There was a lot happening in Round 4 of the NPL Capital Football women’s competition. Michelle Heyman unexpectedly took the field for Gungahlin United in their midweek catchup game against West Canberra Wanderers. Coach of the other Wanderers, Wagga City’s Sam Gray, suddenly announced his resignation, with reserve grade coach Rob Tuksar to take the reins from Round 5. Gray was the competition’s longest-serving coach in only his third season, which speaks to the head coaching turnover across the competition in recent years.

Goalkeepers found the going tough this round. Ally Hinson of West Canberra took the first blow with a finger fracture, and unfortunately there was another fracture at Deakin Stadium, during the table-topping Beyond 90 game of the round between Canberra Croatia and Canberra Olympic. May a speedy recovery be on the cards for both.

Other Round 4 games held on the weekend included the following:

West Canberra vs Tuggeranong United
Gungahlin United vs Wagga City
Canberra United Academy vs Belconnen United

Give yourself a treat and check out the goals in the Academy vs Belconnen game – Jaya Bowman and Talia Backhouse, take a bow!

Match of the Round: Canberra Croatia vs Canberra Olympic

A good crowd saw two hundred gamer Alice Churchill lead Canberra Croatia at Deakin Stadium on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon. The absence of regular 2022 captain and multiple Golden Boot Brittany Palombi, as well as the experienced Jamie Berkeley and Amy McLachlan, was immediately apparent, with the trio holidaying in the United States (Las Vegas was mentioned as a port of call). Shania Setin was handed a starting opportunity and their bench had a look of youth about it.

Standing on the opposite side of the pitch was a full-strength Canberra Olympic, including Michaela Thornton, fresh off Australian Futsal team duties. The depth of the 2022 Canberra Olympic squad is impressive, and they have bench players who would be automatic starters elsewhere in the competition. The challenge for this new-look squad is how quickly they can come together, but their last round win over Belconnen United suggested they are making good strides in this respect. A repeat performance here would only reinforce that belief. There would have been some nerves for Olivia Fogarty and Renee Junna, both of whom made the move in the off-season from the 2021 Champions to Olympic.

The first half had limited chances but the midfield battle was fascinating to watch. There were many quality midfield tackles and steals, and the victor often calmly played the ball back to a defender for a reset. In possession, Thornton, Tianah Miro, Ash Sykes and Junna created danger for CCFC with their forward surges, while the cleverness of both Jen Bisset and Bella Barac, plus the wide pace of Sienna Birnie, posed questions to the Olympic defence.

As halftime approached, a goalmouth collision saw Canberra Croatia keeper Nat Vasta stretchered off with what may have been an ankle fracture. Churchill donned the gloves as Dianne Wilson slotted into left back, and Kass Guglielmin saw action in CCFC’s attack earlier than she may have anticipated.

Fogarty made way for Elke Aitolu in the central striker role as the second half commenced. Ally Cook immediately set out to test Churchill as a stand-in keeper with challenging set pieces aimed Churchill’s way. Thornton’s runs into the Canberra Croatia box on two occasions proved to be a different type of problem for Churchill to solve, with the referee deeming the stand-in keeper’s contact worthy of a penalty both times.

Cook’s trusty left foot blasted the first spot kick into the top right of the net for a 1-0 lead on 50 minutes. However, Churchill anticipated the same approach for the second penalty and pulled off a great save in the 77th minute. Between these moments Bisset had received a ten minute sin-bin yellow card for dissent in the 54th minute, and it appeared that watching on as her team-mates grimly held off Olympic made Bisset all the more determined to make amends upon her return.

With Olympic having had marginally the better of the game until the last ten minutes or so, the home side found a spark with Bisset leading the way. Overlapping Olympic wingback Vanessa Ryan had come onto the field in this late period, and her strong run down the left flank onto a through ball almost paid dividends with just two minutes to go. In reply, the action swung into the Olympic box, where Bisset was surrounded by two defenders whose close attention caught the eye of the referee. The whistle blew for a penalty in added time, and Bisset converted from 12 yards to square the game.

Olympic coach Nicole Begg told the Canberra Times’ Isobel Cootes that she was satisfied with a point. “It was a pretty even game the whole time, it was really well fought from both sides,” she said. “So it would have been really good to get the three points but probably sharing the points was fair.”

It’s likely that Canberra Croatia coach Zoran Glavinic feels the same way given the unavailability of three experienced players.

The result means that both teams remain undefeated. As the 2022 competition has a triple round robin structure, fans will get the chance to watch this unmissable league fixture on two more occasions.

Final score:

Canberra Croatia 1 (Jen Bisset 91′)
Canberra Olympic 1 (Ally Cook 50′)

Teams:

Canberra Croatia – Coach: Zoran Glavinic

Nat Vasta, Bella Tammaro, Bec Kiting, Rhiannon Fensom, Alice Churchill (c), Krista Hagen, Dianne Wilson, Jen Bisset, Sienna Birnie, Bella Barac, Shania Setin

Subs: Anna Ross (83′ => Guglielmin), Ava Jadric, Bianca Di Julio (65′ => Setin), Freya Sandeman, Kass Guglielmin (45′ => Vasta) 

Canberra Olympic – Coach: Nicole Begg

Janet King, Renee Junna, Ally Cook, Sandra Hill, Victoria Jamieson (c), Michaela Thornton, Sarah Johnston, Tianah Miro, Nicole Jalocha, Ashleigh Sykes, Olivia Fogarty

Subs: Anna Vandenbroucke (89′ => Jalocha), Elke Aitolu (45′ => Fogarty), Meg Roden (69′ => Sykes), Olivia Gurney (69′ => Miro), Vanessa Ryan (83′ => Jamieson)

Around The Grounds:

West Canberra 3-0 Tuggeranong United
Gungahlin United 5-2 Wagga City
Canberra United Academy 1-2 Belconnen United

Round 1 midweek catchup game:
Gungahlin United 0-1 West Canberra

Ladder:

Next week:

Round 5

• Belconnen United vs Canberra Croatia, McKellar Park, Saturday 7 May, 3pm 
• Wagga City vs Canberra United Academy, Gissing Oval, Sunday 8 May, 2:30pm
• Canberra Olympic vs West Canberra, O’Connor Enclosed, Sunday 8 May, 2:30pm
• Tuggeranong United vs Gungahlin United, Kambah 2, Sunday 8 May, 2:30pm 
   

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