Stephen Domenici scored a barely believable six goals as Canberra Croatia booked their National Premier League Finals place in some style as they routed Canberra Olympic in the Canberra Classico at Deakin Stadium.
Needing a victory to make certain of a place in the end of season finals, Croatia managed it, and in some style as they romped to an 8-1 success. Domenici was the star of the show, scoring twice in the first-half as Croatia roared to a 4-0 half-time cushion, Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu bagging a 12th of the campaign, and Franc Greco the other.
Olympic, much-changed and resting some of their players teetering on suspension, were blown away as Domenici struck twice more to move onto four for the day before Luca Florez acrobatically pulled one back, his first goal for quite some time, and potentially important ahead of the end of season showdown.
But it was Croatia’s day and in particular Domenici as he continued his improbable pursuit of the seven goals needed foe a share of the Golden Boot. Ultimately, he would fall one short, bagging two more to move to twenty for the season, but running out of time to grab a magnificent seventh.
The Champions, O’Connor Knights, did the rest of the NPL a huge favour as they kept alive the hopes of the two clubs outside of the top four as they recorded a 3-0 victory over Tigers FC at the Australian Institute of Sport scoring three late goals, strikes which ultimately ended the Tigers season.
Knights struck three times in the last five minutes of the match, plus stoppage time, each goal a dagger in the heart of the visitors hopes of hanging on to a place in the top four, and finals football.
James Driscoll made the breakthrough in the 85th minute, sliding a finish underneath Jakob Cole in the Tigers goal following an exquisite back-heeled flick-pass from Aisosa Ihegie, and it was Ihegie himself who doubled the lead in the final minute of regulation time to double the lead.
Incredibly, there was time for a third as the Tigers capitulated. Julian Borgna had been sent off leaving Tigers down to ten and Tyson Livermore made them pay, sprinting clear and hammering home the third to open the door for Monaro Panthers and Canberra Croatia.
Monaro Panthers did their part, needing to win by two clear goals at home to Tuggeranong United, the Panthers ripped the visitors apart, registering a 6-2 win which, with some better finishing could easily have seen the home side rack up double digits.
Knowing that Tigers had shipped three late goals, Panthers’ task was simple on paper, and they made it look that way on grass as they flew at United from the off. Roko Strika might have scored twice before he did open the account, a sublime free-kick whipped over the wall from the edge of the box.
Jenno Ceruti made it two, his shot too hot to handle for goalkeeper Pete Philippa on eighteen minutes, before Ben Basser-Silk superbly added a third, flicking the ball over his marker and striking a fierce volley past the ‘keeper. Strika made it four before the break, bursting through the offside trap to coolly slot past the advancing goalkeeper.
After the break the Panther eased off somewhat, Strika teeing up Basser-Silk for his second, and substitute Archie McGregor scrambling home the sixth from close range. In between the final two goals, Clancy Hislop rapped in his seventh of the season for Tuggeranong, whilst Lewis McKinney rounded off the scoring from the penalty-spot.
Maxx Green ensured he would win the NPL Golden Boot as the Gungahlin United striker hit four as the Gunners routed West Canberra Wanderers 8-0 at Melrose Synthetic, ending the Wanderers stay in the top-flight in rather ignominious fashion, shipping ninety goals and ending with zero points.
Gungahlin racked up enough goals to move into second on the table ahead of the final game of the regular season on the Sunday, going above Canberra Olympic on goal difference and meaning Olympic would need a point to go back into the top two and a place in the Qualification Final.
Shandon Whitehead got the off the perfect start with a goal on three minutes, sliding home from inside the area for his first NPL senior goal, before Green got going, netting twice before half-time as Gungahlin threatened to run riot.
They did just that after the resumption but left it late to begin racking up the goals. Green completed his first hat-trick for the club in the 65th minute, Philippe Bernabo-Madrid coming off the bench to add his name to the rising scoreboard, Green adding his fourth with six minutes to go. A late double from George Timotheou took it to eight and the Gunners into a prime spot.
RESULTS
ROUND 21
Saturday 2 September
West Canberra Wanderers 0 Gungahlin United 8 (Whitehead 3’, M. Green 34’, 45+1’, 65’, 84’, Bernabo-Madrid 78’, G. Timotheou 90’, 90+2’)
Tigers FC 0 O’Connor Knights 3 (Driscoll 85’, Ihegie 90’, Livermore 90+6’)
Monaro Panthers 6 (Strika 12’, 42’, Ceruti 18’, Basser-Silk 33’, 63’, McGregor 77’) Tuggeranong United 2 (C. Hislop 66’, McKinney 80’ (p))
Sunday 3 September
Canberra Croatia 8 (Domenici 4’, 16’, 40’, 51’, 53’, 90’, Ahmed-Shaibu 25’, Greco 45’) Canberra Olympic 1 (Florez 72’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | O’Connor Knights | 21 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 58 | 18 | +40 | 51 |
| 2 | Gungahlin United | 21 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 58 | 42 | +16 | 36 |
| 3 | Canberra Olympic | 21 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 42 | 35 | +7 | 36 |
| 4 | Canberra Croatia | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 63 | 34 | +29 | 35 |
| 5 | Monaro Panthers | 21 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 39 | 27 | +12 | 35 |
| 6 | Tigers FC | 21 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 53 | 44 | +9 | 35 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 21 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 25 | 65 | -40 | 14 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 21 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 17 | 90 | -73 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
21 Maxx GREEN (Gungahlin United)
20 Stephen DOMENICI (Canberra Croatia)
14 Roko STRIKA (Monaro Panthers)
12 Lukman AHMED-SHAIBU (Canberra Croatia), Nik TANESKI (Tigers FC)
11 Micheal ADAMS (O’Connor Knights), Aisosa IHEGIE (O’Connor Knights), Nik POPOVICH (Canberra Olympic)
10 Josh GULEVSKI (Tigers FC)
9 Own GOALS
8 Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Gungahlin United)
7 Josh GASPARI (Gungahlin United), Clancy HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Amilio KISTA (Tigers FC)
6 Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Niko KRESIC (O’Connor Knights), Connor MYNOTT-SMITH (Monaro Panthers), Sam WALKER (Tuggeranong United), Sam WHITHEAR (Tigers FC)
5 Jenno CERUTI (Monaro Panthers), Thomas JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Phakedi MANDA (O’Connor Knights)
4 Daniel BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Alen JAMES (Canberra Olympic), Lewis MCKINNEY (Tuggeranong United), Patrick O’ROURKE (O’Connor Knights), Patrick SHORE (West Canberra Wanderers), Regan WALSH (O’Connor Knights)
3 Connor BILL (O’Connor Knights), James DRISCOLL (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), Marko MILUTINOVIC (Tigers FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Michael PICCOLO (Canberra Croatia), Luke STEVENS (Tuggeranong United), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), George TIMOTHEOU (Gungahlin United), Jason UGRINIC (Canberra Croatia)
2 Riley ANGELOSANTE (O’Connor Knights), Ben BASSER-SILK (Monaro Panthers), Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Canberra Croatia), FERNANDO Jorquera (Gungahlin United), Franc GRECO (Canberra Croatia), Sam HABTEMARIAM (Gungahlin United), Beau HARVEY (Monaro Panthers), Nikos KALFAS (Tigers FC), Tyson LIVERMORE (O’Connor Knights), Archie MCGREGOR (Monaro Panthers), 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), Patrick HISLOP (Tuggeranong United), Christian KRESKAS (Monaro Panthers), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Olympic), Tony MADAFFARI (Tigers FC), 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), Harry TRUMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Shandon WHITEHEAD (Gungahlin United), Joshua YOUNG (West Canberra Wanderers)