The National Premier League Men’s finals competition reaches the Preliminary Round stage as Gungahlin United FC and Tigers FC battle the remaining spot in the Grand Final against Canberra Croatia FC next weekend. The duo meets at Deakin Stadium aiming to be back a week later to fight for the crown.
Although Gungahlin finished the season as the League Champions, they have found themselves relying on a second chance to fight for redemption following their 5-4 defeat on penalties by Canberra Croatia in the Qualification Final.
The Tigers on the other hand, who finished in the fourth position of the regular competition, will be going into this week following their 3-1 win against the O’Connor Knights in the Elimination Final. This win for the Tigers was a season ending loss for the Knights who were sitting comfortably in third.
This will be the third time that these two teams have come face to face in finals football, with their most memorable meeting being the 2019 Grand Final where Gungahlin took home a convincing 5-0 win.
This will also be their 27th meeting in the overall NPL competition, where Gungahlin appears to have the upper hand having recorded a total of thirteen wins. The Tigers over this time have recorded nine wins against the Gungahlin side, with four draws between the pair also.
So far in the 2024 season, the track record seems to lie in favour of the Gungahlin based team, who have claimed six of a total nine available points with their 3-0 win in Round 13 and a 4-2 win more recently in Round 21.
Gungahlin were also originally awarded three points for a 3-0 win for their round seven meeting, but the result was overturned with the Tigers being award a 3-0 win and the three points as a result of an administrative error where an ineligible player took the field.
Some of the Tigers recent results include three wins in their last five matches and scoring in all of their last ten matches. Their biggest winning margin of the season was their round six win of 4-0 against the Yoogali side.
For Gungahlin, they have taken home two wins of their last five matches and have scored in all of their matches played since Round 11. Their biggest win, like the Tigers, was also against Yoogali, recording a sensational nine-goal success.
One of these teams will be awarded a chance to fight for gold against Canberra Croatia in the 2024 Grand Final. However, for the other, their season will unfortunately come to an end.
RESULTS
PRELIMINARY FINAL
Saturday 14 September
Gungahlin United v Tigers FC
(Deakin Stadium, 7pm)
TOP SCORERS
17: Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Gungahlin United)
13: Atiya WARAGA (Canberra Croatia)
12: Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia)
11: Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers)
9: Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United)
8: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
7: Jeremy HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Michael KATSOULIS (Gungahlin United)
6: Augustine BANGURA (Gungahlin United), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Daniel OLAOYE (Gungahlin United), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Own GOALS
5: Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Jackson PAESLER (O’Connor Knights), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
4: Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Joshua DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Olympic), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Santiago LUPINO (Monaro Panthers), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Davaadelger OKTYABRI (Tuggeranong United), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Gungahlin United)
3: Sam HABTEMARIAM (Canberra Olympic), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic/O’Connor Knights), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Joshua MILICEVIC (Tigers FC), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), ROMEO (Gungahlin United), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Antoni TIMOTHOEU (Gungahlin United), Kristian TOKIC (O’Connor Knights)
2: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Adam DE FRANCESCHI (Monaro Panthers), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Axel GARBIN (Yoogali SC), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Michael JOHN (Canberra Olympic), Tyson LIVERMORE (Monaro Panthers), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Joshua PEDERSEN (Tuggeranong United), Niko PERINOVIC (O’Connor Knights), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Jordan REZEK (Tuggeranong United), Vinnie SANCHEZ (O’Connor Knights), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Harry TRUMAN (Canberra Olympic)
1: Jack BITANI (Tigers FC), Samson CARR (Tigers FC), Izach CLEMENTS (Canberra Olympic), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), Xabier DAVIES (Canberra Olympic), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Marley JACKSON (Tigers FC), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia), Christopher JOHN (Yoogali SC), Christian JUNNA (Gungahlin United), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Chirstian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Zac LAWRENCE (Tuggeranong United), Jack LEVERETT (Tuggeranong United), William MCCLOSKEY (Gungahlin United), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Patrick MITCHELL (Monaro Panthers), Luciano MONSERRAT (Yoogali SC), Shinzaburo NAKAYAMA (Canberra Olympic), Alessandro PENA (Tigers FC), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Canberra Olympic), David SESELJA (Canberra Croatia), Patrick SHORE (Canberra Olympic), Julian SMITH (Gungahlin United), Bailey SORENSEN (Canberra Olympic), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Matt WILLIAMS (Tuggeranong United), Ryan ZANATTA (Yoogali SC)
Words: Kate Reedy
