Monaro Panthers romped to a 5-1 win over O’Connor Knights at O’Connor Enclosed on a sunny afternoon in the national capital as the National Premier League competition reached Round 11, maintain their second place in the league table.
They were made to work hard for the points by the Knights, the home team recovering from an early setback as Phakedi Manda steered a cross into the path of Fernando who rifled home to give the visitors the lead.
The Knights levelled before half-time when Aisosa Ihegie saw his cross-shot deflected into the net, but Panthers regained the lead four minutes into the second-half when Stephen Domenici’s shot was blocked on the line, Christian Kreskas reacting fastest to ram home the loose ball.
Dylan Deep-Jones nodded in the third, meeting a Kreskas fee-kick with a deft near post header, before Daniel Barac in turn headed home the fourth, again from a Kreskas cross. And a third header rounded off the scoring, Domenici meeting a Manda centre to make it five.
At High Street, a severely depleted Queanbeyan City made the league leading Canberra Croatia work exceptionally hard for their three points as a goal in each half from Daniel Sparrow and Michael Piccolo secured a 2-0 win.
City were without six first0team regulars and handed NPL debuts to goalkeeper Finn Beasley and striker Abderrahim Dellahi, the former making several superb saves, including a stunning late stop from substitute Thomas James, the latter rattling the base of the post with a fierce drive.
Beasley was finally beaten on the half-hour, Tony Spaseski sending a ball over the top that Sparrow got to ahead of the goalkeeper to steer an effort into the net for his seventh league goal of the season.
Queanbeyan hit the woodwork again in the second stanza, midfielder Daniel Roberts cannoning a long-range shot off the crossbar, Jason Matesa perhaps getting a fingertip to the ball, but Croatia were to seal it in stoppage time as Ryan Keir fed substitute Piccolo and his deft clip over Beasley secured the points.
Tigers FC claimed three points with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Gungahlin United at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval on a cold Sunday afternoon, netting either side of the interval to secure the win.
After a bright start by the home side, it was Tigers FC who would take the lead in the twentieth minute. Midfielder Shandon Whitehead burst onto a pass inside the penalty area and clipped the ball past the advancing Aiden Munford, where William Akio tapped in on the goal line.
Gunners held in there, and threatened themselves before the interval, but upon the restart found themselves two adrift in unfortunate circumstances. Akio sent over a teasing cross that ricocheted off a defender and fell into an area where Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu contorted his body to flick home against his former club.
Gungahlin kept trying to force a way back into the game and, with the clock ticking into the ninetieth minute pulled one back. New recruit Loick Lespinasse wriggled away from three would-be challengers to tee up Yoshida Shoki who confidently finished past Willem Lejeune.
Tuggeranong United recorded a valuable win with ten-men against Yoogali SC at Kambah 2, shrugging off the one-man disadvantage to come away with a narrow 2-1 success.
The visitors had the better of the first-half in terms of shots on target, testing Callum Cook on a more regular basis than Michael Di Paoli at the other end, but good openings were infrequent.
Tuggeranong were reduced to ten men a couple of minutes before the break when midfielder Luke Stevens was dismissed for raising his hand into the face of Yoogali SC defender Darren Bailey, leaving the officials with no option other than to brandish the red card.
However, it was the ten men that were to open the scoring nine minutes into the second-half. Cole Falco launched a howitzer if a throw into the area which, under pressure, Michael Di Paoli palmed into his own net for an own goal.
And four minutes later they had two. A cross from the right flank was flicked on by Romeo Jambrek and Steve Nealon stole in to stab home his seventh league goal of the season. That proved decisive as Mason Donadel reduced the arrears with thirteen minutes to play.
RESULTS
ROUND 11
Saturday 21 June
Queanbeyan City 0 Canberra Croatia 2 (Sparrow 30’, Piccolo 90+6’)
O’Connor Knights 1 (Ihegie 45’) Monaro Panthers 5 (Fernando 6’, Kreskas 49’, Deep-Jones 65’, Barac 81’, Domenici 90+1’)
Sunday 22 June
Tuggeranong United 2 (De Paoli 54’ (og), Nealon 58’) Yoogali SC 1 (M. Donadel 77’)
Gungahlin United 1 (Shoki 90’) Tigers FC 2 (Akio 20’, Ahmed-Shaibu 63’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Croatia | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 8 | +37 | 30 |
| 2 | Monaro Panthers | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 37 | 14 | +23 | 22 |
| 3 | Tigers FC | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 18 | +8 | 21 |
| 4 | Tuggeranong United | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 20 | =7 | 14 |
| 5 | Queanbeyan City | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 20 | -12 | 11 |
| 6 | O’Connor Knights | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 32 | -14 | 10 |
| 7 | Gungahlin United | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 29 | -21 | 6 |
| 8 | Yoogali SC | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 15 | 29 | -14 | 5 |
TOP SCORERS
11: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers)
9: Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
7: Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia), Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia)
6: Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights/Tigers FC), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC)
5: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Jenno CERUTI (O’Connor Knights), Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers)
4: William AKIO (Tigers FC), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Own GOALS
3: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers / Canberra Croatia), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Phakedi MANDA (Monaro Panthers/O’Connor Knights), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WHITEHEAR (Tigers FC)
1: Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Luca FLOREZ (Gungahlin United), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Nikola JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Michael JOHN (O’Connor Knights), Chistian JUNNA (O’Connor Knights), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Nathen MEGIC (Tigers FC), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Alessandro PENA (Tuggeranong United), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Joey SEO (Yoogali SC), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
TOP ASSISTS
12: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
8: Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers)
7: Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia, Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
5: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers), Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights)
4: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Kobi YARIYARI (O’Connor Knights)
3: Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Tigers FC)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), William AKIO (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Chaise DONETTO (Yoogali SC), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Cole FALCO (Tuggeranong United), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia)
1: Samuel ABA (Queanbeyan City), Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights), Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Riley BROWN (Gungahlin United), Xabier DAVIES (Tuggeranong United), Josh DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Bailey DICKENSON (Gungahlin United), Jacob DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Marco GAYER (Monaro Panthers), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Loick LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Max MELLICK (Monaro Panthers), Josh PEDERSEN (Tuggeranong United), Nicholas PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Charlie RAE (Queanbeyan City), Robbie RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Kristian TOKIC (Queanbeyan City), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
