Canberra Croatia reignited the National Premier League U23 title race with an enthralling 2-1 win over Tigers FC under dark grey skies, and occasional rain, at Deakin Stadium.
It was the home side who got off to a flying start as James Godding broke the offside trap and rounded Tigers goalkeeper Josh Smith to slide the ball into the empty net for his fourth goal of the season.
Godding could have made it two ten minutes into the second-half, and the home team paid for that when Tigers equalised as Copper Heagney steered home from a yard after a corner was kept in at the far post and returned across goal for his 13th goal of the campaign.
Tiges were reduced to ten men later in the contest, before Aston Goodwin rammed home a second with sixteen minutes left to restore Croatia’s lead and ultimately win the match.
Tuggeranong United stunned title-chasing O’Connor Knights in Round 13 of the NPL U23 competition by defeating the second-placed team 3-1 on their patch at O’Conner Enclosed.
United led on the stroke of half-time as Anthony Antoniak opened the scoring only for Cos Arena to equalise for the Knights five minutes into the second-half of the match to spring life into the contest.
Parity lasted less than a minute as Kris Raad edged United back in front, and Tuggeranong sealed the win in the 68th minute as Antoniak struck for the tenth time in a highly productive season to dent the Knights title hopes.
An exciting mini-Clearwaters Derby ended in dramatic fashion as Monaro Panthers scored three times in the final nine minutes to overturn a 0-2 deficit and claim a 3-2 win over Queanbeyan City.
City struck first blood when new signing Jack Bitani thrashed home from close to the edge of the penalty area following a brace of top-class saves from Panthers custodian Vanna McAlister, the goalkeeper unlucky to see the ball drop straight to Bitani at the third time of asking.
Panthers went close via Joshua Hedditch, who fired narrowly over the bar after excellent skill inside the box, but it was Queanbeyan who doubled their lead just before the hour as Alexander Evans reacted earliest to a ball across the six-yard box to score via the post.
Panthers substitute Ayham Nasser reduced the deficit with a beautifully weighted ship with nine minutes remaining, and incredibly, two minutes later another substitute equalised as Leo Vanderpol hit a shot from distance that deflected past the Queanbeyan City goalkeeper.
And Panthers won it with virtually the last kick of the match as Nasser fed yet another substitute, Jure Lemezina, who cut inside his marker to lash a low shot into the back of the net and spark home celebrations.
Meanwhile, a goal from Samuel Raciti proved enough for Yoogali SC to claim a narrow 1-0 win over Gungahlin United at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.
Raciti scored in just the second minute of the match to give the visitors the lead that they were never to relinquish, despite chance s coming and going for both teams at both ends of the pitch.
The win was Yoogali’s fourth of the season, and sees them move into sixth place, as Gungahlin United slipped to seventh.
RESULTS
ROUND 13
Saturday 5 July
O’Connor Knights 1 (Arena 50’) Tuggeranong United 3 (Antoniak 45’, 68’, Raad 51’)
Monaro Panthers 3 (Nasser 81’, Vanderpol 83’, Lemezina 89’) Queanbeyan City 2 (Bitani 28’, Evans 59’)
Sunday 6 July
Canberra Croatia 2 (Godding 10’, Goodwin 74’) Tigers FC 1 (Heagney 59’)
Gungahlin United 0 Yoogali SC 1 (Raciti 2’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Tigers FC | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 49 | 17 | +32 | 31 |
| 2 | Canberra Croatia | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 29 | 19 | +10 | 25 |
| 3 | O’Connor Knights | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 19 | +10 | 23 |
| 4 | Tuggeranong United | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 18 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 20 | 27 | -7 | 15 |
| 6 | Yoogali SC | 12 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 28 | -12 | 14 |
| 7 | Gungahlin United | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 27 | -12 | 13 |
| 8 | Queanbeyan City | 13 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 38 | -20 | 6 |
TOP SCORERS
13: Cooper HEAGNEY (Tigers FC)
12: Anthony ANTONIAK (Tuggeranong United)
10: Zachary ILIJOSKI (Tigers FC)
6: Leo DONALD (Tuggeranong United), Thinley DORJI (Tigers FC), Alexander EVANS (Queanbeyan City), Jebediah JEFFERY (Canberra Croatia), Own GOALS
5: Elliot ALBERTO (Tigers FC)
4: Daniel ANDERSON (O’Connor Knights), Kaide CASTLE (Yoogali SC), James GODDING (Canberra Croatia), Darcy MIDDLETON (Canberra Croatia), Ayham NASSER (Monaro Panthers), Fabian OLIVARES (Gungahlin United), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights), Leo VANDERPOL (Monaro Panthers)
3: Zia BAIRD (Monaro Panthers), Rocco DI PLACIDO (O’Connor Knights), Stefan DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Ivan DZAJA (O’Connor Knights), Jacob KITE (Gungahlin United), Owen LEARMONTH (Canberra Croatia), Samuel RACITI (Yoogali SC)Anthony RAKIC (Canberra Croatia), Luka USLJEBRKA (O’Connor Knights)
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),
1: Cos ARENA (O’Connor Knights), Luke ARMANINI (Yoogali SC), Daniel BARBATANO (Queanbeyan City), Thomas BARBATANO (Gungahlin United), Jack BITANI (Queanbeyan City), 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), Aston GOODWIN (Canberra Croatia), Joshua HEDDITCH (Monaro Panthers), Luka JUKIC (Canberra Croatia), Joshua KEENAN (Yoogali SC), Marcus LAU (Gungahlin United), Jure LEMEZINA (Monaro Panthers), 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), Kris RAAD (Tuggeranong United), 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)
