PLAYSTATION 4 NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUES: CANBERRA
Finals Round 1
Sunday 28th August
Elimination Semi-Final
Belconnen United 0 Canberra FC 4 (Thomas James 7’, 48’, 59’, Jordan Lamb 50’)
(Deakin)

By William Bremner

The 2016 elimination final played at Deakin stadium on Sunday pitted two teams who in the recent past have on more than one occasion provided the grand finalists. This time round one would continue its quest for 2016 honours while for the other this season would come to a premature close.

A large crowd gathered to witness the clash of perhaps two fading giants in warm spring like weather at a pristine Deakin stadium. CFC, like their opponents, have struggled with injury this season but we are still able to deploy the wonderful attacking talents of Thomas James and it was he that would have a significant say in the outcome of this match.

From the outset Belconnen were on the back foot. CFC dominated in the very early stages and their North side visitors were finding it difficult to maintain any meaningful possession.
The tactic of sitting deep to nullify the attacking prowess of James and co was brought undone as early as the seventh minute when a long ball behind the Bells defence saw a moment of hesitation and confusion involving Jon Ries and Adam Perakovic and James eagerly took advantage.
First to the ball he was felled in the area by Perakovic and then blasted the resulting spot kick high into the roof of the net.

Bells came more into the game but were clearly second best. Jon Reis had a header tipped onto the bar from a corner and Jason Ugrinic, whose early season form appears to have deserted him, had two presentable chances to force an equaliser. The first after Asosa Ihegie drove to the line and cut back to Ugrinic in a terrific spot but his finish flashed past the near post. On the second occasion he was first to a through ball but his lobbed finish drifted wide. In fairness though CFC had more of the ball and were dictating reasonably comfortably the pace of the game. Even the early loss of Dom Giampaulo through injury did little to upset their rhythm.

1-0 at half time and the game was in the balance at least on the score board. Coach Ugrinic introduced Zac Maybery at the break,on for Sam Smith, in an attempt to wrestle more possession. The game changed within minutes of the restart as James doubled his own and FC's tally. In the 49th minute the Bells defence failed to deal with what appeared at first to be an innocuous ball into the heart of their box, James pounced,seeing his first attempt blocked but making no mistake with his second rifling home low into the right hand corner of the net. A minute later and it was three as Jordan Lamb steered home past the despairing dive of Perakovic. That ended the match as a contest with only Matt Valeri's otherwise unblemished afternoon being ended abruptly when he was shown a second yellow and James completing his hat trick from the spot on 59 minutes the only other noteworthy incidents as the match reached its expected climax.

10 mad minutes at the start of the second half and as a result FC live on and will take on Tigers in next weeks preliminary final while Belconnen, perhaps having an eye on the balmy weather, can start their end of season holiday.

Belconnen United: 1. Adam PERAKOVIC, 12. Aisosa IHEGIE, 16. Matt VALERI, 4. Matt Grbesa, 13. Jonathan REIS, 6. David KEMP, 7. Taylor BEATON, 11. Goran MUKEVSKI, 10. Jason UGRINIC, 3. Dustin WELLS, 9. Sam SMITH
Substitutes Used: 17. Toby RICHTER, 2. Zac MAYBURY, 5. Louie POCHI

Canberra FC: 1. Rory LARKIN, 17. Aidan BRUNSKILL, 19. Michael MENSAH, 5. Izach CLEMENTS, 15. Jordan LAMB, 11. Ivan PAVLAK, 6. Ryan KEIR, 8. Ian GRAHAM, 9. Thomas JAMES, 10. Domenic GIAMPAOLO, 3. Thomas MILICEVIC
Substitutes Used: 13. Kye EDWARDS, 16. Ross COSTANZO, 4. Marko VRKIC

YELLOW CARDS: 13. Jonathan Reis (Belconnen United)
RED CARDS: 16. Matt Valeri (Belconnen United)

Sunday 28th August
Qualifying Semi-Final
Canberra Olympic 2 (Robbie Cattanach 14’, Philippe Bernabo-Madrid 86’) Tigers FC 2 (Julian Borgna 30’, Angelo Konstantinou (OG) 39’) Canberra Olympic win 5-3 on Penalties
(McKellar Park)

By Ahmed Jbeili

Canberra Olympic Football Club is through to the Playstation 4 National Premier League Canberra Grand Final after defeating Cooma Tigers FC in a penalty shootout on Sunday afternoon at McKellar Park. It took 120 minutes and a penalty shootout for the premiers to get the win over Tigers FC in a hotly contested matchup.
Goals from Olympic attackers Robbie Cattanach and Felipe Bernabo-Madrid and Tigers winger Julian Borgna and an own goal by Olympic keeper Ange Konstantinou, ended the match 2-2 and sent the preliminary final to penalties.

Despite Olympic playing their third game in eight days, the Westfield FFA Cup Quarter-Finalists began the match with a high level of intensity. Chances early on from attackers Michael Reeve and Robbie Cattanach were kept out brilliantly by Tigers FC keeper Jamie Cole. Showing no signs of fatigue so far, Olympic were taking charge of the game, with Cattanach, Daniel Colbertaldo and Adam Rogic dominating the midfield.
Their dominance paid off in the 14th minute with Cattanach opening the scoring after capitalising on the hesitance of the Cooma defence who were appealing for an offside call. Cattanach fired home from close range and put the premiers up 1-0.

A goal down, Cooma had to dig dip to fight back with only two substitutes on the bench and some notable names missing. Star striker Stephen Domenici out due to suspension and Daniel Barac out with a foot injury. Despite missing key players, Tigers FC showed true spirit and fought back to level the match in the 30th minute. Julian Borgna scored at the back post for the Tigers after some excellent play on the right from winger Jared Tonini.

The game began to heat up with Olympic getting two yellow cards to Tim Bobolas and Daniel Colbertaldo for some late challenges. It went from bad to worse for Olympic, with Tigers FC taking the lead in the 39th minute due to an own goal by captain Konstantinou.

A corner by Borgna tipped onto the post and a scramble ended with Konstantinou getting the last touch and made it 2-1 to Tigers FC. The first half would end with yellow cards to Rogic and Borgna and Olympic having to take off left back Nick Bobolas due to injury and subbing on Bernard Rene.

The second half began like the first, Olympic dominating possession and some early chances saved again by Tigers keeper Cole. With the Tigers FC defence looking strong, Olympic coach Frank Cachia took a risk and used his last two substitutions, bringing on some attacking flair with Jeremy Habtemariam and Jordan Tsekenis. It seemed as though Tigers were off to the Grand Final with less than five minutes remaining.
It was then in the 86th minute, superstar striker Bernabo-Madrid scored an absolute rocket from outside of the box to equalise.

The 90 minutes were up and with the scores locked at 2-2; the game would go to extra time.
Two minutes into extra time, substitute Tsekenis was brought down in the box to give Olympic a huge chance to take the lead. Captain Konstantinou stepped up to take the penalty, although converting his penalty in their Westfield FFA Cup matchup; the keeper blazed his shot over the bar to keep the game at two apiece.

Both sides were on their last legs, Cooma bringing on their reserve goalkeeper onto the field and Olympic down to 10 men due to Rogic coming off injured, the match would end 2-2 and go to a penalty shootout. Penalties scored by Konstantinou, Bernabo-Madrid, Cattanach, McLachlan and Colbertaldo sealed the victory for Olympic after Nicholas Abot attempted chip, shot over the bar and gave Olympic a 5-3 win on penalties. The win sends Olympic to the PS4 NPL Grand Final and now waits to see who their opponents will be with Tigers facing the winner of Belconnen United and Canberra FC next weekend.

Canberra Olympic:
1. Angelo KONSTANTINOU, 2. Tim BOBOLAS, 4. Daniel COLBERTALDO, 5. Phil YARNOLD, 9. Philippe BERNABO-MADRID, 10. Robbie CATTANACH, 11. Michael REEVE, 12. Adam ROGIC, 15. Tom MCLACHLAN, 17. Nicholas BOBOLAS, 23. Nathan MEGIC

Substitutes Used: 8. Bernard RENE (17. Nicholas BOBOLAS 43’) 6. Jeremy Habtemariam (11. Michael Reeve 60’) 18. Jordan TSEKENIS (2. Tim BOBOLAS 80’)

Tigers FC:
23. Jakob COLE, 3. Hussein FUREJE, 6. Alan GASTON, 2. Nahuel Guerrero, 4. Ala MOBEDI, 8. Jared TONINI, 5. Dejan SANTRAC, 11. Julian BORGNA, 7. Goran JOSIFOVSKI, 10. Nikolas ABOT, 9. Michael KITA
Substitutes Used: 12. Daniel TODOROSKI, 14. Francois BANGWENI

YELLOW CARDS: 2. Tim BOBOLAS, 4. Daniel COLBERTALDO, 12. Adam ROGIC, 23. Nathan MEGIC (Canberra Olympic) 6. Alan GASTON, 11. Julian BORGNA, 7. Goran JOSIFOVSKI
RED CARDS: Nil

LEADING SCORERS
23 Stephen DOMENICI (Tigers FC)
18 Thomas JAMES (Canberra FC)
16 Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (Canberra Olympic)
13 Jason UGRINIC (Belconnen United), Nicolas ABOT (Tigers FC)
11 Joshua GULEVSKI (CU Academy)
9 Domenic GIAMPAOLO (Canberra FC)
8 Aisosa IHEGIE (Belconnen United), John ROBERTS (FFA COE)
7 Sam SMITH, Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Nikolaos KALFAS, Andrew SLAVICH (Tuggeranong United)
6 Jordan TSEKENIS, Robbie CATTANACH (Canberra Olympic), Bul JUACH (CU Academy), Mark MORIC, Mirza MURATOVIC (FFA COE), Daniel BARAC (Tigers FC)
5 Sam WHITHEAR (CU Academy), Rahmat AKBARI (FFA COE), Matthew WATERS (Woden-Weston FC), Own GOALS
4 Josip JADRIC, Ivan PAVLAK (Canberra FC), Jeremy HABTEMARIAM, Tom MCLACHLAN (Canberra Olympic), David CARDER, Tomas KRKLEC (CU Academy), Bryce BAFFORD, Louis D’ARRIGO, Jacob ITALIANO, Jaidon SELDON (FFA COE), Marcial MUNOZ (Gungahlin United), Ed MCCARTHY, Mark SHIELDS (Monaro Panthers) Julian BORGNA (Tigers FC)
3 Nikolas POPOVICH (Belconnen United), Ryan KEIR (Canberra FC), Angelo KONSTANTINOU, Nathen MEGIC (Canberra Olympic), Daniel FABRIZIO (CU Academy), Jack GREEN, Mitch STEENBERGEN (Gungahlin United), Darian MCGARRY-WATSON (Monaro Panthers), Nahuel GUERRERO, Alex OLORIEGBE, Dejan SANTRAC (Tigers FC), Marco GAYER (Tuggeranong United), Daniel DI-SALVATORE, Goran MILUTNOVIC (Woden-Weston FC)
2 Goran MUKEVSKI, Jonathan REIS*, Toby RICHTER (Belconnen United), Nikola BARISIC (Canberra FC), Daniel COLBERTALDO, Pat ROSS-MAGEE (Canberra Olympic), Lachlan GRIFFITHS, Niko UJDUR (CU Academy), Lachlan BROOK, Ben OBST, Marc TOKICH (FFA COE), Nathan DUCK, Alex MOSCARITOLO, Liam WALSH (Gungahlin United), Martin DENG, Daniel FELIZZI, Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Monaro Panthers), Jeremias IBARRA (Tigers FC), Domenic COLUCCIELLO, Emilio KISTA (Tuggeranong United), Bensah AFIABO (Woden-Weston FC)
1 Taylor BEATON, Matt GRBESA, David KEMP, Adam PERAKOVIC, Cameron REINHART (Belconnen United), Aidan BRUNSKILL, Izach CLEMENTS, Robbie DEELEY, Kye EDWARDS, Ian GRAHAM, Jordan LAMB, Misko NAUMOSKI (Canberra FC), Tim BOBOLAS, Adam NEOU, Michael REEVE, Adam ROGIC, Oliver WIEDERKEHR, Victor YANES (Canberra Olympic), Mate BARISIC, Nicolas FELIZZI, Ridwan HANNAN, Tony MADAFFARI, Patrick O’ROURKE (CU Academy), Frano BLAZEVIC, Christian JUNNA, Jason O’DWYER, Regan WALSH (Gungahlin United), Ohio ASIKHIA, Thomas HEWITT, Michael PICCOLO, Tony SPASESKI (Monaro Panthers), Tim ANDERSON, Aiodan BEATMAN (Tuggeranong United), Osman FOFANAH, Hussein FUREJE, Alan GASTON, Goran JOSIFOVSKI, Milan POPOVICH (Tigers FC), Sam SHADBOLT Tuggeranong United), Tim DEHELEAN, Ben GRIEG, Tom HIRST (Woden-Weston FC)

*1 goal for Tuggeranong United