Federation Cup Heats Up

Elsewhere, Belconnen United and Canberra City bounced back from opening round losses to post wins whilst Monaro Panthers won the Queanbeyan derby with a 4-1 win over neighbours City.

Federation Cup – Match Results
Pool A
Canberra Olympic 4 (Jakob Williams 12’, Oliver Wiederkehr 30’, 70, Mohsen Ravanparsa 50’) White Eagles 0
Canberra Olympic opened up a three point gap at the top of Pool A after disposing of White Eagles in comprehensive fashion at Woden Park. Olympic, who had seen off Canberra City 3-1 in their opener last weekend, made sure that there would be no repeat of White Eagles giant-killing of Belconnen United by seizing control of the clash from the outset. An early goal to Jakob Williams helped settle the nerves of the home team with the talented youngster pouncing top open the scoring on twelve minutes. Having stunned the Blue Devils seven days ago White Eagles certainly weren’t intimidated by this set-back but were struggling to cope with the pace and virtuosity of the outstanding Oliver Wiederkehr. The flying winger, who enjoyed a good season in front of goal last year in the Premier Pathway competition, doubled Olympic’s lead on the half-hour mark as Dean Ugrinic’s team took a stranglehold on the match. Despite their best efforts the White Eagles couldn’t find a response and, five minutes after half-time, Mohsen Ravanparsa added a third goal to effectively kill the match as a contest. A second to Wiederkehr, twenty minutes from time, added gloss to the score line and leaves Olympic clear of their rivals.

Canberra Olympic: 1. Jack Bradbury (gk), 3. James Field, 4. Milan Popovic, 5. Andrew Ross, 6. Joel Valtonen, 7. Nicholas Sallecchia, 8. Elia Salloum, 9. Yanni Karabalis, 10. Mohsen Ravanparsa, 11. Jakob Williams, 12. Oliver Wiederkehr

Substitutes used: 2. Matt Cachia, 13. Steven Kounas, 15. Robbie Deeley

White Eagles: 1. Branislav Zec (gk), 2. Kalon Worsley, 3. Jovan Bater, 6. Andrew Sellas, 7. 7. Eric Bonnett, 8. Aleksandar Nedeljkovic, 10. Dejan Santrac, 11. Milenko Novakovic, 12. Adam Rogic, 14. Rory Devlin, 16. Milan Santrac

Substitutes used: 5. Milos Milutinovic, 15. Phillip Citowicki, 17. S. Ozgul

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: 3. James Field, 6. Joel Valtonen, 15. Robbie Deeley (all Canberra Olympic)

Match Officials: David Ockerby (referee), Greg Taylor, Jack Hatton

Canberra City 2 (Nikola Taneski 41’, Pat Ross-Magee 88’) Woden Valley 0
A goal in either half to Nikola Taneski and Pat Ross-Magee earned Canberra City three points from an absorbing clash with Woden Valley at McKellar Park. With Woden having won in week one and City coming off the back of a loss, Pat Caggiano’s City troops knew that a victory was a must if they were to keep in touch with the pace-setters at the top of Pool B. Initially the match seemed a very even contest with chances hard to come by for both teams as the contest developed into a midfield battle. There was plenty of slick passing and movement to catch the eye of an appreciative crowd though with Alex Oloriegbe wasting the game’s best chance for Woden early on, firing wide from a decent angle after breaking clear. City made Woden pay for their miss by taking the lead four minutes before the break. A surging run by Marc O’Neill saw the winger fire a low cross across the face of the goalmouth where Nikola Taneski slid in to force the ball just over the line before Woden could clear. The sending-off of Woden central defender Jeremy Butler for two yellow card offences gave City even more of an advantage in the second half and two minutes from time they secured the victory. Substitute pat Ross-Magee cut inside his marker to unleash a fierce drive past Evan Alexandrow-Ridley to seal the 2-0 result.

Canberra City:36. James Ward (gk), 2. Mitch Stevens, 5. Simon Allan, 7. Ryan Kyprianou, 8. Obeid Shadmaan, 9. Nikola Taneski, 11. Marc O’Neill, 12. Rob Perry, 13. Simon Gemmell, 15. Euan Peterkin, 16. Tim Mathas

Substitutes used: 6. Ross Edwards, 14. Pat Ross-Magee, 17. Micah Purdy

Woden Valley: 1. Evan Alexandrow-Ridley (gk), 2. Edan Wheeldon, 4. Jeremy Butler, 5. Paul Gagetti, 6. Tom Hirst, 7. Ben Harrington, 9. Alex Oloriegbe, 11. Micah Johnson, 12. Lachlan Nichols, 13. Samale Mohamed, 16. Ben Pagett

Substitutes used: 3. Aaron Cashman, 8. Simon Hinde, 10. Tim Womack

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: 5. Simon Allan, 11. Marc O’Neill (both Canberra City), 4. Jeremy Butler (Woden Valley)

RED CARDS:4. Jeremy Butler (Woden Valley)

Match Officials: Matt Rynne (referee), Alex McConachie, Owen Goldrick

Belconnen United 5 (Nicky Rogers 9’, Tom Rogic 20’, 46’, Dustin Wells 29’, 86’) Tuggeranong United 1 (Daniel Beaumont 44’)

Belconnen United bounced back from their opening day surprise loss to White Eagles in devastating style by seeing off the challenge of Tuggeranong United 5-1 at McKellar Park. The Blue Devils big-game players certainly stood up to be counted when it mattered with NIKE Academy Chance winner Tom Rogic and former A-League midfielder Dustin Wells in dominating form. Belconnen took the lead after only nine minutes when Tuggeranong custodian Alex Connell misjudged a through ball allowing Blue Devils striker Nicky Rogers an open goal which he slotted into with the minimum of fuss from distance. The home advantage was doubled in the 20^th minute when Rogic scored the first of his two goals, dancing past the stricken Tuggeranong defence to slam a low shot into the net. Wells curled in a beauty of a third from distance to settle the destination of the points as early as the 30^th minute and, despite a wonderfully well-taken goal by Daniel Beaumont a minute before the interval, there appeared little chance of a Tuggeranong comeback. It took the Blue Devils sixty seconds to add to their tally at the recommencement of play in the second stanza with Rogic thrashing home his second and Wells sealed a confidence boosting win with his second goal four minutes from time.

Belconnen United: 1. James Kaye (gk), 2. Matt Valeri, 3. Dustin Wells, 4. Lee Pietrukowski, 5. Tom McLachlan, 6. Michael Reeves, 9. Nicky Rogers, 8. Cameron Reinhart, 9. Nicky Rogers, 10. Danny Macor, 11. David Kemp, 12. Tom Rogic

Substitutes used: 15. Callum Smith, 17. Glenn Smith, 18. Jack Blackley

Tuggeranong United: 1. Alex Connell (gk), 2. Chris Ruiz, 3. Jamie Currie, 4. Daniel Beaumont, 6. Sam Turner, 7. Tim Stewart, 8. Dom De Salis, 9. Sean Kiddey, 10. Alex Weber, 11. Andrew Lawrence, 12. Tim Ireson

Substitutes used: 13. Luke Shepherd, 14. Andy Richardson, 15. Danny Mountrey

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS:9. Nicky Rogers, 11. David Kemp (both Belconnen United), 7. Tim Stewart (Tuggeranong United)

Match Officials:Owen Goldrick (referee), Alex McConachie, Matt Rynne

Pool B
Canberra FC 5 (Josip Jadric 25’, Victor Yanes 35’, 65’, 90’, Adam Spaleta 48’) Weston Creek 0
The pre-tournament favourites, Canberra FC, cruised to a second successive win with a 5-0 victory over State League One Weston Creek but didn’t have it all their own way in defeating their lower league opposition. After hammering sixteen goals past Goulburn Strikers last weekend Canberra FC entered the fixture full of confidence against a Weston side that was missing several key players. The underdogs kept in touch with their more illustrious opponents for the majority of the match and gave a good account of themselves against a team which are notoriously tough to beat. Josip Jadric opened the scoring for Canberra FC in the 25^th minute and Victor Yanes doubled the advantage ten minutes later, the first of a personal hat-trick for the tricky midfielder. Any hopes of a faint Weston upset were finally derailed three minutes after the interval when Adam Spaleta scored the third, his fifth goal of the competition to date, to all but secure the three points for Rob Graham’s team. Yanes added his second in the 65^th minute and completed a hat-trick in stoppage time as Weston tired. The State League side certainly never gave up and battled to the very end in an attempt to get a goal on the board for their band of supporters but were denied that consolation by a forceful Canberra FC defensive line.

Canberra FC: 18. Ben Klug (gk), 5. John Glass, 6. Matt Grbesa, 7. Paul Ivanic, 12. Ian Graham, 13. Daniel Bennett, 14. Josip Jadric, 19. Adam Spaleta, 23. Marcin Zygmunt, 76. Aidan Brunskill, 99. Victor Yanes

Substitutes used: 6. Ryan Keir, 8. Anthony Bekavac, 11. Ivan Pavlak

Weston Creek:1. Elliott Duncan (gk), 3. Steve Masters, 4. James Taylor, 6. Janis Tebecis, 8. Ben Coates, 9. Russell Allen, 10. Karlis Tebecis, 11. Tom Pagett, 13. Dat Huynh, 14. James Rendina, 15. Daniel Malouf

Substitutes used: 2. Chris O'Regan, 4. Daniel Higgins, 16. Brendan Res

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: 8. Ben Coates (Weston Creek)

Match Officials: Jack Hatton (referee), Greg Taylor, Chris Conti

Cooma Tigers 12 (Elyja Shah (4), Serdan Bircan (2), Alex Castro (2), Tony Aleksovski, Ian Elliott, Jerry Ibarra, Dom Colluciello) Goulburn Strikers 0
It looks like being a long journey in the loop Federation Cup for Goulburn Strikers as they slumped to their second heavy defeat in as many games, crushed 12-0 by a rampant Cooma Tigers on the synthetic turf of Hawker Football Centre. Cooma were never really in any doubt of losing this match as they confidently picked apart a young Strikers side that looked distinctly second-best in most areas of the field. Lively striker Elyja Shah led the way with four goals to take his personal tally to five in only two matches whilst the inspirational Alex Castro, who led Canberra FC to Federation Cup glory last season, added a brace of his own. Hard-working centre-forward Serdan Bircan also added a double to the mounting score board as the Tigers simply slipped into gear whenever required. Goulburn, as they were when thumped by Canberra FC last weekend, were valiant as they bravely attempted to stop the flow of goals whereas their own chances were limited throughout the match. Further Tigers goals were added by Tony Aleksovski, Ian Elliott, Dom Colluciello and Jerry Ibarra as Gaby Wilk’s team racked up a dozen to keep in touch with Pool leaders Canberra FC with their final round match up on 10^th April beginning to look pivotal.

Cooma Tigers: 1. Rade Kosanovic, 2. Phil Yarnold, 3. Jordano San Martin, 4. Alex Castro, 5. Tony Aleksovski, 7. Goran Josifovski, 8. Ian Elliott, 9. Todd Donaldson, 10. Serdan Bircan, 11. Elyja Shah, 15. Felipe Flores

Substitutes used: 12. Jerry Ibarra, 19. Nicolas Alcazar, 21. Dom Colluciello

Goulburn Strikers: 1. J. Orr (gk), 2. T. Dally, 3. J. Saul, 4. A. McDonald, 5. H. Thurbon, 6. L. Hartin, 7. J. Dinsmore, 8. B. Hartin, 9. A. Mills, 10. G. Tucker, 12. J. Strange

Substitutes used: 11. J. Fry, 14. N. Crawford, 25. R. Eddy

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: None

Match Officials: Luke Withell (referee), Nick Gillies, Daniel Rajic

Monaro Panthers 4 (Scott Jones 26’, 85’, Daniel Colbertaldo 64’, Lukas Fuhrmann 84’) Queanbeyan City 1 (Steve Noja (own goal) 43’)

Monaro Panthers claimed bragging rights for the second time in three weeks as they defeated near-neighbours and ground-sharers Queanbeyan City 4-1 in their Pool B match at hawker Football Centre. The Panthers had claimed the inaugural ‘Mayor’s Cup’ three weeks ago with a narrow 2-1 win over their City rivals but were in more ruthless mood this time round. Queanbeyan certainly made sure that the Panthers didn’t have it all their own way though equalising Scott Jones 26^th minute opener by forcing an own goal off the unfortunate Steve Noja two minutes before half-time to enter the dressing rooms all square at 1-1. The second stanza belonged to the Panthers though with Daniel Colbertaldo taking advantage of a dominant spell of possession to score his second goal of the competition after netting in the 3-4 loss to Cooma in Round One. It wasn’t until the final six minutes of play though that Monaro were finally able to rest easy. Two goals within sixty seconds of each other, netted by firstly the tenacious Lukas Fuhrmann and then by Scott Jones, the striker scoring his second of the match and third goal for the club, sealing the result and leaving Monaro back within three points of the leading clubs in the group.

Monaro Panthers: 1. Michael Portelli (gk), 2. Louie Pochi, 4. Cyffin Evans, 5. Justin Selkirk, 6. Ryan Scholar, 8. Geoff Howarth, 9. Luke McGrath, 10. Daniel Colbertaldo, 12. Jake Stein, 14. Jack Rutherford, 15. Mario Polegubic

Substitutes used: 7. Scott Jones, 11. Lukas Fuhrmann, 20. Ashley Collins (gk)

Queanbeyan City: 1. Chris Trajanoski (gk), 2. Anthony Pulciani, 4. John Zdrunca, 5. Goran Milutinovic, 6. Matthew Ryan, 7. Danny Babic, 10. Zach Knight, 11. Daniel Crkovski, 15. Anthony Celeski, 17. Zmejko Trajanovski, 18. Ned Aleksic

Substitutes used: 1. Andrew McGurgan (gk), 3. Pasquale Perre, 8. Nikolce Noveski

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: 2. Anthony Pulciani, 8. Nikolce Noveski (both Queanbeyan City)

RED CARDS:4. John Zdrunca

Match Officials:Daniel Rajic (referee), Nick Gillies, Luke Withell

LEADING SCORERS

5 Adam SPALETA (Canberra FC), Elyja SHAH (Cooma Tigers)

4Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Victor YANES (Canberra FC)
3 Paul IVANIC, Josip JADRIC (both Canberra FC), Alex CASTRO (Cooma Tigers), Scott JONES (Monaro Panthers)
2 Tom ROGIC (Belconnen United), Michael SPALETA (Canberra FC), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Serdan BIRCAN (Cooma Tigers), Daniel COLBERTALDO (Monaro Panthers), Tom HIRST, Simon HINDE (both Woden Valley)
1 Nicky ROGERS (Belconnen United), Euan PETERKIN, Pat ROSS-MAGEE, Nikola TANESKI  (all Canberra City), Ian GRAHAM, Matt GRBESA, Ryan KEIR, Ivan PAVLAK (all Canberra FC), James FIELD, Domenic GIAMPAOLO, Yianni KARABALIS, Mohsen RAVANPARSA, Jakob WILLIAMS (all Canberra Olympic) Tony ALEKSOVSKI, Dom COLLUCIELLO, Ian ELLIOTT, Goran JOSIFOVSKI, Jerry IBARRA, Jair WILK (all Cooma Tigers), Lukas FUHRMANN, Mario POLEGUBIC (both Monaro Panthers), Daniel BEAUMONT (Tuggeranong United), Tom PAGETT (Weston Creek), Rory DEVLIN, Tadija MILADINOVIC, Milenko NOVAKOVIC  (all White Eagles), Own GOALS