A goal from Robbie Cattanach with eight minutes remaining decided the Grand Final rematch in favour of Canberra Olympic who out-thought Canberra FC 2-1 at Deakin Stadium.
Woden-Weston FC 4 (Matthew Waters 15’, Bensah Afiabo 21’, Ben Grieg 31’, Daniel Di-Salvatore 80’) FFA COE 3 (John Roberts 4’ (pen), 13’, 19’)
(Woden Park)
Woden-Weston over-turned a 3-1 deficit to record a remarkable 4-3 win over the FFA COE at Woden Park on Saturday evening to claim their first win of the season.
It was a result that hardly seemed likely as the hosts were left chasing their tails in the opening twenty minutes as the FFA COE roared into a comfortable lead, however, Woden-Weston FC never laid down and they constantly badgered the Australian youngsters with a combination of high pressing and pace in transition.
Key to that success was the industrious nature of Richy Hurtado Lora, the Spanish import, dictating his team’s tempo and being the creative hub in the centre of the park.
Sunday 10th April
Gungahlin United 2 (Alex Moscaritolo 29’, Liam Walsh 85’) Tigers FC 2 (Stephen Domenici 61’, Nicolas Abot 73’)
(Gungahlin Enclosed)
Gungahlin United left it late to snatch their first point of the season on Sunday, as Liam Walsh smashed home a second-chance ball in the 85th minute to clinch a 2-2 draw with Tigers FC.
On a cloudy afternoon at Gungahlin Enclosed, goals from Stephen Domenici and Nikolas Abot for Tigers cancelled out Alex Moscaritolo’s early tiebreaker, before Walsh ensured a share of the points for his side.
Tigers started the better of the two sides, controlling the majority of the ball, however Gungahlin threatened sporadically and looked as if they could be more dangerous in the final third.
Monaro Panthers 0 Belconnen United 2 (Matt Grbesa 30’, Toby Richter 44’)
(Riverside Stadium)
In what on paper looked a tricky encounter Belconnen United grabbed all three points in a dominant display at the Riverside Stadium.
Monaro Panthers battled manfully throughout but after man of the match Matt Grbesa opened the scoring the result was never in doubt. Indeed the final score line of 2-0 in favour of the visitors was a lot more comfortable than it might appear.
The opening goal, when it came, was the result of a well worked corner and followed a period of sustained pressure where Belconnen's front four, brilliantly led by Dustin Wells, had caused the Panthers rear guard plenty of problems.
Canberra FC 1 (Thomas James 70’) Canberra Olympic 2 (Jordan Tsekenis 60’, Robbie Cattanach 82’)
(Deakin Stadium)
Cattanach, who was mostly quiet and held in check throughout a largely prosaic encounter in front of around 300 supporters, latched onto a Jeremy Habtemariam through ball in the 82nd minute and finished low and hard underneath the body of FC goalkeeper Rory Larkin, to seal the points.
It was one of two goals that the lively Habtemariam was to create in his time on the pitch, replacing the injured Callum Smith with a quarter of the match remaining, to great effect. Earlier the match had failed to live up to its billing as both teams cancelled each other out in the key areas of the pitch and with the forward-thinking players on show restricted to half-chances and living off scraps.
Tuggeranong United 5 (Marco Gayer 13’, 14’, Sam Shadbolt 29’, Andrew Slavich 58’, Jonathan Reis (pen) 90+5’) CU Academy 2 (Tomas Krklec 4’, 12’)
(Kambah 2)
Tuggeranong claimed a first league win since Friday 1st August 2014 with a 5-2 win over the CU Academy at Kambah. The success snapped an 18-game losing streak and pushed United up to fifth on the ladder after two rounds.
Such has been the paucity of success at United sine the heady days of Federation Cup glory and Westfield FFA Cup runs, that the win was greeted with scenes of celebration in the home dressing room as the relief appeared palpable.
For a stage though it almost looked like Tuggeranong’s nightmare run was set to continue. The Academy, who were looking to bounce back from their heavy opening day loss at Belconnen, roared out of the blocks and, by the twelfth minute, were two goals to the good.
CLICK HERE for a full match report from all of the Round 2 matches.