Gungahlin United took a giant leap towards what they hope will be a league championship crown as they emerged from the top-of-the-table encounter with Tigers FC at the Australian Institute of Sport with a 3-0 success, the final scoreline hardly an indication of a tight encounter.
Having scored after only fifteen seconds last weekend in the win over the O’Connor Knights, Gunners waited until the seventh minute this week to open their account, albeit having spent the opening six minutes of the fixture on the back-foot as Tigers started brightly.
Almost inevitably it was American striker Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu who struck. A ball forward from Antoni Timotheou was helped on by a good header from Romeo that allowed Ahmed-Shaibu to nod past Marko Milutinovic and set off. Holding off the recovering challenge, the forward slid his finish past Jakob Cole and into the far corner.
It was his fifteenth goal of the season in the NPL, and twentieth in all competitions, as Gungahlin celebrated. From there, the first-half was a very even affair with chances limited, Tomohiro Ogawa firing wide when well positioned after a sharp Tigers move, arguably the best.
After the break the Tigers upped their intensity and were extremely unfortunate not to equalise as a Sam Whithear free-kick rattled back off the crossbar with Aiden Munford beaten, whilst the Gunners custodian magnificently tipped over a Hristjan Tanoski strike moments afterwards.
There was always the feeling that Gunners would need a second, and they got it with three minutes remaining. Supersub Michael Katsoulis had scored off the bench in successive matches and made it three in a row when controlling a pass in front of goal and nonchalantly slotting home.
To rub salt into the wound Gungahlin grabbed and third, Antoni Timotheou tapping in after excellent approach work from Katsoulis, whilst Tigers lost skipper Whithear to a straight red card following the goal, ending a frustrating afternoon for them.
O’Connor Knights rediscovered some form having been beaten in their last two NPL outings as they triumphed in the ‘BBQ Derby’ against Canberra Olympic, Jackson Paesler scoring twice as the Australia Cup Round of 32 entrants won 3-0.
Knights shook up their line-up ahead of the game, regular starters Micheal Adams, Regan Walsh, and Connor Bill restricted to substitute appearances but there was little change in the way that O’Connor approached their work, harking back to the beginning of the campaign where they swamped their opponents with rapid fire breaks.
The home side took the lead six minutes before half-time, finally wresting control of the match which, up until then had seen Olympic repel anything the Knights could throw at them. Niko Kresic created it, his pass finding Paesler who, after his initial shot was superbly saved by Seb Usai, collected the rebound and smashed home.
The game swung on a pair of set-pieces five minutes into the second-half. Firstly, Olympic were awarded a penalty for handball but Stephen Domenici saw his effort cannon back off the underside of the crossbar. Immediately, the Knights went up to the other end and doubled the lead when Paesler clattered home a stunning free-kick off the post.
It was a killer blow for the home side who, from the brink of seeing the scoreboard level, had increased their lead to two and given themselves enough of an advantage to force Olympic to risk even more in their vain effort to try and get back into the contest.
Unfortunately for the visitors their season of woe was to continue as they conceded for a third time seven minutes from time. It was the thirty-ninth goal they have shipped in 2024, as Patrick O’Rourke followed up after a Kresic run had culminated with a shot that bounced off the post, and Usai’s head, to tap in.
Canberra Croatia staged a come-from-behind performance to claim a valuable three points and move to within two of the league leading Gungahlin United, with a tight 2-1 victory over Monaro Panthers at Deakin Stadium on an overcast Sunday afternoon encounter.
Monaro could not have asked for a better start as they hit the front in eighty seconds with their first attack of the match. Zac McLaren swept over a wicked delivery from a free-kick wide out on the left and Croatia central defender Parris Bangweni, under pressure from Dylan Deep-Jones, could only head past his own goalkeeper.
With Roko Strika operating from deep, the Panthers were defending well, Deep-Jones and James La Vella in excellent form in the centre of a resolute back four, the closest Croatia coming to an equaliser when Bangweni flicked on a corner after a Finn Jurak misjudgement but was unable to force it home.
It took the hosts ninety seconds to respond in the second-half, Daniel Barac, who worked hard all afternoon as usual, crossing from the left flank and finding the onrushing Keegan Vucetic who forced the ball past Jurak from close range to level the scores.
And it was from a similar position that Canberra Croatia would win it via the tale of two substitutes. Daniel Colbertaldo made it, a delicately floated cross into the box finding Daniel Sparrow in acres of space and the midfielder, summoned from the bench himself, steered his header over Jurak and into the top corner.
The Panthers almost levelled matters late on when silky winger Ben Basser-Silk danced his way into space and unleashed a rocket from the edge of the penalty area that cannoned back of the crossbar with goalkeeper Sam Brown only able to look on, but that was as close as the visitors came to claiming a share of the points.
Tuggeranong United moved to within three points of the Panthers ion the table as they completed their second win of the season over Yoogali SC at Kambah 2, comfortably claiming the maximum return with a 3-0 victory as young star Steve Nealon found the back of the net once more.
The forward, who is excelling as a wonderful addition to the United group, was entrusted with the responsibility of a penalty awarded in the final minute of the first-half, ahead of many more experienced teammates, and cooly slotted his spot-kick home for his fourth goal of the season.
And it got worse for Yoogali in first-half stoppage time as they were reduced to ten men when stroker Joe Preece received a second yellow card for a lunging challenge that was deemed reckless by the match officials, leading to a red card that left the visitors up against it once more.
Tuggeranong still needed a second to make life more comfortable and it came with twenty-five minutes to plat from substitute Luke Stevens. Nealon played his part, finding midfielder Bevan Foxall who delivered a peach of a cross that was met with a superb header from Stevens that flashed past Luke Armanini in the Yoogali goal.
Leading by two gave Tuggeranong the comfort they needed but, as they usually are, the visitors were a resilient bunch and weren’t finally put to bed until four minutes from time when Foxall latched onto a Matt Williams pass to round Armanini and slide home from close range.
RESULTS
ROUND 13
Saturday 6 July
O’Connor Knights 3 (Paesler 39’, 52’, O’Rourke 83’) Canberra Olympic 0
Tigers FC 0 Gungahlin United 3 (Ahmed-Shaibu 7’, Katsoulis 87’, Timotheou 90+1’)
Sunday 7 July
Canberra Croatia 2 (Vucetic 47’, Sparrow 72’) Monaro Panthers 1 (Bangweni 2’ (og))
Tuggeranong United 3 (Nealon 45’ (p), Stevens 65’, Foxall 86’) Yoogali SC 0
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Gungahlin United* | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 28 |
| 2 | Canberra Croatia | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 33 | 18 | +15 | 26 |
| 3 | Tigers FC** | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 11 | +18 | 24 |
| 4 | O’Connor Knights | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 23 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 14 | +7 | 21 |
| 6 | Tuggeranong United | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 23 | -2 | 18 |
| 7 | Canberra Olympic | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 20 | 39 | -19 | 6 |
| 8 | Yoogali SC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 53 | -46 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
15: Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Gungahlin United)
8: Atiya WARAGA (Canberra Croatia)
6: Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers), Own GOALS
5: Augustine BANGURA (Gungahlin United), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Michael KATSOULIS (Gungahlin United), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC)
4: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Olympic), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United), Davaadelger OKTYABRI (Tuggeranong United), Jackson PAESLER (O’Connor Knights), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Gungahlin United)
3: Jeremy HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic/O’Connor Knights), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United)
2: Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Michael JOHN (Canberra Olympic), Tyson LIVERMORE (Monaro Panthers), Joshua MILICEVIC (Tigers FC), Daniel OLAOYE (Gungahlin United), Joshua PEDERSEN (Tuggeranong United), Niko PERINOVIC (O’Connor Knights), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Jordan REZEK (Tuggeranong United), ROMEO (Gungahlin United), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Harry TRUMAN (Canberra Olympic)
1: Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Jack BITANI (Tigers FC), Samson CARR (Tigers FC), Izach CLEMENTS (Canberra Olympic), Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), Adam DE FRANCESCHI (Monaro Panthers), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Axel GARBIN (Yoogali SC), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Marley JACKSON (Tigers FC), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia), Christopher JOHN (Yoogali SC), Chirstian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Jack LEVERETT (Tuggeranong United), Santiago LUPINO (Monaro Panthers), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Shinzaburo NAKAYAMA (Canberra Olympic), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights), Alessandro PENA (Tigers FC), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Canberra Olympic), David SESELJA (Canberra Croatia), Patrick SHORE (Canberra Olympic), Julian SMITH (Gungahlin United), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Antoni TIMOTHOEU (Gungahlin United), Kristian TOKIC (O’Connor Knights), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC), Ryan ZANATTA (Yoogali SC)
*Gungahlin United deducted three points for field an ineligible player in the 3-0 win against Tigers FC
**Tigers FC awarded a 3-0 win, and three points, for Gungahlin United fielding an ineligible player
