Woden-Weston v Canberra FC | Saturday, 6^th April – 5pm @ Melrose Synthetic

Woden-Weston will be out to continue their strong start when they welcome Canberra FC to Melrose on Saturday evening. A 2-1 win over the Canberra United Academy was the perfect opening to their campaign and Mark Boyd will have been pleased to get off the mark early. While a late own goal may not have made for the ideal ending, there were plenty of positives to take from the game, but Canberra FC present an entirely different challenge this weekend.

Nik Brozinic’s side took the fight to Belconnen United and then some, creating chances where they could have gone on to win the match at McKellar Park. Ivana Galic and Alice Churchill were excellent at the back as they worked to deny Belconnen’s dangerous forward line, while Grace Gill helped to marshal the center of the park. They have the chance to push to the top of the table with a win here and be three points ahead of Belconnen, always a nice position to be in this early in the campaign.

Watch the game live.

Tuggeranong United v Gungahlin United | Sunday, 7^th April – 3pm @ Kambah 201

After a tough loss to Wagga City Wanderers last weekend, this is a bounce back opportunity for Michael Aldred and his Tuggeranong side as they take on Gungahlin United at Kambah. A 4-1 defeat in Wagga Wagga was not the ideal start to Aldred’s season but with depleted numbers and players backing up his side were always going to be up against it. In a few weeks his team will be boosted by the arrival of Alice Linn but until then they will need to find goals elsewhere. They will be the first opponent for Diego Iglesias and Gungahlin and will have their work cut out against another young side.

Iglesias has assembled a strong cast of youth and experience, and ahead of the season highlighted the focus he puts on development through the season. However, everybody likes to win, and there is no doubt his side will want to come out firing against a Tuggeranong team who are on the back foot. An extra week of preparation in the bye can both help and hinder, but it means this team will certainly be hungry.

Watch the game live.

Canberra Olympic v Canberra United Academy | Sunday, 7^th April @ O’Connor Enclosed

Canberra Olympic will begin their season on Sunday after last week’s clash with Monaro was rained out and will take on an Academy side looking for their first win too. This Olympic side has a very different look to the one we saw in 2018, but the same applies to this weekend’s opponents and Andrew Woodman spoke confidently ahead of the season that his team can make a push for the top four once again this season. The spine of former W-League players is no longer there but there are talented players within this squad and they will be ready to show the rest of the competition that they are not to be underestimated.

The Academy struggled against more experienced opponents in Woden-Weston last weekend but still showed flashes of promise and are a team still blessed with plenty of talent. Hayley Taylor-Young was instrumental in their first goal and her pace will prove a problem for Olympic in this clash. Scott O’Donell will hope his side can assert themselves more at defensive corners after Cassia McGlashan ghosted in basically unmarked for Woden-Weston’s opener last weekend, while Shaquille Chong’s goal was created through an error as the Academy looked to play out in transition. A cleaner game and cutting out mistakes will go a long way towards earning the Academy their first points of the season here.

Watch the game live.

 

Monaro Panthers v Wagga City Wanderers | Rescheduled in May

 

Belconnen United - Bye