Belconnen United FC 2 (Bailey 14’, Florez 48’) drew with Tigers FC 2 (Popovich 85’, Borgna 90+3’ (p))

There was late drama at McKellar Park as Tigers FC drew level with Belconnen United in the dying minutes.

Belconnen struck early with a brilliant solo effort from Darren Bailey swerving past the Tigers defense to make it 1-0 at the 14th minute.

Tempers then flared from within thee Tigers ranks, with Timotheou, Gulevski and even coach Ryan Grogan all seeing yellow before the half time whistle.

Shortly after the second half commenced, Luca Florez tapped it in from close range to make it 2-0 to Belconnen at the 48th. At this stage the Blue Devils looked to be in control to secure the victory.

It was not until the 85th minute that Nick Popovic put the Tigers back into contention, chipping Belconnen goalkeeper Jordan Thurtell to make it 2-1.

At the start of injury time, Roko Strika was taken down just inside the penalty box giving Tigers a late chance to equalise.

Goalkeeper Jordan Thurtell guessed correctly denying Strika, but less than a minute later Gulevski went down giving Tigers a second chance.

It was Julian Borgna who converted successfully to draw the game level, final score 2-2.

 

 

Canberra Croatia 1 (Kista 27’) beat Monaro Panthers 0

A new spark of confidence after a 12-0 victory mid-week in a cup game saw the Monaro Panthers playing for their first points for the season against a strong Canberra Croatia team who were looking to take top spot on the ladder with a win.

Both teams looked a little off the pace with no one being able to execute their final passes well enough in the opening stages of the game.

This was until Aimilio Kista found himself unmarked with no defenders closing him down at the top of the box. The striker ripped a shot that flew past the Monaro keeper to put Canberra Croatia 1-0 ahead in the 27^th minute. 

The game went into half time at 1-1 and after the break Monaro’s Kofi Danning missed a glorious chance to tie up the game putting his shot just wide of the post.

Canberra Croatia withstood a tense final 5 minutes with the Panther having plenty of chances to equalise the game. Croatia’s defence held strong however, and they would win the game 1-0 sending them to the top of the NPL 1 ladder.

 

West Canberra Wanderers 3 (Alcazar 26’, Fields 41’ Colorado 47’) beat Canberra Olympic 2 (Rohan-Jones 36’, James 39’)

 1^st place Canberra Olympic were looking to maintain their top position on the table against an in form West Canberra Wanderers in a game which always was going to produce goals.

The match started off at a high pace with both teams having chances to score first but it was a touch of magic from West Canberra’s Macro Alessandro P Alcazar, who cut in past his defender and curled the ball into the top corner from 25 yards out to open the scoring.

2 goals in the space of 3 minutes thanks to Simon Rohan-Jones and Allen James would turn the tide for Canberra Olympic as they came back into the game.

Before half time was called though Lachlan Fields for the Wanderers scored to equalise the game 2-2 going into half time.

The Wanderers came out to the second half hot and within 5 minutes Juan Ospina Colorado managed an early contender for goal of the season when he scored a spectacular bicycle kick which bounced in off the crossbar to put Wanderers ahead.

Olympic threatened with chances to equalise throughout the rest of the game but could not convert and West Canberra Wanderers would win 3-2 to continue their great start to the season.