Belconnen United 4 (Michael Taurasi 55', 68', Dustin Wells 62', Adrian Macor 85') def. Woden-Weston 2 (Alex Oloriegbe 8', Martin Deng 28')

By Tim Warren

Belconnen United continued their push for a top four spot in a resurgent come from behind win against Woden-Weston on Saturday afternoon at McKellar Park.

The 4-2 victory gave the Blue Devils an important three premiership points which saw them climb into fourth position on the ladder in front of Monaro Panthers and Canberra FC on goal difference with all three teams on 13 points after 9 games played.

The home side was slow out of the blocks, allowing Woden-Weston to score the first two goals of the game to have a promising two-nil buffer at the break.

The visitors opened the scoring in the 8^th minute through Alex Oloriegbe, who calmly finished past Belconnen United keeper Finn Jurak into the corner.

After dominating the majority of the first period, the Wanderers soon doubled their lead in the 28^th minute.

Quick thinking by Wanderers striker Oloriegbe allowed him to beat one defender, forcing the Jurak to come out of his six-yard box, which then allowed a cutback to Martin Deng who rolled the ball into the net.

Facing a two-goal half time deficit, Belconnen United knew they would require a fast start in the second period if they wanted to steal any points, and that’s exactly what they did.

The Blue Devils came out firing after the break, scoring four second half goals in what was an astonishing turnaround from the first 45 minutes of play.

Belconnen’s first goal came in the 55^th minute when Michael Taurasi slotted home the easiest of chances following a back pass to the keeper that Shane Thornton would like to forget.

They found the equalising goal just seven minutes later when Dustin Wells thumped home the ball from close range after a header back across the goal face was failed to be cleared, and then surged into the lead in the 68^th minute when Taurasi collected his second goal of the game.

A beautifully weighted cross from the left wing by Cam Reinhart found Taurasi who directed a diving header into the bottom left corner.

All three points were wrapped up by the home side in the 85^th minute when Adrian Macor pounced on Reinhart’s header on the edge of the area and fired it past visiting ‘keeper Willem Lejeune.

Belconnen United will hope to continue their winning ways when they face the Riverina Rhinos next Saturday in Griffith, while Woden-Weston head back to the drawing board with plenty to think about with a bye following that game.

 

 

Monaro Panthers 4 (Own Goal 2', Josh Gulevski 3', 28', Emilio Kista 33') def. Riverina Rhinos 1 (Keith Jackson 20')

By Ryan Doyle

Monaro scored all four goals in the first half against Riverina, who despite showing positive signs and keeping the hosts scoreless in the second half remain pointless through 10 rounds of the season.

 

Key Moments |

Own Goal Opener: 2 minutes in Monaro drove down the line and a powerful shot was saved initially, but struck a Rhinos defender and bounced back in for an own goal which gifted the Panthers an early 1-0 lead.

Rocket Volley: Not long after Monaro found themselves attacking again, Josh Gulevski played a clever one two with his teammate volleying it from 30 metres out over the goalkeeper and handing Monaro a 2-0 lead in under three minutes.

Cheeky Chip: Keith Jackson gave Riverina hope, chasing a long ball played over the top of Monaro’s back line. That drew Monaro’s goalkeeper Nathan Alferink out off his line and then Jackson made the hosts pay with a delicate chip over him, cutting the deficit in half.

3 in 30: Just before the half hour mark, a low driven ball across the box found the run of Gulevski who fired it home into the back of the net to extend the lead back to two goals at 3-1.

Long Range Rocket: Only a few minutes after Monaro scored their third they were on the break looking for a fourth, and the ball was won on halfway and played forward to the feet of Emilio Kista who lined up from range and smoked a stunning strike into the top corner.

 

Next up |

The Panthers will come up against top of the table Tigers FC won Saturday, while the Rhinos will host Belconnen United at home in Griffith and will be looking to grab their first points of the season.

  

Tuggeranong United 1 (Sam Isabella 11') def. by Tigers FC 2 (Nico Abot 5', 79')

 By Ryan Doyle

Despite being reduced to 10 men in the first half, Tigers FC prevailed to take all three points from their clash with Tuggeranong United on Sunday.

Key Moments |

Tigers Strike Early: After being put under the pump by Tuggeranong United for the first 5 minutes Tigers buried their first chance of the game. A low cross found the league’s Top Scorer Nico Abot and a delicate chip sent the ball over Tuggeranong United’s Jakeb Wiseman to give Tigers a 1-0 advantage early on and force United to chase the game.

Defensive Error: A Tuggeranong corner was whipped in and a lack of Tigers FC communication meant Sam Isabella got the final touch to put the ball in the back of the net to equalise for Tuggeranong.

Red Card: Tuggeranong United’s Daniel Roberts was brought down while challenging Christian Junna. The Tigers man appeared to lash out while Roberts was on the ground and he wass dismissed from the game with a red card 35 minutes into the first half.

Disallowed Goal: With eight minutes to play in the first halfa Tuggeranong free kick was sent long into the area by and claimed well by Jakob Cole. But he was bumped by Eddie Coggan, who knocked the loose ball into the net only to see the goal disallowed for the foul.

Abot’s winner: With 11 minutes to play Abot was played through on goal, and he tucked a well-placed finish past the outstretched leg of Wiseman to put the visitors back in front.

 

 

Next up |

The league leaders Tigers FC will take on Monaro at Riverside Stadium when Tuggeranong United’s clash with Canberra FC has been rescheduled while the latter are away at a tournament.