Tigers FC & Canberra FC will clash at McKellar Park this weekend as Canberra Olympic's Grand Final opponent is decided.
A tantalising clash awaits at McKellar Park this weekend as Tigers FC meet with Canberra FC for a spot in the PlayStation 4 NPL Capital Football Grand Final.
Gaby Wilk’s Tigers will come in on the back of a penalty shootout loss to Canberra Olympic, where they were the better team for large swathes of the game but failed to make it count when needed. A late equaliser in regulation cost them an outright result, and Olympic made them pay in the shootout.
Wilk will again be without the services of prolific marksman Stephen Domenici, who is serving the second week of a two-match suspension after accumulating too many yellow cards during the season.
Nikolas Abot and Julian Borgna are more than capable of stepping up in his absence, however Borgna’s exit from Sunday’s loss to Olympic with an apparent ankle injury could cast doubt on his presence this weekend.
For Canberra, a 4-0 thrashing of Belconnen saw them through the first round of finals, and Zoran Glavinic will have his side motivated to take another big scalp.
A hat-trick from striker Thomas James and a strike from Jordan Lamb saw CFC home in the match at Deakin, and after a disappointing finish to the regular season it was a perfect beginning to the finals series for last year’s Grand Final runners-up.
After a host of injuries earlier in the season, Glavinic’s men are beginning to come back into fitness and will see him with a bit more squad depth this weekend than a depleted Tigers side.
Losses to Canberra United Academy & Gungahlin United soured preparations for the post-season but it seems to have had no effect as Canberra FC roar into this match-up in red hot form.
The two matches between the sides so far this season have both seen wins for Tigers, with a 3-2 win at Deakin in Round 7 followed by a convincing 3-1 victory at Nijong Oval later in the season securing them a regular season double over this weekend’s opponents.
SUNDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER
PS4 NPL Capital Football Preliminary Final
TIGERS FC V CANBERRA FC
(McKellar Park, 15:00)