Tigers FC broke the thirty-point barrier and lead the National Premier League U23 competition by eight points after another win in Round 12, beating Tuggeranong United 4-0 at Kambah 2.
The league leaders were in control of the game from the moment Elliot Alberto opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute, and by half-time they had their hands on the points as Jake Fattore and Zachary Ilijoski struck, the latter with his tenth goal of the season.
Cooper Heagney, the leading scorer in the league, took his personal tally to a dozen with the fourth goal seven minutes from the end as Tigers flexed their muscles once more in a dominant campaign.
O’Connor Knights turned on the style to claim three more points with a seventh win of the season as they recovered from conceding an early goal at High Street to record a 6-1 victory over Queanbeyan City.
City had the best possible start as they netted inside a minute as Eathan Saunders turned past his own goalkeeper from close range, but that just poked the bear as the Knights hit back to lead by the interval, helped by the dismissal of City goalkeeper Finn Beasley twelve minutes from the break.
By then, Saunders had netted at the other end, before Luka Usljebrka struck two in quick succession as Knights built a 3-1 lead. The roof fell in on City late in the contest as the Knights scored four in the final seventeen, Daniel Anderson striking twice, William Tweedie making it six, and Usljebrka completing his treble at the death.
At Stryda Park two first-half goals allowed Monaro Panthers to eke out a narrow 2-1 win over Yoogali SC and leapfrog their immediate opponents into fifth in the league table as Yoogali slipped to sixth.
Alexander Lulic put the Panthers ahead with his first goal of the season in the fifteenth minute of the contest, and it was a lead that was doubled nine minutes from the break as Zia Baird scored for the third time this term.
Yoogali’s response was almost immediate, Samuel Raciti netting in reply, but the Panthers held on to claim the win.
At Deakin Stadium on Sunday Gungahlin United stunned Canberra Croatia claiming only a fourth win of the season with a surprise 3-2 success.
The visiting team got off to the perfect start as they took the lead in the 24th minute as Thomas Barbatano found the target for the first time this season, and they had doubled their lead by half-time as Jacob Kite’s curling shot caught Jampel Dorji out, arcing over his head and in.
Marcos Da Silva pulled one back in the second-half, only for Fabian Olivares to retire the two-goal cushion. Darcy Middlton set up a grandstand finale, turning home a loose ball with four minutes to play, but Gunners held on for a memorable victory.
RESULTS
ROUND 12
Saturday 28 June
Queanbeyan City 1 (Saunders 1’ (og)) O’Connor Knights 7 (Saunders 19’, Usljebrka 21’, 33’, 90’, Anderson 77’, 79’, Tweedie 80’)
Monaro Panthers 2 (Lulic 15’, Baird 36’) Yoogali SC 1 (Raciti 39’)
Sunday 29 June
Canberra Croatia 2 (Da Silva 77’, Middleton 86’) Gungahlin United 3 (Barbatano 24’, Kite 42’. Olivares 83’)
Tuggeranong United 0 Tigers FC 4 (Alberto 16’, Fattore 39’, Ilijoski 43’, Heagney 83’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Tigers FC | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 48 | 15 | +33 | 31 |
| 2 | O’Connor Knights | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 28 | 16 | +12 | 23 |
| 3 | Canberra Croatia | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 18 | +9 | 22 |
| 4 | Tuggeranong United | 21 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 15 |
| 5 | Gungahlin United | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 26 | -11 | 13 |
| 6 | Monaro Panthers | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 25 | -8 | 12 |
| 7 | Yoogali SC | 11 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 28 | -13 | 11 |
| 8 | Queanbeyan City | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 35 | -19 | 6 |
TOP SCORERS
12: Cooper HEAGNEY (Tigers FC)
10: Anthony ANTONIAK (Tuggeranong United), Zachary ILIJOSKI (Tigers FC)
6: Leo DONALD (Tuggeranong United), Thinley DORJI (Tigers FC), Jebediah JEFFERY (Canberra Croatia), Own GOALS
5: Elliot ALBERTO (Tigers FC), Alexander EVANS (Queanbeyan City)
4: Daniel ANDERSON (O’Connor Knights), Kaide CASTLE (Yoogali SC), Darcy MIDDLETON (Canberra Croatia), Fabian OLIVARES (Gungahlin United), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights)
3: Zia BAIRD (Monaro Panthers), Rocco DI PLACIDO (O’Connor Knights), Stefan DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Ivan DZAJA (O’Connor Knights), James GODDING (Canberra Croatia), Jacob KITE (Gungahlin United), Owen LEARMONTH (Canberra Croatia), Ayham NASSER (Monaro Panthers), Anthony RAKIC (Canberra Croatia), Luka USLJEBRKA (O’Connor Knights), Leo VANDERPOL (Monaro Panthers)
2: Samuel ABA (Queanbeyan City), Joshua AMOAH (Tigers FC), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Xavier BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Zachary COLSON (Tigers FC), Kye COSSETTINI (Tigers FC), Marcus CRISPE (Tigers FC), Jake FATTORE (Tigers FC), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Oliver HAWKINS (Canberra Croatia), Jack JANKE (O’Connor Knights), Mitchell JERVIS-HAMILTON (Monaro Panthers), Ahmed MUBAIDEEN (Tigers FC), Sebastian MUNOZ (Gungahlin United), Daniel OBST (Queanbeyan City), Nikola PERINOVIC (O’Connor Knights), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC)
1: Luke ARMANINI (Yoogali SC), Daniel BARBATANO (Queanbeyan City), Thomas BARBATANO (Gungahlin United), Tanatswa BVIRAKARE (Tigers FC), Fabian CACOPARDO (Yoogali SC), Samson CARR (Tigers FC), Stephen CERNI (Gungahlin United), Marcos DA SILVA (Canberra Croatia), 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), Marcus LAU (Gungahlin United), Alexander LULIC (Monaro Panthers), Ivica MAJETIC (Canberra Croatia), Alexei MARDIYANTS (Monaro Panthers), Mohammad MAZRAEH (Tuggeranong United), Leon MCLEAN (Canberra Croatia), Joseph MIKAHEL (Monaro Panthers), Hamish MOYLE (Gungahlin United), Nicholas PIVA (Yoogali SC), Nicolas PULCIANI (Tigers FC), Andrija RAKIC (Canberra Croatia), Jayden RIPPON (Gungahlin United), Abdin SAID (Tuggeranong United), Ali SOHANI (Monaro Panthers), Ethan SAUNDERS (O’Connor Knights), William TWEEDIE (O’Connor Knights), Josip UJDUR (O’Connor Knights)
