O’Connor Knights took another giant stride towards the National Premier League title as they increased their advantage at the top of the table to seven points ahead of Tigers FC’s trip to Deakin Stadium to play Canberra Croatia on Tuesday evening as they defeated Tuggeranong United 2-0 at Kambah 2.
A pair of set-pieces did for Tuggeranong on a bright and sunny day at the Southside venue as a free-kick in the first-half and a penalty after the interval did the damage for the Knights, two vital kicks of the football that might just be pivotal towards deciding the fate of the silverware at the end of the season.
O’Connor had the perfect start to the match when they went in front after only three minutes. Awarded a free-kick around twenty-five metres from goal, Regan Walsh stepped up to the plate and the former Tuggeranong midfielder curled a beautiful effort up and over the wall and into the corner.
Tuggeranong, missing leading forward Sam Walker and the influential Euan Peterkin pushed for a leveller but the Knights were able to seal the points in the 58th minute when Micheal Adams steered home his eighth goal of the season from the penalty spot and move O’Connor one step closer to legendary status.
At Melrose Synthetic West Canberra Wanderers appear almost certain to be heading in the opposite direction, winless and rooted to the foot of the table and another game closer to the drop as they were seen off 1-3 at home by Monaro Panthers as former West Canberra striker Beau Harvey netted twice.
Harvey was the man in the right space at the right time in the 37th minute to finally make the breakthrough that the Panthers had threatened. Harvey popped up to tap home from a yard after a cross from the left flank from Joe Lawless eluded everyone and struck the base of the Wanderers left-hand post.
Lawless created the second as well, his cross over the back of the retreating Wanderers defence allowing Harvey to ghost in and slot home his brace. Doug Woodiwiss pulled one back for the hosts, netting directly off a corner and perhaps getting the luck he didn’t get when his shot hit both posts against Tigers in Round 16.
The Panthers had the last word though and it was a former Wanderers player again who supplied the finish. Substitute Archie McGregor powered down the left wing and fed Jenno Ceruti in the area from where he was able to take a touch and roll a finish past Philip Taleski in the Wanderers goal.
Canberra Olympic put the pressure on Tigers FC in second place as they recovered from their defeat in Round 16 to claim an impressive 3-1 victory over Gungahlin United at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval where Adam Neou was on target twice.
Nik Popovich made both of Neou’s goals, the first created with a delectable chip over the Gunners defence, allowing Neou to run away and slot into the near post, the second with a slide rule pass that again saw Neou run in behind and roll his finish across Noah Cross and into the far corner.
Gunners needed a reply trailing by two at the break, and they got it fourteen minutes into the second-half as a cross from Jeremy Habtemariam deflected into the path of the alert Maxx Green who turned home his sixteenth league goal of the season past the stranded Seb Usai.
But Olympic had the last word. Midfielder Luca Macor robbed Buddy Abbas on the edge of his own area and side-footed a low finish past Cross at his near post to push Olympic level on points with Tigers FC.
RESULTS
ROUND 17
Saturday 5 August
Tuggeranong United 0 O’Connor Knights 2 (Walsh 3’, Adams 58’ (p))
West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Woodiwiss 72’) Monaro Panthers 3 (Harvey 37’, 58’, Ceruti 90+2’)
Sunday 6 August
Gungahlin United 1 (M. Green 59’) Canberra Olympic 3 (Neou 9’, 25’, L. Macor 76’)
Tuesday 8 August
Canberra Croatia v Tigers FC
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | O’Connor Knights | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 46 | 17 | +29 | 39 |
| 2 | Tigers FC | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 47 | 32 | +15 | 32 |
| 3 | Canberra Olympic | 17 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 39 | 25 | +14 | 32 |
| 4 | Monaro Panthers | 16 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 29 | 20 | +9 | 28 |
| 5 | Gungahlin United | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 44 | 34 | +10 | 27 |
| 6 | Canberra Croatia | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 27 | +13 | 23 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 17 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 17 | 53 | -36 | 8 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 17 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 13 | 67 | -54 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
16 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 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Own GOALS
7 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), Regan WALSH (O’Connor Knights)
3 Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Luca MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Beau HARVEY (Monaro Panthers), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), 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), 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), Atiya WARAGA (Canberra Croatia), Doug WOODIWISS (West Canberra Wanderers), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers)