CAPITAL LEAGUE
MATCHDAY 4
Wednesday 20th April 2016
Narrabundah 2 (Liam Boyle, Osazuwa Akioya) Canberra Olympic 2 (Jeremy Hegarty (2))
(AIS Grass)
A goal deep into stoppage time from Osazuwa Akioya rescued a point for Narrabundah as they ended their midweek Capital League clash with Canberra Olympic all square at 2-2. It was rough on Olympic who had been reduced to nine men by this stage and having turned around a 0-1 deficit to lead 2-1 when already down to ten. Liam Boyle gave Narrabundah the lead in what was an exciting match as the Bulls, who were under severe pressure at the time, struck with a lightning fast counter-attack. That set the tone for the match which featured a number of robust challenges and at least three decent shouts for a penalty at either end. Olympic levelled through Jeremy Hegarty, after the team was reduced in numbers after the sending off of Joel Valtonen, and the same player then put Olympic in front in the second half capitalising on a quickly taken free-kick to break away and net. Olympic were down to nine shortly afterwards when John Karapanagos received a second yellow card, before the Bulls grabbed their late, late equaliser to claim a share of the points.
Saturday 23rd April 2016
ANU FC 2 (Jonathan Scott, Sam Carters) Tuggeranong United 1 (Kris Robertson)
(ANU Willows)
A disputed winner in the final minute of the match from Sam Carters gave ANU FC a narrow 2-1 win over Tuggeranong United at ANU Willows. The Students were pressing hard to claim the goal and in stoppage time a cross found Carters in the centre of the area and he finished, much to the dismay of the Tuggeranong players who felt that the midfield maestro was offside when he collected the pass. Earlier, after an even and goal-less first half, Tuggeranong took the lead with twenty minutes to play. Ciaran Rayment raced down the right flank and cut the ball back for Kris Robertson to finish coolly. ANU FC though are made of stern stuff and equalised when Jonathan Scott curled a free-kick over the wall and into the bottom corner from the left-hand side of the penalty area for a wonderful goal. That set the scene for the dramatic denouement and Carters match-winning effort.
Canberra Olympic 2 (Dave McCarron, Daniel Fouad) Queanbeyan City 2 (Mark Walker, Mat Ryan)
(Kaleen Enclosed)
By Jordan Selems
With Canberra Olympic coming off back to back loses and Queanbeyan City also coming off a narrow loss to ANU FC last week, this game was always going to be hotly contested. The game kicked off with both teams playing solid football. Queanbeyan had most of the early chances, including a free kick, which was just put wide. Olympic decided to put the foot down and against the run of play finished a great passing movement with an even better overhead bicycle kick by Dave McCarron, which made its way straight past the keeper and into the back of the net. Olympic lead 1-0. As the half went on the dominance was with Olympic, but Queanbeyan kept fighting and went into the break as the more dominant side. This dominance carried over into the second half as M. Walker scored the equalizer very early on. 1-1. The second half was played evenly with both sides having a number of opportunities to take the lead, until the Queanbeyan captain, Mat Ryan, finished off a corner to give Queanbeyan the lead for the first time in the game. Olympic fought back hard eventually earning their reward when substitute Daniel Faoud scored a screamer, controlling the ball nicely on the edge of the box to slot it into the corner to equalise the game.
Narrabundah 0 White Eagles 2 (Eoin Devaney (2))
(Narrabundah 2-1)
White Eagles remained undefeated at the summit of the Capital League after their 2-0 win over Narrabundah at Narrabundah Oval on Saturday afternoon. A brace of goals from Eoin Devaney proved the difference in the end after the Bulls had frustrated the visitors for large parts of an entertaining match. After chances had been wasted at both ends in the first half Devaney finally found a way through with twenty minutes to play as he finished calmly when well-placed. And the Eagles quality was confirmed with eight minutes remaining aa Devaney scored his third goal of the season to make it four wins from four for the championship favourites and a two-point lead at the top of the ladder.
Weston-Molonglo FC 2 (Kian Prammer, Harrison Wright) O’Connor Knights 1 (Brett Forward)
(Waramanga)
By Chris Stennett
New boys Weston-Molonglo FC notched their second win of the season with a scrappy 2-1 over O’Connor Knights at Waramanga on Saturday afternoon through goals from Harrison Wright and Brett Forward. Both teams missed key players through injury and absence as Weston started strongly and went ahead early through Kian Prammer, who calmly slotted home after Ante Jurkovic parried a cross straight to his feet. Sloppy defending from O’Connor could’ve seen them fall further behind, but Weston failed to profit and allowed O’Connor to work their way into the game. O’Connor almost equalised before the break with J Noja sending a free-kick just wide and Hassan Kamara directing his free-header straight at the keeper. O’Connor continued to push for an equaliser in the second half but failed to find the cutting edge up front to cut open Weston. Weston looked likely on the counter but their second goal was pure luck as Wright’s cross looped over the keeper and in. O’Connor’s Brett Forward threatened multiple times throughout the second half for O’Connor and won his side a penalty in additional time, which he took and placed into the top corner. It proved merely a consolation goal as Weston held out to record their second win for the season.
Weston coach Chris Webb was delighted with the result, but knows there’s work to be done. “We started fantastically well, we had the majority of possession for the first 20 minutes and we probably could’ve scored about four goals. But we pushed really hard at the start and we tired early and that’s when O’Connor got on top of us, later on in the game.” He was also full of praise for young Harrison Wright, scorer of their second, in his first game of senior football. Wright is part of a team that’s been training with Weston for a month. “He (Wright) is probably the standout of their team, and they’re actually littered with some really good talent, we have seen a lot of potential, especially in Harrison.” Opposing Coach Michael Spaleta couldn’t take to many positives out of a match that lacked quality and a cutting edge from his side. “We didn’t play very well today. Maybe we need to look into changing formation and bringing some players up.”
TABLE
1 | White Eagles | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 12 |
2 | ANU FC | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 10 |
3 | Queanbeyan City | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 7 |
4 | Weston-Molonglo FC | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 7 |
5 | O’Connor Knights | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 3 |
6 | Canberra Olympic | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 3 |
7 | Narrabundah | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 2 |
8 | Tuggeranong United | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 13 | -10 | 0 |
LEADING SCORERS
4 Nathan WALKER (Queanbeyan City)
3 Danny KRAJACIC, Olaide YINKA-KEHINDE (ANU FC), Hassan KAMARA (O’Connor Knights), Daniel CRKOVSKI, Nik NOVESKI (Queanbeyan City), Eoin DEVANEY, Thai TRAN (White Eagles)
2 Jonathan SCOTT (ANU FC), Jeremy HEGARTY (Canberra Olympic), Mark WALKER (Queanbeyan City), Danny BABIC (Weston-Molonglo FC), Pepe VARGA (White Eagles), Own GOALS
1 Sam CARTERS (ANU FC), Daniel FOUAD, Dave MCCARRON, Richard SANTIAGO (Canberra Olympic), Osazuwa AKIOYA, Liam BOYLE, Shane HAIDUK, Kenny MACDONALD (Narrabundah), Brett FORWARD, Robert GRIFFITHS, Brandon HAWKER, Daniel JADRIC, Dene MCHUGH (O’Connor Knights), Danny BYRNE, Mat RYAN, Dragan STEGNJAIC (Queanbeyan City), Sean MURPHY, Ciaran RAYMENT, Kris ROBERTSON (Tuggeranong United), Josh PENDER, Kian PRAMMER, Pete SPILLER, Any WOODS, Harrison WRIGHT (Weston-Molonglo FC), Bruno COLUCCIELLO, Milan SANTRAC (White Eagles)