Canberra FC slipped up in Griffith as Canberra Olympic extended their lead at the top of the table, while Tuggeranong United picked up an important win at Greenway.
Monaro Panthers 0 def. by Canberra Olympic 3 (Robbie Cattanach (2), Michael John)
Canberra Olympic opened up a four-point gap at the top of the Playstation 4 National Premier Leagues with a 3-0 win over Monaro Panthers on Saturday. A double from Robbie Cattanach at the end of the first half and a sealer from Michael John in the second half proved enough to get them over a nippy Monaro side at Googong.
Woden-Weston 2 (Ibrahim Khodary, Danel Crkovski) def. FFA Centre of Excellence 1 (Louis D'Arrigo)
Woden-Weston picked up their second win of the season on Thursday Night, as they defeated the FFA Centre of Excellence in their rescheduled fixture.
The Centre of Excellence attacked early but Woden-Weston held firm and looked dangerous on the counter. And that was how they scored, twice, as Ibrahim Khodary and Daniel Crkovski both scored goals on the break for the Wanderers as the Centre of Excellence struggled to deal with their threat on the rebound.
Up 2-0 at the break, Tony Olivera's side looked to sit deeper in the second half and absorb what was thrown at them as the Centre of Excellence went hard to get back into the match.
Riverina Rhinos 1 (Joe Preece 7’) drew. Canberra FC 1 (Ian Graham 90+1’)
The Riverina Rhinos almost pulled off their biggest win of the season on Saturday, leading for 84 minutes before Canberra FC nabbed a draw with a stoppage time equaliser in Griffith.
Joe Preece gave the home side the early lead, as he raced in behind the visiting defence to latch onto a through ball and finish calmly past Sam Brown. The Rhinos continued to create chances but were unable to finish, as they pressured a Canberra defence that was yet to settle.
The Rhinos defence looked edgy at times as well, but held out against the swarming visiting attack as they looked to level the game in the first half. Riverina held the 1-0 advantage going into the second half, but suffered a setback twenty minutes into the second period as Preece was given a straight red for a strong tackle and had his side reduced to ten men
The visitors pushed ahead with a man advantage against a determined home defence, but finally found the breakthrough in the first minute of stoppage time as Ian Graham smashed home a bouncing ball loose in the 18-yard box past Johnny Ralulu in goals.
Gungahlin United 3 (Michael Rinaudo 13’, 46’, Jason O’Dwyer 66’)drew. Belconnen United 3 (Daniel Fabrizio 23’, Jason Ugrinic 45’, 55’)
Gungahlin United and Belconnen United played out one of the games of the season on Sunday in a thrilling 3-3 draw at Gungahlin Enclosed.
Michael Rinaudo opened the scoring after just 13 minutes as he ran in behind the defence to score past Finn Jurak in goals, but Belconnen levelled the score just ten minutes later thanks to Daniel Fabrizio’s powerful header at the back post.
As the game continued in end to end fashion, Tom Krklec’s challenge inside the penalty area saw Belconnen awarded a penalty on the cusp of half-time, and Jason Ugrinic made no mistake from the spot to send his side into the break with a one-goal lead.
But no sooner were the teams back out on the pitch then Gungahlin were back level as Rinaudo grabbed his second with a fantastic individual effort, beating a number of defenders before firing home.
Tuggeranong United 4 (Niko Kalfas 9’, 35’, 46’, Marshal Smyth 56’)def. Tigers FC 3 (Jared Tonini 11’, Nicholas Abot 45’, Mark Shields 66’)
Tuggeranong United began to close the gap to Tigers on the table with a thrilling 4-3 win at Greenway on Sunday afternoon.
The home side got off to a great start as Niko Kalfas put his side in the lead with a slick finish after a good pass from Andrew Slavich, but Tigers didn’t waste any time as they levelled through Jared Tonini’s goal just two minutes later.
Tuggeranong pressed the visitors and went ahead again with 10 minutes until the half as Kalfas grabbed his second through a set piece, but again Tigers hit back, this time on the cusp of the interval as Nicholas Abot sent his side into half-time on level terms.
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