O’Connor Knights were crowned National Premier League Champions after they got the result they required when a James Driscoll goal sealed the title against nearest challengers Gungahlin United at the Australian Institute of Sport, the defender’s goal securing a 1-0 victory.
Driscoll struck five minutes into stoppage time at the end of an incident packed opening forty-five minutes which saw the Gunners reduced to ten men after Golden Boot leader Maxx Green was dismissed after receiving a brace of yellow cards within moments of each other.
The victory for the Knights gives them an unassailable ten-point lead at the top of the table with two matches remaining, but leaves the Gunners hopes of finals football back in the balance, a two-point cushion over fifth-placed Monaro Panthers potentially precarious and making for a massive final fortnight of regular season action.
Monaro Panthers kept alive their top four hopes and kept on course for a potential second Grand Final in succession, as they recorded a vital, hard-fought 1-0 win over Canberra Croatia at Deakin Stadium.
The result, secured by a penalty struck midway through the first-half by full-back Robert Tkatchenko, was a major blow to the reigning League Champions ambitions of finals football, meaning they need to realistically win both remaining matches, and rely on other results elsewhere.
Croatia saw a goal disallowed from Franc Greco in the first-half, the Argentinean rules marginally offside before slotting home, before a sublime dummy from Zac McLaren released Archie McGregor who was upended in the area by Daniel Subasic. Tkatchenko converted from the spot.
Panthers stopper Jordan Thurtell was, once more, in top form, making a trio of saves to deny Croatia an equaliser after the break. Panthers though held on for the points and hopes of progression into post-season.
At O’Connor Enclosed, one goal settled the issue between Canberra Olympic and Tigers FC as the hosts claimed the maximum points haul thanks to a goal eleven minutes from half-time via ace striker Nik Popovich.
Popovich struck for the eleventh time this season when he charged down an attempted clearance from Tigers FC custodian Jakob Cole, the ball ricocheting off the Olympic striker and rebounding into the net.
Tigers, whose season appears to be in free-fall, saw themselves leaped by Olympic on the league table and are casting a nervous eye over their shoulder at the chasing pack who are closing in ahead of the final rounds of the season.
With Kyle Senior back from injury to bolster the defence, they looked less vulnerable, however it’s going forward where there have been issues in recent weeks and, try as they might, they were unable to breach the staunch home rearguard with Seb Usai in the Olympic goal in good form.
Tuggeranong United confirmed the chasm between them and bottom club West Canberra Wanderers as they romped to a comfortable 4-2 victory at Melrose Synthetic in a match in which but for some poor finishing, and some top saves by Wanderers goalkeeper Kristian Nel, could have resulted in a bigger away win.
United attacker Lewis McKinney had a fields day, scoring once and creating two others, as Tuggeranong started brightly and took control with two goals within two minutes of each other. Clancy Hislop netted the first, a diving header off a pinpoint cross from Sam Walker, before McKinney netted from the spot.
McKinney’s corner on the stroke of half-time created the third, nodded in by defender Dylan Berkrey, and it was the Englishman’s delivery that allowed Walker to head in off the base of the post thirteen minutes into the second stanza.
Doug Woodiwiss pulled one back from the penalty spot, and substitute Nick Roufogalis swept in a second as Wanderers found some form, and yet Nel superbly denied Martin Deng whilst Johnny Hajdu hit the post as Tuggeranong sought to add more to their tally.
RESULTS
ROUND 19
Saturday 19 August
West Canberra Wanderers 2 (Woodiwiss 64’ (p), Roufogalis 83’) Tuggeranong United 4 (C. Hislop 18’, McKinney 21’ (p), Berkrey 44’, Walker 58’)
Canberra Olympic 1 (Popovich 34’) Tigers 0
Canberra Croatia 0 Monaro Panthers 1 (Tkatchenko 22’ (p))
Sunday 20 August
Gungahlin United 0 O’Connor Knights 1 (Driscoll 45+5’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | O’Connor Knights | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 49 | 18 | +31 | 45 |
| 2 | Canberra Olympic | 19 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 40 | 26 | +14 | 35 |
| 3 | Gungahlin United | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 48 | 37 | +11 | 33 |
| 4 | Tigers FC | 19 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 49 | 40 | +9 | 32 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 19 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 31 |
| 6 | Canberra Croatia | 19 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 29 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 19 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 22 | 55 | -33 | 14 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 19 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 17 | 76 | -59 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
17 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
13 Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia)
12 Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
11 Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic), Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers)
10 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC)
9 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia), Own GOALS
8 Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights)
7 Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United)
6 Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United), Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United)
5 Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
4 Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights), Patrick SHORE (West Canberra Wanderers), Regan WALSH (O’Connor Knights)
3 Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Luca MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), James DRISCOLL (O’Connor Knights), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Sam HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Beau HARVEY (Monaro Panthers), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Lewis MCKINNEY (Tuggeranong United), Tom MCLACHLAN (Gungahlin United), Nathen MEGIC (Canberra Olympic), Jackson PAESLER (Gungahlin United), Kaz PATAFTA (Canberra Croatia), Nicholas ROUFOGALIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Kyle SENIOR (Tigers FC), Callum SMITH (Canberra Olympic), Daniel SPARROW (Canberra Croatia), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Robert TKATCHENKO (Monaro Panthers), Noah VANDERPOL (Canberra Croatia), Atiya WARAGA (Canberra Croatia), Doug WOODIWISS (West Canberra Wanderers)
1 Badreldin ABBAS (Gungahlin United), Joaquin ABOT (Tuggeranong United), Angus BAILEY (West Canberra Wanderers), Dylan BERKREY (Tuggeranong United), Jake BISHOP (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), Dom GIAMPAOLO (Gungahlin United), Franc GRECO (Canberra Croatia), Patrick HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Tyson LIVERMORE (O’Connor Knights), Tony MADAFFARI (Tigers FC), Archie MCGREGOR (Monaro Panthers), 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), David SESELJA (Canberra Croatia), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), Hristjan TANOSKI (Tigers FC), George TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Harry TRUMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers)