League Champions O’Connor Knights will receive their title trophy at the conclusion of their Round 20 National Premier League match against West Canberra Wanderers at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval this weekend.
The Knights, who secured the crown in only their second season at the elite level since the rebranding of the competition, will meet the winless Wanderers in a repeat of the match that they won in outstanding fashion earlier this season.
On that occasion the Knights romped to a 9-0 annihilation of their opponents, blowing the Wanderers away with a stunning opening forty-five minutes that yielded an incredible eight goals. In addition, O’Connor netted four first-half goals in the 6-0 win at Melrose Synthetic and will be heavy favourites.
There will likely be no let-up from the Knights who stretched their unbeaten run to twelve matches and will be seeking to keep the momentum flowing heading into the finals series in early September.
Outside of the champions, the race for the top four continues as Canberra Olympic, sitting second on 35 points, welcome fifth-placed Monaro Panthers at O’Connor Enclosed with the points vitally important for both outfits.
There have been lots of goals in the two previous meetings this term, Olympic winning by the odd-goal in five in Round 6 before the Panthers gained revenge with a 4-2 victory in the return fixture in Round 12.
With games running out for both teams, and five teams pushing for the remaining three spots that are up for grabs, there is no room for error. An Olympic win would secure their place in the top four, whilst the Panthers can take a giant leap towards confirming their spot should they prevail.
Tigers FC are currently in something of a freefall having only won once in the last six matches and a trip to a resurgent, and most importantly safe, Tuggeranong United is perhaps not the assignment they would relish needing points before they slip out of the top four at the worst possible time.
A lack of goals has been key, only five netted across that run of fixtures including the two that saw them scrape past West Canberra Wanderers at Greenway Enclosed in Round 16, a result that saw them escape by the skin of their teeth at the death.
Tuggeranong meanwhile have won the last two, a 4-2 success away to the Wanderers coming off the back of a highly impressive 1-0 home win over Canberra Olympic. Tigers will hold no fear for the men from Kambah as they seek a fifth win of the campaign.
There will be no holds barred on Sunday afternoon at the Australian Institute of Sport as Gungahlin United and Canberra Croatia renew a rivalry that has seen the teams share eighteen goals in three matches in 2023.
That all those games were level after ninety minutes, Croatia winning the Australia Cup Qualifying Semi-Final 5-3 after extra time, illustrates that there is nothing between the teams and, with points vital for both, expect another feisty encounter to add to the history books of this match-up.
For Canberra Croatia, who sit four points behind the Gunners and three behind Tigers FC who currently occupy fourth spot, a win is a must to keep their post-season dreams alive. Gungahlin meanwhile can take a massive stride towards finals football with a success and would like nothing more than to end Croatia’s interest in the bargain.
FIXTURES
ROUND 20
Saturday 26 August
O’Connor Knights v West Canberra Wanderers (AIS Grass, 15:00)
Canberra Olympic v Monaro Panthers (O’Connor Enclosed, 15:00)
Tuggeranong United v Tigers FC (Kambah 2, 17:00)
Sunday 27 August
Gungahlin United v Canberra Croatia (AIS Grass, 15:00)
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)