New French recruit Loick Lespinasse scored four times as Gungahlin United, who began the day at the foot of the National Premier League table, ended it by defeating league leaders Canberra Croatia 5-4 in an instant classic at Deakin Stadium.
There was no indication of the drama to follow when Thomas James rifled home a trademark free-kick midway through the first-half and, when Daniel Colbertaldo passed to Maxx Green to spin and score on the stroke of half-time, it appeared to be business as usual for the hosts.
Even the dismissal of Nikola Jadric in the opening forty-five minutes hadn’t looked to derail Croatia but, from the moment Lespinasse smashed home a Yoshida Shoki pass three minutes into the second-half, it was game on.
Shoki himself brought Gungahlin level with a brilliant goal, created by Lespinasse, and when the striker had his second goal two minutes later, it completed a seven minute turnaround and Gunners were ahead. Lespinasse then completed his hat-trick with a magnificent finish after breaking the offside trap and Gungahlin were 2-4 ahead.
Croatia did not lie down, and an own goal from Riley Brown reduced the deficit which was wiped out by a second James free-kick in the final minute. So, 4-4 and points shared? Not a bit of it. Three minutes into stoppage time, Giancarlo D’Addario sent a curling pass into the path of Lespinasse who rounded Matesa to win it in style.
A header from skipper Dylan Deep-Jones deep into stoppage time rescued a point for Monaro Panthers as their championship hopes were dealt a blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Yoogali SC at Stryda Park.
Deep-Jones rose highest amongst the crowd to nod over Michael Di Paoli four minutes into added time to finally force a breakthrough after the Yoogali stopper had saved twice from Stephen Domenici, once from a magnificent one-handed claw over the bar from a header, the other a more routine stop on the turn.
Yoogali can count themselves unfortunate that they could not hold onto the points after they were given the lead through a goal of the season contender from Mazon Donadel. The young midfielder launched a rocket of a shot that blazed over the head of Heath Ilitch and into the top-corner in the 20th minute.
Both teams can point to chances, the lively Danny Reid seeing a last-minute shot tipped over by Ilitch, but the draw was sealed when Deep-Jones struck from a Ryan Straub free-kick to break Yoogali hearts.
Earlier on Saturday, a ruthless first-half performance from Queanbeyan City in which they scored three unanswered goals, was enough for the home team to claim a 3-2 win over O’Connor Knights at High Street.
Queanbeyan were ahead after just three minutes when a Jack Leverett ball into the area was misjudged by the Knights defence allowing Noah Vanderpol to pounce, and they were unlucky not to score again when Abderrahim Dellahi struck the inside of the post with a curling shot.
Dellahi did net just before the twenty-minute mark, a bullet header from a Daniel Roberts delivery, and Roberts made it three himself when he turned home Leverett’s incisive cut back past debutant Knights goalkeeper Markus Smith.
O’Connor hit the bar themselves through Michael John, and missed a huge opportunity when Aisosa Ihegie rolled a shot wide when clear though, both were later to score goals for the visitors, but the damage had already been done as Queanbeyan held on to put the pressure on the top four.
Tigers FC closed the gap on Canberra Croatia and moved into second place with a 3-0 away win over Tuggeranong United at Kambah 2.
A stunning effort from William Akio put Tigers ahead five minutes before half-time, the forward collecting a Shandon Whitehead pass and advancing before placing a stunning curling shot beyond Callum Cook into the corner.
The turning point was the penalty awarded eight minutes into the second half, Tigers managing to open a cushion of a second goal after Sam Whithear confidently struck home the spot-kick awarded after a collision inside the area.
Tuggeranong, without attacking spearhead Steve Nealon, were largely toothless in attack and conceded a third six minuets from the final whistle when persistence from Ni Taneski resulted in the ball finding its way to substitute Hamish Wales who notched his maiden senior NPL goal.
RESULTS
ROUND 12
Saturday 28 June
Queanbeyan City 3 (Vanderpol 3’, Dellahi 19’, Roberts 36’) O’Connor Knights 2 (John 66’, Ihegie 90+6’)
Monaro Panthers 1 (Deep-Jones 90+4’) Yoogali SC 1 (M. Donadel 20’)
Sunday 29 June
Canberra Croatia 4 (James 21’, 90’, Green 45’, Brown 82’ (og)) Gungahlin United 5 (Lespinasse 49’, 58’, 70’, 90+3’, Shoki 56’)
Tuggeranong United 0 Tigers FC 3 (Akio 40’, Whithear 53’ (p), H. Wales 84’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Croatia | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 49 | 13 | +36 | 30 |
| 2 | Tigers FC | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 18 | +11 | 24 |
| 3 | Monaro Panthers | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 38 | 15 | +23 | 23 |
| 4 | Tuggeranong United | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 23 | -10 | 14 |
| 5 | Queanbeyan City | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 22 | -11 | 14 |
| 6 | O’Connor Knights | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 20 | 35 | -15 | 10 |
| 7 | Gungahlin United | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 33 | -20 | 9 |
| 8 | Yoogali SC | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 30 | -14 | 6 |
TOP SCORERS
11: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers)
9: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
8: Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia)
7: 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), William AKIO (Tigers FC), Jenno CERUTI (O’Connor Knights), Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Own GOALS
4: Loick LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United)
3: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers / Canberra Croatia), Sam WHITEHEAR (Tigers FC)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Michael JOHN (O’Connor Knights), 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)
1: Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Luca FLOREZ (Gungahlin United), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Nikola JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), 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), Daniel ROBERTS (Queanbeyan City), 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), Noah VANDERPOL (Queanbeyan City), Hamish WALES (Tigers FC), 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), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Tigers FC), Kobi YARIYARI (O’Connor Knights)
3: Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), William AKIO (Tigers FC), Josh DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Chaise DONETTO (Yoogali SC), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Cole FALCO (Tuggeranong United), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Loick LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), 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), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Xabier DAVIES (Tuggeranong United), 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), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Max MELLICK (Monaro Panthers), Josh PEDERSEN (Tuggeranong United), Nicholas PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Charlie RAE (Queanbeyan City), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights), Robbie RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Daniel ROBERTS (Queanbeyan City), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Kristian TOKIC (Queanbeyan City), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
