Tuggeranong share the spoils with Canberra FC whilst ruthless Tigers FC hit seven in Round 4 of PlayStation 4 NPL Capital Football.
Saturday 23rd April 2016
Woden-Weston FC 0 Monaro Panthers 1 (Mark Shields 5’)
(Woden Park)
An early goal from lethal Panthers striker Mark Shields gave Monaro their first win of the season as they defeated Woden-Weston FC 1-0 at Woden Park on a chilly Saturday evening in the national capital.
Shields’ goal in the fifth minute ending up deciding a match that Monaro, in the main, dominated in terms of chances created, restricting Woden-Weston FC to limited opportunities throughout the ninety minutes.
The crucial moment in the match came when Martin Deng chased down a long ball from Chris Ruiz, putting pressure in Woden-Weston FC goalkeeper Kris Trajanoski who could only half clear the ball to forward Shields. Shields calmly took it on, beat a defender and rammed the ball into the roof of the net.
Sunday 24th April 2016
Tigers FC 7 (Nicolas Abot 5’, Alex Oloriegbe 25’, Daniel Barac 30’, Stephen Domenici 44’, 63’, Nahuel Guerrero 67’, Alan Gaston 70’) FFA COE 3 (John Roberts 21’, Jaidon Seldon 40’, 57’)
(Nijong Oval)
Tigers FC outlined their title credentials by netting a magnificent seven as they demolished the FFA COE 7-3 at Nijong Oval.
The Centre of Excellence certainly played their part to the full in what was an enthralling match packed with entertainment and excitement and ten goals of quality. Despite being beaten by such a margin, the FFA COE youngsters were in touch with their opponents for large periods of the match and it wasn’t until midway through the second half that the home team, and one of the title favourites, finally shook off the tenacious FFA COE team.
Gungahlin United 4 (Marcial Munoz 38’, Mitch Steenbergen 61’, 81’, 90+3’) CU Academy 0
(Gungahlin Enclosed)
A hat-trick from Mitch Steenbergen was the highlight of Gungahlin United’s 4-0 win over CU Academy at Gungahlin Enclosed.
The big striker found the net three times in the second half to cement the victory for Gungahlin who had been made to work for the points by a young CU Academy team that, at times, played some quality attacking football although they were, once more, punished for making errors in key parts of the field.
The first half was a fairly even affair and it took until seven minutes from half-time for the Gunners to break the deadlock. It too the craft and guile of veteran midfielder Marcial Munoz to do it as the experienced playmaker found the space to find the strike past Academy goalkeeper Sam Brown, returning between the posts after sitting out in Matchday 3.
Tuggeranong United 2 (Nikolaos Kalfas 15’, Andrew Slavich 25’) Canberra FC 2 (Josip Jadric 30’, Thomas James 47’)
(Kambah 2)
Canberra FC came from two goals behind to earn a point in an exciting 2-2 draw with Tuggeranong United at Kambah 2.
The result, whilst probably being a fair reflection of the encounter, indicates just how far Tuggeranong have come from the dark days of 2015 as they recorded a fifth point of the season and have suffered only one defeat in four starts this season.
They started like a house on fire in this one, taking the game to their opponents with Emilio Kista and Aaron Cashman dominating the midfield exchanges. It was therefore no surprise when United took the lead on the quarter hour mark. A ranging pass encouraged Nikolaos Kalfas to challenge Jordan Lamb and the Greek star won the battle, advancing to lash a brilliant shot across the face of Rory Larkin’s goal and into the far corner.
Canberra Olympic 3 (Angelo Konstantinou 21’, Jordan Tsekenis 45+2’, Philippe Bernabo-Madrid 68’ (pen)) Belconnen United 2 (Sam Smith 50’, Jason Ugrinic 84’)
(O’Connor Enclosed)
Canberra Olympic took all three points in a stirring match at O’Connor Enclosed defeating a valiant Belconnen United.
The final score line of 3-2 in favour of last year’s Grand Final winners is indicative of how close the encounter was but does not tell the whole story with Olympic striking the woodwork on a number of occasions and Belconnen coming close to claiming a point at the death.
Both teams are battling injury and absence to key staff so this, on paper at least, appeared to be a test of the respective squad depths. For Olympic Joel Valtonen was recalled from the Capital League and for Belconnen veteran Matt Valeri bolstered their squad as under study to young gun Ahmed Ugool.
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