Queanbeyan City stunned Monaro Panthers with a come from behind victory to claim a 2-1 on the hugely anticipated ‘Clear Waters’ derby match at High Street played in front of a large and raucous crowd.
The team who began the day at the foot of the table recorded a win for the ages, arguably one of the greatest days in their club’s history as they overturned a Stephen Domenici goal six minutes before the interval to claim their first ever NPL victory.
Panthers led when Max Mellick collected a Fernando pass and squared for Domenici to tap home his fourth goal of the season and, at that point, it appeared as if a routine away win was on the cards. The goal was Monaro’s twentieth in only five NPL matches this season.
And yet City did not buckle. Indeed, they found themselves level thanks to a fine opportunistic strike right on the cusp of half-time. Panthers only half cleared a cross into the middle and Nico Abot pounced on the ball outside the box to hammer a low right foot finish inside Heath Ilitch’s left-hand post.
Queanbeyan came out firing in the second-half and took the lead in fortuitous fashion. On a rare foray down the right flank in the second stanza, Jack Leverett received a pass from Charlie Rae after Marko Savkovic had won the ball in midfield and looped a speculative cross-shot over Ilitch and into the far corner.
While there may have been a hint of luck about the match-winning goal, there was nothing lucky about the Queanbeyan win, something they, and their passionate supporters, will cherish for a long time to come.
A brace of goals from Archie McGregor proved to be decisive for Tigers FC as they inflicted a first defeat of the season on Canberra Croatia with a 2-1 victory at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Having won their first four games of the season, Croatia headed into the match five points, and a game in hand, ahead of the Tigers, but found themselves behind just three minutes into the second-half.
A quickfire break saw Shandon Whitehead slide a pass into the path of McGregor whose confident finish did the race, firing a shot past Sam Brown. Croatia equalised in magnificent fashion, an exquisite flick from Thomas James allowing Maxx Green to clip a finish over Willem Lejeune.
Tigers FC won it nine minutes from full-time. William Akio created it with a fine piece of creation down the right flank, beating his man and sending in a low cross into the area which McGregor turned home from close range.
It was a tale of two penalties at Kambah 2 as Tuggeranong United and O’Connor Knights shared the points in a 1-1 draw, the sixth and seventh penalties awarded in the last four matches between the two teams.
The Knights were awarded the first spot-kick in the sixteenth minute when United defender Euan Peterkin was adjudged to have handled inside the box. Micheal Adams was calmness personified in scoring the resultant penalty.
United equalised eight minutes later with a debatable penalty of their own as Peterkin was shoved in the back inside the area. Steve Nealon was never likely to miss and rammed home his eighth goal of the season in all competitions.
Knights’ goalkeeper Kristian Nel later magnificently repelled efforts from both Nealon and Romeo Jambrek for Tuggeranong, whilst Jenno Ceruti blasted over from O’Connor’s best chance close to the end.
Yoogali SC recorded their biggest ever NPL victory as they hammered the fallen League Champions Gungahlin United with a 5-1 success at Solar Mad Stadium on a sunny day in Griffith.
The home side were sensational in responding to falling behind in the fourth minute, Luca Florez scoring from a penalty to break a 492-minute NPL goal drought for the Gunners, but that simply stirred Yoogali into action.
Danny Reid adroitly dived to turn a Chaise Donetto cross past Aiden Munford to level the scores in the ninth minute, before Donetto set-up Jayce Dotson to steer the ball past Munford and give Yoogali the lead.
Darren Bailey was next on target, rolling home his third of the season in the league with a composed finish and the home side were in dreamland when Reid made it four before the break. When Dotson swept in Bailey’s cross in the 58th minute for 5-1 the home side were home and dry.
RESULTS
ROUND 5
Saturday 10 May
Queanbeyan City 2 (Abot 45’, Leverett 62’) Monaro Panthers 1 (Domenici 39’)
Sunday 11 May
Tigers FC 2 (McGregor 48’, 81’) Canberra Croatia 1 (Green 59’)
Tuggeranong United 1 (Nealon 24’ (p)) O’Connor Knights 1 (Adams 16’ (p))
Yoogali SC 5 (Reid 9’, 31’, Dotson 14’, 58’, Bailey 23’) Gungahlin United 1 (Florez 4’ (p))
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Croatia | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 | +16 | 12 |
| 2 | Monaro Panthers | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 5 | +15 | 12 |
| 3 | Tigers FC | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 11 |
| 4 | Tuggeranong United | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 6 |
| 5 | Yoogali SC | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 | -5 | 5 |
| 6 | Queanbeyan City | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 | -10 | 5 |
| 7 | O’Connor Knights | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 14 | -6 | 4 |
| 8 | Gungahlin United | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | -12 | 2 |
TOP SCORERS
6: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers)
5: Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC)
4: Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
3: William AKIO (Tigers FC), Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Jenno CERUTI (O’Connor Knights), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Own GOALS
1: Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Luca FLOREZ (Gungahlin United), Nikola JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Michael JOHN (O’Connor Knights), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Alessandro PENA (Tuggeranong United), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Nim TANESKI (Tigers FC), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Sam WHITEHEAR (Tigers FC)
TOP ASSISTS
7: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
4: Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers)
3: Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), William AKIO (Tigers FC), Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers), Chaise DONETTO (Yoogali SC), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Kobi YARIYARI (O’Connor Knights)
1: Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Xabier DAVIES (Tuggeranong United), Josh DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Jacob DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Max MELLICK (Monaro Panthers), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Charlie RAE (Queanbeyan City), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Tigers FC), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
