of madcap action.
The home side, borrowing Monaro Panthers home venue for the second time this season, appeared on course for a routine victory after establishing a 6-1 lead with twenty-one minutes to play and yet, following a trio of goals for the Gunners, including two in the last eight minutes, they were left grateful for the final whistle.
Both teams had good shouts for penalties turned away, Nikos Kalfas seemingly upended by Jamie-Lee Guo after rounding the Gungahlin shot-stopper, whilst Maxx Green has his ankles clipped in the second stanza when in a great position to shoot, only for appeals to be waved away by the officials.
The drama began early, Philippe Bernabo-Madrid ought to have given the visitors the lead but lacked conviction in the finish when presented with a pair of shooting chances inside the box, but it was Tigers FC who went in front in the seventh minute. Kyle Senior climbed highest to win a header, Josh Gulevski bundling it in from close range.
Five minutes later it was two as Tony Madaffari exchanged passes with Gulevski and slid a confident finish underneath Guo. Incredibly, the Tigers made it three after twenty-one minutes as Nik Taneski rounded off a sweeping move, before the title-chasers were awarded a penalty when Gulevski was fouled in the area.
Amilio Kista punished Gungahlin by scoring from the spot, although Guo almost kept it out after getting a solid hand on the shot, but only managing to divert the ball into the back of the net.
Marko Milutinovic volleyed over when well-placed shortly after, whilst Taneski should really have made it five when he was presented with a gilt-edged chance after Nikos Kalfas had threaded a pass across goal, but the usually unflappable forward dallied and the chance went begging.
Any hopes of a remarkable comeback appeared stifled just three minutes after the break when an awful defensive back-pass was seized upon by Taneski who rounded Guo to slot into the empty goal and make it 5-0, a scarcely believable scoreline that stunned the watching crowd.
Maxx Green showed his talent, bursting clear to roll a confident finish past Jakob Cole for a consolation, but even that was wiped out within a minute as Tigers responded in kind, Sam Whithear clipping a delightful first-time finish over Guo at the end og yet another incisive and scything Tigers attack.
With the scoreboard reading 6-1, Tigers were top of the league on goal difference and yet, suddenly, there was a serious momentum shift. Bernabo-Madrid curled in a super finish after breaking down the right channel before, arguably, the goal of the game arrived with eight minutes remaining.
Awarded a free-kick 25 metres from goal Josh Gaspari curled a sweetly struck dead-ball over the wall and into the top corner for a magnificently executed goal. When Maxx Green cut inside and rifled into the same top-corner three minutes later, it was suddenly 6-4 and Tigers were sitting a little nervously.
They needn’t have though and might have ended playing against ten men only for returning Gungahlin substitute Jeremy Habtemariam to see a late red card rescinded. It was that kind of evening.
RESULT
ROUND 4
Friday 2 June
Tigers FC 6 (Gulevski 7’, Madaffari 12’, Taneski 21’, 48’, Kista 27’ (p), Whithear 69’) Gungahlin United 4 (Bernabo-Madrid 71’, M. Green 68’, 85’, Gaspari 82’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Olympic | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 7 | +17 | 21 |
| 2 | Tigers FC | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 14 | +15 | 21 |
| 3 | O’Connor Knights | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 11 | +7 | 14 |
| 4 | Gungahlin United | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 14 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 12 |
| 6 | Canberra Croatia | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 8 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 28 | -19 | 3 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 32 | -27 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
9 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC)
8 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
7 Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic)
6 Own GOALS
5 Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
4 Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights)
3 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia), Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United), Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Nathen MEGIC (Canberra Olympic), Kaz PATAFTA (Canberra Croatia), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
1 Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Jake BISHOP (Tigers FC), Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC), Riley BROWN (West Canberra Wanderers), Kofi DANNING (Canberra Olympic), Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Dom GIAMPAOLO (Gungahlin United), Sam HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Tony MADAFFARI (Tigers FC), Max MELLICK (Canberra Olympic), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Lasse OLRIK (Canberra Olympic), Jackson PAESLER (Gungahlin United), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Jayden RIPPON (West Canberra Wanderers), Nicholas ROUFOGALIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Kyle SENIOR (Tigers FC), Callum SMITH (Canberra Olympic), Hristjan TANOSKI (Tigers FC), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers)
