It was derby day delight for the second weekend in succession as O’Connor Knights went seven points clear of co-tenants Canberra Olympic at O’Connor Enclosed as two goals in three second-half minutes ensured the three points and the continued leadership of the National Premier League after Round 16.
They were forced to do it the hard way however as Olympic led from the 27th minute before the Knights hit the front after an urgent start to the match upon its resumption from the half-time interval.
Nik Popovich finished beautifully at the end of a swift counter-attack, converting a perfectly weighted pass from Thomas James to put the hosts ahead, but it was a tenuous advantage at best and one that was wiped out within moments of the restart.
Aisosa Ihegie drew his team on terms, netting against his former club and taking his tally for the season up to eight with a well-taken equaliser on fifty minutes before Niko Kresic hit what proved to be the winner three minutes later, his shot deflecting into the net off the head of Olympic centre-back Lasse Olrik.
Tigers FC made sure they kept in touch at the top, remaining four points behind the Knights as two goals in the opening eleven minutes secured a narrow, but vital, 2-1 victory over bottom-of-the-table West Canberra Wanderers.
The result could have been worse for the Tigers though as the Wanderers went ever so close to levelling matters at the death, skipper Doug Woodiwiss seeing his effort five minutes into stoppage time beat Tigers goalkeeper Jakob Cole but ricochet back off both posts before being cleared to safety.
Earlier, Sam Whithear had met a corner in only the sixth minute, heading home his fifth goal of the season to open the scoring and set Tigers on their way. They were soon to double that lead as Nik Taneski rattled home his eleventh of the season from the penalty spot as Tigers were seemingly set fair.
Wanderers though had other ideas and they reduced the deficit when Patrick Shore broke the offside trap to lift a finish over Cole. It set the scene for a tense second-half, and the dramatic ending when Wanderers were denied a point by the woodwork.
Headers at the beginning of both halves helped Canberra Croatia to a 4-1 win over Tuggeranong United at Kambah 2, a victory that keeps them in with a chance of making the top four and playing finals football.
Stephen Domenici netted the first, meeting a lofted free-kick inside the area with a flicked header that found its way past Pete Philippa in the Tuggeranong goal to open the scoring after only four minutes. And Domenici doubled his, and Croatia’s tally with a deadly finish the 21st minute as the visitors took control.
It took Canberra Croatia twelve seconds to add to the tally at the start of the second-half, the diminutive Franc Greco getting on the end of a Daniel Barac cross to nod home, before Clancy Hislop lashed home a response for Tuggeranong.
Croatia lost Barac to injury prior to that goal, but in young tyro Atiya Waraga they have a goal-machine in reserve and the forward opened his first-grade account five minutes from time, pouncing on a poor clearance from Philippa, before setting himself and slotting home a quality finish to secure the points.
The fixture at the Riverside Stadium between Monaro Panthers and Gungahlin United was abandoned at half-time due to a floodlight failure at the Queanbeyan venue. The lights had intermittently failed throughout the opening forty-five minutes, but had always come back on within seconds, yet half failed to come back on at the start of the second stanza.
The best chance of the first-half had come to Gungahlin as Jordan Thurtell saved from Sam Habtemariam, the loose ball falling to Misko Naumoski who somehow screwed the ball wide from four yards out with the gaping goal at his mercy. Not that it mattered in the long run as the officials had no alternative but to call the game off.
RESULTS
ROUND 16
Saturday 29 July
Tigers FC 2 (Whithear 6’, Taneski 11’ (p)) West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Shore 34’)
Canberra Olympic 1 (Popovich 27’) O’Connor Knights 2 (Ihegie 50’, Kresic 53’)
Tuggeranong United 1 (C. Hislop 54’) Canberra Croatia 4 (Domenici 4’, 21’, Greco 46’, Waraga 85’)
Monaro Panthers v Gungahlin United – match abandoned at 45 minutes due to floodlight failure with the score at 0-0
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | O’Connor Knights | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 44 | 17 | +27 | 36 |
| 2 | Tigers FC | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 47 | 32 | +15 | 32 |
| 3 | Canberra Olympic | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 36 | 24 | +12 | 29 |
| 4 | Gungahlin United | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 43 | 31 | +12 | 27 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 15 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 26 | 19 | +7 | 25 |
| 6 | Canberra Croatia | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 27 | +13 | 23 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 16 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 17 | 51 | -34 | 8 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 12 | 64 | -52 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
15 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
11 Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
10 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC), Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic)
9 Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia)
8 Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Own GOALS
7 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United)
6 Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers)
5 Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
4 Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United), Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights)
3 Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia), Regan WALSH (O’Connor Knights)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Luca MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Tom MCLACHLAN (Gungahlin United), Nathen MEGIC (Canberra Olympic), Jackson PAESLER (Gungahlin United), Kaz PATAFTA (Canberra Croatia), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Kyle SENIOR (Tigers FC), Patrick SHORE (West Canberra Wanderers), Callum SMITH (Canberra Olympic), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Noah VANDERPOL (Canberra Croatia)
1 Badreldin ABBAS (Gungahlin United), Joaquin ABOT (Tuggeranong United), Angus BAILEY (West Canberra Wanderers), Jake BISHOP (Tigers FC), Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC), Riley BROWN (West Canberra Wanderers), Lachlan CAMPBELL (O’Connor Knights), Kofi DANNING (Canberra Olympic), Elie DARWICH (Canberra Olympic), Dylan DEEP-JONES (Monaro Panthers), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), Dom GIAMPAOLO (Gungahlin United), Franc GRECO (Canberra Croatia), Sam HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Patrick HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Tyson LIVERMORE (O’Connor Knights), Tony MADAFFARI (Tigers FC), Archie MCGREGOR (Monaro Panthers), Lewis MCKINNEY (Tuggeranong United), Zac MCLAREN (Monaro Panthers), Max MELLICK (Canberra Olympic), Misko NAUMOSKI (Gungahlin United), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Tomohiro OGAWA (Tigers FC), Lasse OLRIK (Canberra Olympic), Harrison PALIC (O’Connor Knights), George PAVESE (West Canberra Wanderers), Euan PETERKIN (Tuggeranong United), Jordan REZEK (Tuggeranong United), Jayden RIPPON (West Canberra Wanderers), Nicholas ROUFOGALIS (West Canberra Wanderers), David SESELJA (Canberra Croatia), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Hristjan TANOSKI (Tigers FC), George TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Harry TRUMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers), Atiya WARAGA (Canberra Croatia)