A double from Sam Whithear and a late winner from Tomas Krklec gave the CU Academy a first win of the season as they defeated the FFA COE 3-2 at the AIS.
Saturday 7th May
FFA COE 2 (John Roberts 10’, Louis D’Arrigo 58’) CU Academy 3 (Sam Whithear 16’, 31’, Tomas Krklec 74’)
(AIS)
The pace of the match was frenetic from the get-go with both teams flying into tackles and pinging the ball around with intricate one-touch passing moves meaning the action ebbed and flowed from end to end.
The FFA COE went closest early on when Louis D’Arrigo found room inside the area but skewed his shot across goal and wide of the far post in only the ninth minute. They didn’t have to wait long to take the lead though as barely a minute later they struck. The hosts won the ball in midfield allowing Jacob Italiano to slide through a perfectly weighted pass into the stride of striker John Roberts. The centre-forward needed no second invitation as he clipped his first-time shot past the advancing Finn Jurak and into the net off the post for his sixth goal of the season.
Woden-Weston FC 0 Belconnen United 5 (Jason Ugrinic 25’, 36’, 45’, 55’, Goran Mukevski 28’)
(Woden Park)
By William Bremner
Belconnen United claimed a vital three points at Woden Park on Saturday evening as they brushed aside Woden-Weston with birthday boy Jason Ugrinic scoring four times as the Blue Devils won 5-0. The visitors welcomed back defensive lynchpin Zac Maybury to the starting line-up for the first time this season and he partnered the experienced Matt Valeri in the centre of defence in what was again a re-jigged back four. For their part Woden-Weston sought to build on an encouraging performance against Canberra FC the week before.
It did not take long for the Blue Devils to hit their stride. As early as the 2nd minute skipper Taylor Beaton found himself in a good shooting position but his strike was well saved by Josh Wade in the Woden-Weston FC goal. Jason Ugrinic, who was to instigate his own personal assault on the Wanderers defence, nearly opened the scoring when he cut in from the right and clipped a curling left foot shot on target that was brilliantly saved by Wade as he got a strong right hand on it and tipped it round the post.
Sunday 8th May
Tuggeranong United 0 Canberra Olympic 2 (Daniel Colbertaldo 14’, Philippe Bernabo-Madrid 42’ (pen))
(Kambah 2)
Two goals in the first half ultimately did for Tuggeranong United at Kambah 2 on Sunday afternoon as Canberra Olympic claimed a fifth win in six starts with a 2-0 success. Daniel Colbertaldo, from close range, and Philippe Bernabo-Madrid, from the penalty spot, were the scorers on an afternoon in which the rain fell incessantly and the conditions were heavy underfoot making footing treacherous and any sort of coherent football vastly more difficult than usual.
Tuggeranong, who had been playing very well in recent weeks, had a horror start in this one, on the back foot for the opening quarter and losing the services of skipper Sean Kiddey and midfield playmaker Emilio Kista to injury inside the first fifteen minutes. By the time of his departure Kiddey had already made one magnificent goal-line clearance from underneath his crossbar and under severe pressure from Olympic forward Robbie Cattanach.
Gungahlin United 0 Canberra FC 1 (Josip Jadric 41’)
(Gungahlin Enclosed)
By David Jordan
A first-half tap-in from Josip Jadric kept Canberra FC in touch with Tigers FC and Canberra Olympic on Sunday, as FC held out Gungahlin 1-0 in a rain–affected clash at Gungahlin Enclosed. Constant rain and a muddy pitch kept the skills of both sides in check, with players struggling to keep their feet and the weighting of passes proving to be an issue.
The visitors held sway early as they earned a number of set pieces but failed to capitalise, with Thomas James doing his best to be a constant menace to the Gungahlin defence. Thomas James tried his luck cutting in on more than one occasion, only to find the palms of Gungahlin custodian Jason Denham in the way, but the forward turned provider in the 41st minute as the visitors made their pressure count.
Tigers FC 4 (Daniel Barac 4’, 77’, Alex Oloriegbe 7’, Stephen Domenici 61’) Monaro Panthers 1 (Ed McCarthy 20’)
(Nijong Oval)
League leading Tigers FC saw off the challenge of Monaro Panthers at Nijong Oval on Matchday 6 to ensure they remained a point clear at the top of the table. The 4-1 success also took the team to 23 goals in six matches meaning they are in ominous form heading into their midweek Westfield FFA Cup match against State League 1 side Goulburn Stags at Hawker Football Centre.
A re-jigged Tigers front-line certainly had no problems in finding a way through the Panthers defensive line having taken what appeared to be a match-winning 2-0 lead inside the opening seven minutes of the match. Daniel Barac, a summer recruit from Gungahlin United, opened the scoring in only the 4th minute and he was swiftly followed on the score sheet by the prolific Alex Oloriegbe who looks to be getting back to his best after a sluggish start to the campaign
Monaro were staring down the barrel of a big defeat at this stage and it’s to their great credit that they dug in and fortified themselves. In doing so they began to create openings at the other end and from one of these Ed McCarthy were able to net his second of the season and reduce the arrears to 2-1. This gave the Panthers the boost they needed and they pushed for an equaliser, whilst defending well to restrict the Tigers any further score.
After the break though Tigers FC began to reassert their authority and they went 3-1 ahead in the 61st minute as Stephen Domenici, Golden Boot leading scorer in the PS4 NPL competition at this stage of the season, added his seventh of the campaign. Any hopes of a Panthers revival were cut short thirteen minutes from time when Barac, who had opened the scoring, closed it by snagging his second of the match.
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