Monaro Panthers FC 2 (Woods 11’, Basser-Silk 72’) v West Canberra Wanderers FC 1 (Vlazlovski 55’)
Monaro Panthers narrowly defeated the West Canberra Wanderers 2-1 at Riverside Stadium on Saturday.
Sebastian Woods gave the Panthers an early lead in the 11th minute, smashing it into the top corner from close range making it 1-0 going into half-time.
The Wanderers equalised through Blaise Vlazlovski who nodded one in after a corner in the 55th minute.
Monaro’s Ben Basser-Silk sealed the deal for the home side as he hit it first time beyond Wanderers goalkeeper Mason Interlandi to make it 2-1 by full-time.
The Panthers now look to their home clash against Belconnen United FC, who are just one point behind them on the ladder. While West Canberra will hope to take advantage of Canberra Croatia’s slump in performance, going up against them at Deakin on Sunday.
Belconnen United FC 4 (Wells’, Florez 52’, 69, 76’) vs Canberra Olympic FC 1 (Crawford 65’)
Belconnen United put on a dominant display beating Canberra Olympic 4-1 at McKellar Park.
In the 4th minute, Belconnen’s Luca Florez charged deep into Olympics defence before laying it off to Dustin Wells who scored just out of the reach of goalkeeper Angelo Konstantinou making it 1-0 to the home side.
In the second half Florez scored himself, in a similar fashion to the first except this time he went all the way, placing it into the bottom right corner doubling their lead to 2-0 in the 52nd.
However, Olympic were still in it as James Crawford found himself on the score sheet tucking it in close range in the 65th to make it 2-1.
Only a few minutes later Florez scored yet again, this time using his head after a cross from range he increased Belconnen’s lead to 3-1 in the 69th minute.
In the 76th minute, Dustin Wells kicked a through ball in the direction of Florez, putting him one-on-one with Konstantinou.
Florez scored yet again to make it 4-1 securing his hattrick and the 4-1 win for Belconnen United.
Taking on Monaro in Round 17, Belconnen will look to improve their place on the ladder while Olympic will host third placed Gungahlin United at O’Connor Enclosed.
Gungahlin United FC 1 (John 86’) v Tigers FC 3 (Gulevski 18’ Ujdar 32’ Griffiths 81’)
The game started off with an attacking barrage from the Tigers as they looked to score early, creating multiple chances early on to break the deadlock in the 18th minute.
A clumsy foul by Gungahlin gave the opportunity for Josh Gulevski to strike the ball just on the edge of the 18-yard box and his clever free kick under the wall took everyone by surprise to put the Tigers ahead.
Tigers continued to dominate the rest of the half, doubling their lead when Niko Ujdar picked up the ball and began to drive at the Gungahlin defence.
The Gungahlin defence weren’t quick enough in closing him down and Ujdar’s spectacular shot from distance was enough to beat the keeper to put the Tigers 2-0 up going into half time.
Both teams had their chances in the second half as they looked to score the next crucial goal, but it would be a surging run from Tigers defender Lachlan Griffiths that would undo Gungahlin’s hard work.
Griffiths surged into the midfield, passed it wide to Popovich who cut the ball back to the penalty spot where Griffiths had continued his run and struck it into the back of the net.
Michael John scored a consolation goal for Gungahlin in the last five minutes of the game, but it was too late for Gungahlin as the game ended 3-1 to the Tigers.
Ryan Grogan’s side will travel to their home ground in Cooma for Round 17 to host wooden spooner’s Tuggeranong, while Gungahlin will head to O’Connor to play Canberra Olympic FC.
Canberra Croatia FC 2 (Kalfas 2’ Taneski 39’) beat Tuggeranong United FC 1 (Slavich 32’)
A quick start from Canberra Croatia saw them lead within two minutes at Deakin Stadium as Nikos Kalfas ran down the wing in on goal, his fizzing shot into the top left corner finding the back of the net in emphatic fashion.
Canberra Croatia created more chances throughout the first half, but they could not break through the Tuggeranong defence.
A long throw in into the box from Tuggeranong continued Canberra Croatia’s defensive worries as of late as Andrew Slavich found himself unmarked and his volley appeared to cross the line before Sam Brown saved it, but it was called as no goal.
After many protests from the Tuggeranong players and some deliberation between the referees the goal was given, and the game was level at 1-1.
Canberra Croatia looked to restore their lead as a cross field switch found Nikola Taneski with plenty of room to drive at the Tuggeranong defence.
A clever cut inside saw him beat his defender and then a perfect shot into the bottom right corner saw Canberra Croatia go 2-1 up leading into half time.
The second half saw both teams have chances on goal, but Canberra Croatia controlled the play for most of the half, however they couldn’t not put the final pass together to score any more goals.
The game ended 2-1 to Canberra Croatia as they returned to winning ways after three losses in a row.
They’ll look to continue that when they take on the Wanderers this weekend, while Tuggeranong will take on top placed Tigers at Nijong.
Image: Andrew Caffery Photography