Tigers FC took a giant step towards potentially claiming the National Premier League U23 League title with a 4-2 home win over closest challengers O’Connor Knights at the Australian Institute of Sport.
The league leaders struck early in the contest, Marcus Crispe scoring after just two minutes of the match, only for Ivan Dzaja to equalise within ten minutes for the visiting Knights.
Thinley Dorji restored the Tigers lead, but when Tomer Doron made it 2-2, the game was still very much in the balance. A brace of goals in the second-half from Zachary Ilijoski was to prove the difference, Ilijoski moving to seven for the season with his match-winning brace.
Queanbeyan City secured a first win of the NPL23 season with a highly-deserved 3-1 win over Gungahlin United in their fixture at High Street under clear blue skies and sunshine in New South Wales.
Jayden Rippon put Gunners ahead in the second minute, the visiting team having threatened within thirty seconds of kick-off, and it appeared to be that they were heading for a fourth win of the season.
City had other thoughts though and Alexander Evans smashed home a half-volley to level the scores, before Xavier Bonnett put the hosts ahead in the 63rd minute with a well-taken goal. Evans sealed the win with his fifth goal of the season with ten minutes remaining.
On Sunday morning Canberra Croatia moved into second place on the table as they returned from the lengthy trip to Griffith with a maximum haul of three points as a 2-1 road trip win against Yoogali SC proved a satisfactory day.
The home team led for large parts of the match as Kaide castle netted his fourth goal of the season in the fourth minute of the fixture, but they were unable to hold out after the break as Croatia hit back.
Anthony Rakic levelled matters on the hour, and it was an unfortunate own goal from Ali Ali Zada ten minutes later that gave Croatia the victory.
A brace from Anthony Antoniak gave Tuggeranong United an important win over Monaro Panthers at Kambah 2, the brace from the forward moving the hosts five points clear of their opponents in fourth place.
Antoniak gave United the lead in the sixteenth minute of the match with a fine finish and netted his second of the match with eighteen minutes to play, taking his season tally to ninth goal of the campaign.
Leo Vanderpol pulled one back five minutes later, but Tuggeranong held on to claim the win and a huge stride towards the finals.
RESULTS
ROUND 10
Sunday 14 June
Tigers FC 4 (Crispe 2’, Dorji 19’, Ilijoski 72’, 78’) O’Connor Knights 2 (Dzaja 12’, Doron 28’)
Queanbeyan City 3 (Evans 16’, 80’, X. Bonnett 63’) Gungahlin United 1 (Rippon 2’)
Sunday 15 June
Yoogali SC 1 (Castle 4’) Canberra Croatia 2 (A. Rakic 60’, Ali Zada 70’ (og))
Tuggeranong United 2 (Antoniak 13’, 72’) Monaro Panthers 1 (Vanderpol 77’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Tigers FC | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 14 | +24 | 25 |
| 2 | Canberra Croatia | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 15 | +7 | 19 |
| 3 | O’Connor Knights | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 14 | +4 | 17 |
| 4 | Tuggeranong United | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 15 | +3 | 14 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 21 | -7 | 9 |
| 6 | Gungahlin United | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 17 | -7 | 9 |
| 7 | Yoogali SC | 9 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 25 | -13 | 8 |
| 8 | Queanbeyan City | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 25 | -10 | 6 |
TOP SCORERS
11: Cooper HEAGNEY (Tigers FC)
9: Anthony ANTONIAK (Tuggeranong United)
7: Zachary ILIJOSKI (Tigers FC),
6: Leo DONALD (Tuggeranong United)
5: Thinley DORJI (Tigers FC), Alexander EVANS (Queanbeyan City), Jebediah JEFFERY (Canberra Croatia)
4: Elliot ALBERTO (Tigers FC), Kaide CASTLE (Yoogali SC), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights)
3: Stefan DONADEL (Yoogali SC), James GODDING (Canberra Croatia), Owen LEARMONTH (Canberra Croatia), Ayham NASSER (Monaro Panthers), Fabian OLIVARES (Gungahlin United), Anthony RAKIC (Canberra Croatia), Leo VANDERPOL (Monaro Panthers), Own GOALS
2: Samuel ABA (Queanbeyan City), Joshua AMOAH (Tigers FC), Daniel ANDERSON (O’Connor Knights), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Xavier BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Zachary COLSON (Tigers FC), Marcus CRISPE (Tigers FC), Rocco DI PLACIDO (O’Connor Knights), Ivan DZAJA (O’Connor Knights), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Oliver HAWKINS (Canberra Croatia), Jack JANKE (O’Connor Knights), Mitchell JERVIS-HAMILTON (Monaro Panthers), Darcy MIDDLETON (Canberra Croatia), Sebastian MUNOZ (Gungahlin United), Daniel OBST (Queanbeyan City), Niko PERINOVIC (O’Connor Knights)
1: Zia BAIRD (Monaro Panthers), Daniel BARBATANO (Queanbeyan City), Tanatswa BVIRAKARE (Tigers FC), Fabian CACOPARDO (Yoogali SC), Stephen CERNI (Gungahlin United), Kye COSSETTINI (Tigers FC), Sivamsh DEEVI (Gungahlin United), Ethan DONETTO (Yoogali SC), Aleksandar DORDEVIC (Queanbeyan City), Tomer DORON (O’Connor Knights), Jack ELLWOOD (Monaro Panthers), Dominic GALLUZZO (Yoogali SC), Joshua HEDDITCH (Monaro Panthers), Luka JUKIC (Canberra Croatia), Joshua KEENAN (Yoogali SC), Jacob KITE (Gungahlin United), Marcus LAU (Gungahlin United), Ivica MAJETIC (Canberra Croatia), Alexei MARDIYANTS (Monaro Panthers), Mohammad MAZRAEH (Tuggeranong United), Joseph MIKAHEL (Monaro Panthers), Ahmed MUBAIDEEN (Tigers FC), Nicolas PULCIANI (Tigers FC), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC), Andrija RAKIC (Canberra Croatia), Jayden RIPPON (Gungahlin United), Abdin SAID (Tuggeranong United), Ali SOHANI (Monaro Panthers), Josip UJDUR (O’Connor Knights)
