Tigers FC hit a welcome return to form to claim a first win of the National Premier League season and heap more misery on O’Connor Knights with a 4-0 hammering of the former cup holders in front of the ecstatic travelling fans at O’Connor Enclosed.
Archie McGregor bagged a brace for the visitors who had the points wrapped up by the half-time interval, at which stage they had already scored three times without reply against a beleaguered Knights.
It took half the opening stanza for the Tigers to take the lead, McGregor sliding home a rebound after Knights goalkeeper Kristian Nel was unable to keep hold of a Noah Steinacker shot, and they doubled their lead after Nik Popovich held up play inside the area to tee up Augustine Bangura for a debut goal.
Knights were unable to repel the Tigers attack, and the third goal duly arrived in first-half stoppage time as McGregor nodded home a cross from William Akio. They left the best to last, Popovich releasing Tomohiro Ogawa and the midfielder looping a sensational forty-metre effort over the head of Nel to seal the win in some style.
Over at High Street there was nothing to separate the two teams as Queanbeyan City earned a second successive NPL point holding League Champions Gungahlin United to a 0-0 stalemate in a game of few opportunities.
The closest either side came to claiming a winner cam elate in the piece as Gunners substitute Elie Darwich met a chip inside the area with a header that cannoned off the underside of the Queanbeyan City crossbar before being scrambled away to safety by the covering defence.
Charlie Rae was exceptional on debut in midfield for City, showing an industry and tenacity that was welcomed by the vocal home support who, once more, turned up in their numbers.
They were treated to a contest that was even throughout, littered with plenty of endeavour, but little in the way of quality. This was the second match in a row that Gungahlin had failed to trouble the scoreboard, their travails in front of goal balanced by a second successive clean sheet at the other end.
Monaro Panthers continued their goal-laden start to the NPL season as they hit Tuggeranong United for six at Stryda Park, coming away with a 6-1 victory and leadership of the league on goal difference after two rounds.
An amazing second-half blitz saw the Panthers score four goals in eleven minutes to break Tuggeranong apart, many of the sounds self-inflicted by the visiting team. Luca Macor took advantage of one such turnover early in the first half as he blasted home the opener, but there was little sign of the carnage to come.
Robert Tkatchenko drove home the second five minutes into the second stanza to kickstart the goal rush, which Stephen Domenici added to with a thumping drive over the head of Callum Cook. Shellshocked United conceded straight from the restart as Ryan Straub made it four.
Ben Basser-Silk completed the fun, sliding home from a Tkatchenko pass and not even an Alessandro Pena penalty could dampen spirits, as substitute Giuseppe Tine, fresh off a cup hat-trick in midweek, clipped home the sixth from range only moments after the United goal.
Canberra Croatia finished strongly to claim a 6-1 victory over ten-man Yoogali SC as four goals came from substitutes in the final twenty minutes as the extra man eventually told at Deakin Stadium.
The visitors had been reduced to ten following the dismissal of Chaise Donetto in the fourteenth minute, eventually conceding an unfortunate own goal fifteen minutes later as excellent approach work from Thomas James saw Isaac Donadel deflect a cross past his own goalkeeper Michael Di Paoli.
James was to create three goals in the match, one for Daniel Sparrow four minutes before the break doubling the lead before the lively Jayce Dotson controlled a Danny Reid cross to hammer in on the cusp of the interval.
That’s the way it stayed until the final quarter, James teeing up Nick Pratezina fir the first of two for the substitute, his goals bookending well-taken strikes, and first goals in Croatia red for fellow replacements Maxx Green and Nicholas Subasic.
RESULTS
ROUND 2
Saturday 12 April
Queanbeyan City 0 Gungahlin United 0
O’Connor Knights 0 Tigers FC 4 (McGregor 22’, 45+3’, Bangura 37’, Ogawa 60’)
Sunday 13 April
Canberra Croatia 6 (J. Donadel 29’ (og), Sparrow 41’, Pratezina 71’, 90+2’, Green 82’, N. Subasic 88’) Yoogali SC 1 (Dotson 45’)
Monaro Panthers 6 (Macor 17’, Tkatchenko 50’, Domenici 57’, Straub 58’, Basser-Silk 61’, Tine 81’) Tuggeranong United 1 (Pena 79’ (p))
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Monaro Panthers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 6 |
| 2 | Canberra Croatia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 6 |
| 3 | Tigers FC | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 4 |
| 4 | Queanbeyan City | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Gungahlin United | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Yoogali SC | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 2 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 1 |
| 8 | O’Connor Knights | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
2: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Own GOALS
1: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia), Nikola JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Alessandro PENA (Tuggeranong United), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers)
TOP ASSISTS
4: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
3: Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers)
2: Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers)
1: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), William AKIO (Tigers FC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
