PS4 NPL Capital Football Round 14 Review

The race for the top four is heating up after important wins for Tigers and Tuggeranong pulled the field closer together.

Woden-Weston 1 (Olaide Yinka-Kehinde 48’) def. by Belconnen United 3 (Jason Ugrinic 3’, 8’, Daniel Fabrizio 35’)

Three goals from set pieces in the first half set Belconnen United on the way to a 3-1 victory over Woden-Weston and bolstered their spot in the four on Saturday afternoon.

Jason Ugrinic opened the scoring for the visitors after just three minutes at Woden Park, as his free kick from well outside the box beat everyone and snuck into the bottom corner of Josh Wade’s goal.

The visitors continued to push and Jason Ugrinic scored just five minutes later as he took his turn firing home a set-piece from outside the 18-yard area. Woden-Weston looked to get back into the game but struggled to win the ball back from United and it cost them again 10 minutes before the break as the visitors extended their lead to three goals.

Daniel Fabrizio’s cross from a free-kick was hit over the assembled players in the box, and with Wade in positition for a header, bounced and nestled just inside the far post to put Belconnen further up.

Down 3-0 at half-time, Wanderers coach Tony Olivera introduced speedster Olaide Yinka-Kehinde up front and the move paid immediate dividends. The forward raced onto a through ball, before composing himself and slotting the ball home. 

The hosts continued to push afterwards and Yinka-Kehinde caused problems for the visiting defence, but they were unable to find the way through for another goal. Wade kept out a number of chances up the other end as United went goalless in the second half, but they saw out the game to finish 3-1 winners and jump into third spot on the table.

 

Monaro Panthers 2 (Ed McCarthy 21', Luke Kanjor 66') drew. Riverina Rhinos 2 (Darren Bailey 25', Danyon Arnold 59')

The Monaro Panthers picked up their first point of the season on Saturday in a 2-2 draw with the Riverina Rhinos at Googong. 

Full report here.

 

Tuggeranong United 4 (Andrew Slavich 29', Fernando Jorquera 54', 63', Alex Oloriegbe 85') def. Canberra FC 2 (Julian Borgna 13', Ian Graham 40') 

Alex Oloriegbe scored his 100th Premier League goal on Sunday to seal a 4-2 win for Tuggeranong United over Canberra FC at Greenway. 

The win gave Tuggeranong the double over their opponents this season after their upset win at Deakin earlier in the campaign.

The visitors took the lead after just 13 minutes as it looked like they would break open the game, with Julian Borgna’s header firing them to an early advantage. 

However, it lasted only a quarter of an hour as Andrew Slavich found space inside the box to finish calmly into the back of the net. Parity was only had for ten minutes though, as the hosts inability to clear the ball cost them five minutes before the break, Ian Graham taking his chance as a loose ball fell to him and he made no mistake.

Down 2-1 at the break, the game changed for United 10 minutes into the second half as Michael Mensah was sent off for the visitors after a rash challenge in the penalty area. Chilen forward Fernando Jorquera stepped up to slot home the penalty, and suddenly Tuggeranong were level and with a man advantage.

The Chilean was on hand again eight minutes later to fire home from the edge of the box and give his side the lead with less than half an hour to go, and Oloriegbe sealed the match as he brought up his century with five minutes remaining.

The results put Tuggeranong in the fourth eligible finals spot with four weeks remaining of the season, and a crunch clash with Belconnen United next weekend. Canberra FC meanwhile will look to arrest their slide when they host winless Monaro at Deakin Stadium.

 

Tigers FC 4 (Thomas James 13’, 68’, Nicolas Abot 45’, Jared Tonini 90+’) def. Gungahlin United 0

Tigers FC threw the PS4 NPL top four race wide open on Sunday with a 4-0 thumping of fellow finals contenders Gungahlin.

Thomas James looked dangerous early as Tigers created chances, but after his cross in the 7th minute couldn’t find a yellow shirt, the former Canberra FC striker opened his Tigers account with a clean volley into the back of the net after 13 minutes.

The hosts continued to threaten and Nicolas Abot had a chance just a few minutes later but he fired straight at Jason Denham in goals. United were struggling to make chances of their own from open play and Tigers punished them on the stroke of half time, as James found Abot on the counter and the forward finished coolly to double the advantage heading into the interval.

Gungahlin came out stronger for the 2nd half than the first stanza, but still struggled to break down the home defence even as they made a number of changes. And Tigers all but put the game to bed with 22 minutes left, James grabbing his second goal as his lofted cross sailed over the top of Denham and in to extend the lead.

United had chances from set pieces as they entered the final ten minutes, first a free kick that hit the wall and then the resulting corner, but were unable to make them count.

Tigers had time to add one more right at the end, as Jared Tonini raced through to score in second half stoppage time. The win sees Tigers jump to within a point of Gungahlin in sixth place as the battle for the top four goes down to the wire.