A brace of goals from winger Niko Kresic bookended a stunning O’Connor Knights performance as the league leaders extended their advantage at the top of the National Premier League table to three points with a hugely convincing 4-1 defeat of Tigers FC at Hawker Football Centre.
Knights set the wheels in motion early as they hit the front after just nine minutes of play, referee Gareth Biggs playing a superb advantage allowing Daniel Roberts to set-up Phakedi Manda. His drive was saved by Jakob Cole, but Kresic reacted fastest to volley home the rebound from close range.
It was 2-0 before midway through the half, Harrison Palic set off on a marauding run down the right flank and cut inside, exchanging passes with Aisosa Ihegie to poke a composed finish past Cole.
After the break the Knights increased their lead as Micheal Adams pounced on a loose back pass to round Cole and calmly slot into the open net past the retreating Tigers defence, as the visitors roared further ahead, only for Marko Milutinovic to stroke a sublime shot into the corner to make it 3-1.
Knights had the last word though as Kresic drifted past Milutinovic with a sudden burst of acceleration and thumped a precise finish into the top corner in what might be a massive statement in the title race.
At O’Connor Enclosed goals in each half allowed Canberra Olympic to win the Canberra Classico as they saw off Canberra Croatia 2-0 to keep their hopes of the top four flying high, whilst inflicting a wound on their old rivals.
Croatia had been reduced to ten men after skipper Matt Grbesa was sent off for a quick-fire brace of yellow cards, the first after he was adjudged to have committed a foul on the edge of the penalty area.
Olympic took advantage of the extra man to lead at the break as Adam Neou, recently returned to the club, broke clear of the Croatia defence to pick his spot and coolly slot home three minutes from half-time.
Both teams were desperate not to be beaten, but it was Olympic who secured the victory with fourteen minutes left on the clock. Daniel Subasic attempted a headed clearance that bounced off Luca Macor and into the midfielder’s path. His finish was sublime running on and lifting a delicate lob over Jason Matesa to seal the points.
A stunning save from Jordan Thurtell helped Monaro Panthers preserve a clean sheet, but they were unable to find a way past a stubborn Tuggeranong United at Kambah 2 as the hosts earned a precious point with a 0-0 draw
Thurtell reacted to block a close range effort from Isaac Osborne in the second-half, the United midfielder pouncing on a deflected Sam Walker effort and appearing certain to score only for Thurtell to make the save of the match.
At the other end Pete Philippa, on his starting debut in goal for Tuggeranong, was in solid form repelling anything that the Panthers could get on target, however the visitors’ best efforts were strikes from Christian Kreskas (twice) and Connor Mynott-Smith that flashed harmlessly over the Tuggeranong bar.
The draw moved Tuggeranong onto five points ahead of their mammoth midweek clash with West Canberra Wanderers, whilst the Panthers slipped a couple of points off the top four chase.
At Gungahlin Enclosed, Gungahlin United moved two points clear of Monaro and kept on the tails of Canberra Olympic as they eased past a resilient, but ultimately toothless, West Canberra Wanderers with a goal in each half seeing the Gunners home 2-0.
To compound matters, the Wanderers saw striker Harry Truman dismissed for two yellow card offences, meaning he would miss the relegation battle with Tuggeranong United scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Philippe Bernabo-Madrid had put Gungahlin ahead in the eighteenth minute as an attempted clearance ricocheted off Jeremy Habtemariam and fell for the forward who reacted sharply to roll home his finish underneath Kristian Nel in the Wanderers goal.
And they sealed the win in stoppage time with a breakaway second. Sam Vizy, at the second attempt, found the right pass picking out Antoni Timotheou who picked his spot in curling home the decider.
RESULTS
ROUND 14
Saturday 15 July
Canberra Olympic 2 (Neou 42’, L. Macor 76’) Canberra Croatia 0
Tigers FC 1 (Milutinovic 69’) O’Connor Knights 4 (Kresic 9’, 75’, Palic 21’, Adams 67’)
Sunday 16 July
Gungahlin United 2 (Bernabo-Madrid 18’, Timotheou 90+5’) West Canberra Wanderers 0
Tuggeranong United 0 Monaro Panthers 0
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | O’Connor Knights | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 40 | 14 | +26 | 32 |
| 2 | Tigers FC | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 30 | +15 | 29 |
| 3 | Canberra Olympic | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 21 | +11 | 26 |
| 4 | Gungahlin United | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 24 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 22 |
| 6 | Canberra Croatia | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 19 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 13 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 | 44 | -31 | 5 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 10 | 57 | -47 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
13 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
11 Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers)
10 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
9 Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia)
8 Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
7 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United)
6 Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers)
5 Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights)
4 Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
3 Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Tom MCLACHLAN (Gungahlin United), Nathen MEGIC (Canberra Olympic), Jackson PAESLER (Gungahlin United), Kaz PATAFTA (Canberra Croatia), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Kyle SENIOR (Tigers FC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Noah VANDERPOL (Canberra Croatia), Regan WALSH (O’Connor Knights)
1 Badreldin ABBAS (Gungahlin United), Joaquin ABOT (Tuggeranong United), Angus BAILEY (West Canberra Wanderers), Jake BISHOP (Tigers FC), Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC), Riley BROWN (West Canberra Wanderers), Lachlan CAMPBELL (O’Connor Knights), Kofi DANNING (Canberra Olympic), Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Dom GIAMPAOLO (Gungahlin United), Sam HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Patrick HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Tyson LIVERMORE (O’Connor Knights), Tony MADAFFARI (Tigers FC), Archie MCGREGOR (Monaro Panthers), Max MELLICK (Canberra Olympic), Misko NAUMOSKI (Gungahlin United), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Lasse OLRIK (Canberra Olympic), Harrison PALIC (O’Connor Knights), George PAVESE (West Canberra Wanderers), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Jayden RIPPON (West Canberra Wanderers), Nicholas ROUFOGALIS (West Canberra Wanderers), David SESELJA (Canberra Croatia), Callum SMITH (Canberra Olympic), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Hristjan TANOSKI (Tigers FC), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Harry TRUMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers)
