Monaro Panthers will meet Tigers FC in the Battle of the Big Cats to decide the 2025 Capital Football National Premier League Grand Final after the Panthers came from behind to defeat League Champions Canberra Croatia 2-1 under the floodlights at Deakin Stadium.
A goal two minutes from full-time from Connor Mynott-Smith proved the difference in an even match in which both teams might have done enough to claim the victory, Panthers seeing themselves over the line late on allowing Croatia no time for a response.
Mynott-Smith collected a pass from Stephen Domenici, and advanced before arrowing a low effort across the body of Croatia goalkeeper Sam Brown who, despite getting a hand on it, was unable to repel the effort from the in-form Panthers’ playmaker.
Earlier, Croatia had started superbly and deservedly went in front after just nine minutes of the match. Golden Boot winner Christian Pratezina pounced on a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area, steadied himself, and rolled in a well-placed opener for his twentieth goal of the campaign.
Monaro’s response was top class, and they levelled matters with their first effort on target of the encounter. Croatia failed to adequately clear a free-kick and Phakedi Manda reacted fastest to send a volley past Brown and into the corner of the net for the equalising goal.
Afterwards, opportunities were scarce, but when they did come around the goalkeepers were equal to the task, none more so than Heath Ilitch in the Panthers goal who magnificently denied Maxx Green with a superlative one-handed save deep into the second-half.
That set the scene for the drama at the other end and Mynott-Smith’s moment that sent his team through to the Grand Final at McKellar Park.
RESULTS
PRELIMINARY FINAL
Saturday 13 September
Canberra Croatia 1 (Pratezina 9’) Monaro Panthers 2 (Manda 24’, Mynott-Smith 88’)
TOP SCORERS
20: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
16: Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
15: Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United)
12: Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers)
11: William AKIO (Tigers FC)
10: Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United)
9: Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers)
8: Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights/Tigers FC), Ayumu KIMURA (Gungahlin United), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia)
7: Jenno CERUTI (O’Connor Knights), Own GOALS
6: Nico ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC), Michael JOHN (O’Connor Knights), Danny REID (Yoogali SC)
5: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Phakedi MANDA (Monaro Panthers/O’Connor Knights), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers)
4: Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers/Tigers FC), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Loick Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers / Canberra Croatia), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
3: Mason DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Stefan DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC/Monaro Panthers), Zac LAWRENCE (Tuggeranong United), Joshua MILICEVIC (Tigers FC), Misko NAUMOSKI (Queanbeyan City), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia), Sam WHITEHEAR (Tigers FC)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Gabriel AYUEL (Queanbeyan City), Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC / Gungahlin United), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Sam RACITI (Yoogali SC), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United)
1: Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Fabian CACOPARDO (Yoogali SC), Isaac DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Cole FALCO (Tuggeranong United), Luca FLOREZ (Gungahlin United), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Nikola JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Chistian JUNNA (O’Connor Knights), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Alex-Junior MALAUULU (Gungahlin United), Nathen MEGIC (Tigers FC), Alessandro PENA (Tuggeranong United), Jack PERAIC-CULLEN (Canberra Croatia), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights), Daniel ROBERTS (Queanbeyan City), Joey SEO (Yoogali SC), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Daler TOKHIROV (Yoogali SC), Noah VANDERPOL (Queanbeyan City), Hamish WALES (Tigers FC), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Tigers FC), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
TOP ASSISTS
24: Thomas JAMES (Canberra Croatia)
10: Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers)
9: Daniel BARAC (Monaro Panthers), Maxx GREEN (Canberra Croatia)
8: Stephen DOMENICI (Monaro Panthers), Phakedi MANDA (Monaro Panthers/O’Connor Knights), Nick PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia)
7: William AKIO (Tigers FC), Yoshida SHOKI (Gungahlin United)
6: Darren BAILEY (Yoogali SC), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
5: Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Keegan VUCETIC (Canberra Croatia)
4: Michael PICCOLO (Monaro Panthers/Canberra Croatia), Nik POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Danny REID (Yoogali SC), Thomas ROBERTSON (Gungahlin United), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Tigers FC), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC), Kobi YARIYARI (O’Connor Knights)
3: Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), Giancarlo D’ADDARIO (Gungahlin United), Josh DE ROSSI (Yoogali SC), Chaise DONETTO (Yoogali SC), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Cole FALCO (Tuggeranong United), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Marko JADRIC (Canberra Croatia), Jack LEVERETT (Queanbeyan City), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Joshua MILICEVIC (Tigers FC), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Noah STEINACKER (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Ryan STRAUB (Monaro Panthers), Nicholas SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Riley ZSUZSA (Canberra Croatia)
2: Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (O’Connor Knights/Tigers FC), Angus BAILEY (Tigers FC), Riley BROWN (Gungahlin United), Nikita BYRNES (Gungahlin United), Abderrahim DELLAHI (Queanbeyan City), Nic EMANUEL (Tuggeranong United), Bevan FOXALL (Tuggeranong United), Daniel GALIC (O’Connor Knights), Michael JOHN (O’Connor Knights), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Loick LESPINASSE (Gungahlin United), AJ MALAUULU (Gungahlin United), Josh PEDERSEN (Tuggeranong United), Alessandro PENA (Tuggeranong United), Marko RATHOUSKI (O’Connor Knights), Robbie RIMMER (Yoogali SC), Daniel ROBERTS (Queanbeyan City), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia),
1: Samuel ABA (Queanbeyan City), Niko ABOT (Queanbeyan City), Augustine BANGURA (Tigers FC), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Thomas BLAZEVSKI (Queanbeyan City), Seth BONNETT (Queanbeyan City), Sam BROWN (Canberra Croatia), Fabian CACOPARDO (Yoogali SC), Nick DAHL (O’Connor Knights), Xabier DAVIES (Tuggeranong United), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), Bailey DICKENSON (Gungahlin United), Jacob DONADEL (Yoogali SC), Jayce DOTSON (Yoogali SC), Jack ELLWOOD (Monaro Panthers), FERNANDO Jorquera (Monaro Panthers), Marco GAYER (Monaro Panthers), Matt GRBESA (Canberra Croatia), Hayden HOLLINGER (Yoogali SC), Romeo JAMBREK (Tuggeranong United), Mitchell JERVIS-HAMILTON (Monaro Panthers), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Ayumu KIMURA (Gungahlin United), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Steven KRESKAS (Queanbeyan City), Luca MACOR (Monaro Panthers), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), Harry MARTIN (O’Connor Knights), Archie MCGREGOR (Tigers FC), Max MELLICK (Monaro Panthers), Steve NEALON (Tuggeranong United), Ibrahim OBEID (O’Connor Knights), Deacon PALOMBI (Gungahlin United), Nicholas PRATEZINA (Canberra Croatia), Joe PREECE (Yoogali SC), Charlie RAE (Queanbeyan City), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Monaro Panthers),Luke SAKAMOTO (Tuggeranong United), Tim SANTOS (Tuggeranong United), Vincent SANCHEZ (O’Connor Knights), Cassidy SCHLESINGER (Tuggeranong United), Michael SOUTHAM (Tigers FC), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Giuseppe TINE (Monaro Panthers), Kristian TOKIC (Queanbeyan City), Archie VARNES (Tuggeranong United), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United)
Image: Mladen Leko
