And so, after twenty rounds of football, it all boils down to this. Four matches, each with a part to play in finalising the Capital Football National Premier League table spread across what will be a pivotal spell in the local game.
Whilst League Champions O’Connor Knights will head to the Qualification Final, and Canberra Olympic are also guaranteed Finals football, who fills the remaining two spots, and in what order they will appear, is set to be confrirmed this weekend.
Gungahlin United get first shot, a trip to Melrose Synthetic to take on already relegated West Canberra Wanderers, requiring three points to move onto thirty-six, a figure which will see them safely through to the end of season play-offs.
On paper this looks like a given. Gungahlin, with fifty goals to their name and ten wins from twenty matches, against a Wanderers team who face the ignominy of going the entire calendar year without registering a single point.
And yet the Wanderers were moments away from recording a special home victory over Gungahlin on the Gunners last visit to Wanderers Park, the synthetic home ground of the club at the foot of the league table.
Only a late Josh Gaspari hat-trick saved black and white blushes that day and the Wanderers will be aching to get off the doughnut. Should they do that then the Gunners top four hopes will likely be done. Even then they could sneak in if all Tigers FC, Monaro Panthers, and Canberra Croatia lose.
Next up will be Tigers FC who host the League Champion O’Connor Knights at the Australian Institute of Sport, this fixture kicking off an hour after the Gunners begin their afternoon against the Wanderers in Woden.
The equation for the Tigers is simple. A win, or a draw, will move them to the magic number, thirty-six, and confirm their place at the top table. Should be doable for a team that has bagged fifty-three goals this season, right? Well, the Knights will be ripe to play party-poopers.
O’Connor roared past the Tigers challenge at Hawker Football Centre earlier this year, when the pair were one and two on the table, and could hand their Croatian rivals, Canberra Croatia, a helping hand by defeating the Tigers. A loss for the Tigers might not be terminal, again depending on the results elsewhere, but they will be keen to avoid that scenario.
Waiting in the wings, and needing an O’Connor win, are last year’s Grand Final winners, Monaro Panthers. The Panthers end their regular season campaign with a home match as Tuggeranong United make the short trip across the border to a Riverside Stadium that has undergone extensive redevelopments.
Monaro’s equation sees them needing the Knights to overcome the Tigers and then to bridge the goal difference gap with a hefty victory over a Tuggeranong side that is already safe having eased to a fourteen-point gap over the relegated Wanderers. Should they do that, then the Panthers have a chance.
Currently they trail the Tigers by four goals, a Knights win by one would need a Panthers win by three, any bigger the gap, the less goals that Monaro would need. This, of course, is presuming that Gungahlin have won at West Canberra by the time this game gets underway at a quarter to six. Still with us?
If, as form and favouritism suggest, Gungahlin, the Knights and the Panthers all claim victories, then Canberra Croatia lurking in fifth will still be in with a shout of squeezing through. Croatia needs their neighbours the Knights to down the Tigers, and then their huge goal difference comes into play.
If that happens, and Monaro succeed, Croatia will need a win to nick the fourth place on goal difference. That’s presuming the Panthers don’t record a colossal victory over Tuggeranong. Standing in the way of that precious three points? Canberra Olympic and the ‘Canberra Classico’ at Deakin Stadium.
Olympic, already sure of a finals place, but hoping to finish as high as they can, would love nothing more than to be a spanner in the works of the deposed title-holders. They also love the surroundings having an incredible record at the home of the red machine. Take nothing for granted here either.
And that’s the rub. Anything could happen, and let’s be honest at the end of a season of dramatic late goals, incredible strikes, top-class matches, and utter madness, it probably will. Glorious Chaos? Bring it on!
FIXTURES
ROUND 21
Saturday 2 September
West Canberra Wanderers v Gungahlin United (Melrose Synthetic, 14:00)
Tigers FC v O’Connor Knights (AIS, 15:00)
Monaro Panthers v Tuggeranong United (Riverside Stadium, 17:45)
Sunday 3 September
Canberra Croatia v Canberra Olympic (Deakin Stadium, 15:00)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | O’Connor Knights | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 55 | 18 | +37 | 48 |
| 2 | Canberra Olympic | 20 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 41 | 27 | +14 | 36 |
| 3 | Tigers FC | 20 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 53 | 41 | +12 | 35 |
| 4 | Gungahlin United | 20 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 50 | 42 | +8 | 33 |
| 5 | Canberra Croatia | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 32 |
| 6 | Monaro Panthers | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 33 | 25 | +8 | 32 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 20 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 23 | 59 | -36 | 14 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 17 | 82 | -65 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
17 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
14 Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia)
12 Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
11 Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia), Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic)
10 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights)
9 Own GOALS
7 Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United), Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC)
6 Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
5 Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights)
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 Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), Lachlan FIELDS (O’Connor Knights), Jack GREEN (Gungahlin United), Micheal JOHN (Monaro Panthers), Ryan KEIR (Canberra Croatia), Luca MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Ed MCCARTHY (Tigers FC), Lewis MCKINNEY (Tuggeranong United), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (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), 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), Tony SPASESKI (Canberra Croatia), Hristjan TANOSKI (Tigers FC), 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), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Olympic), 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), Daniel SUBASIC (Canberra Croatia), George TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Harry TRUMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers)