Twenty-one glorious rounds await Capital Football NPLW fans and the eight teams contesting the competition in 2021.

The Round 4 game at Gungahlin Oval saw a matchup between Gungahlin United and Belconnen United, the only two teams to have won their first three games.

Other Round 4 games that were held this weekend included:

Canberra Croatia FC vs Canberra Olympic
West Canberra Wanderers vs Wagga City Wanderers
Canberra United Academy vs Tuggeranong United

Match of the Round: Gungahlin United vs Belconnen United

Gungahlin United Academy season preview
Belconnen United season preview

The biggest news to hit the Capital Football NPLW1 competition this week – possibly this season – is that Michelle Heyman will be joining coach Diego Iglesias’ young gunners at Gungahlin United!

Heyman was in attendance at the Round 4 game but is still recovering from an injury sustained at the end of the W-League season. Her positivity, knowledge, leadership qualities and profile will be hugely beneficial not only to her team but to the competition as a whole. It will be fascinating to see how she fits into the Gungahlin set-up, but with Iglesias always having coached with an emphasis on player rotation and being able to play in multiple roles, his charges are well-positioned to adapt to their star signing (and vice-versa).

This was Beyond 90’s first look at Gungahlin United this season, and while the personnel are familiar, Iglesias had changed things up a little for the threat posed by a Blue Devils side – under new coach Michael Zakoski – that has stormed out of the blocks this season, having shown their intent from the Charity Shield game onwards in a series of commanding performances.

Gunners striker Elke Aitolu was still unavailable, having seemingly sustained an injury back in Round 2. Wingers from the last couple of seasons Ella Brown and Erika Pennyfield were in unfamiliar roles – both were to excel – as right back and in a central midfield role respectively, while Stella De Marco was playing in a wide midfield role alongside her more centrally located sister Nat (making a welcome return to the team this season).

Goalkeeper and captain Kailey Tonini, as well as centre back Ruby Gambale, were celebrating 50 NPLW1 games for the club in this outing, congratulations to both!

The depth of the Belconnen squad was on show; for while missing key attacker Nicole Jalocha to injury as well as vice-captain Jaz Zabel, this gave starts to defender Isabella Tammaro and evergreen Katie Woodman, leaving the likes of Cassia McGlashan and young revelation Reilly Yuen on the bench.

The visitors began the game the more assured of the two teams, controlling possession and more accurate with distribution, with captain Michaela Thornton leading the way. The Gunners defence, marshalled by Maddie Perceval, were solid in keeping the blue shirts at bay and happy to defend quite deep. Ella Brown was able to match the pace of Talia Backhouse and Vanessa Ryan down the left Belconnen touchline, as Brigitte Sander and Lejins worked hard to nullify the dangerous Keira Bobbin down the right side. 

As it transpired, despite all the threats available to them out wide, the killing blows from Belconnen wound up coming from more central areas. There were many missed shooting opportunities for the team as a whole along the way, with relatively fewer for the home side. 

Former Illawarra Stingray Sarah Johnston has impressed with every outing for Belconnen, and the central midfielder opened the scoring in the 21st minute with her second goal of the season. Olivia Bomford picked up the ball from outside the right edge of the penalty box and, turning her defender, delivered a wonderful ball towards Johnston near the Gungahlin six-yard box. Johnston managed to find enough room to finish with a volley on the first bounce at close range.

It took 25 minutes for Pennyfield to fire the first shot towards Christina Esposito in the Belconnen goal from open play, one that sailed over the bar. While Belconnen looked more likely in the remainder of the half, there were few moments that resulted in direct threats to Tonini in the Gungahlin goal.

The second half opened with Gungahlin looking more lively and displaying a greater will to pressure their opponents on the ball all around the park. This allowed the Gunners to get into more dangerous areas but did not stop the advancing blue tide from doing the same. Belconnen central defender Karen Clarke got her head onto three successive corners in the first ten minutes of the half but none of them was to hit the mark.

Thornton continued her immense work rate in the middle of the park, making driving runs from deep with ball at feet but unable to finish as desired. Perhaps inspired by her captain, Ryan was also proving to be more of a threat with left-sided runs in the last quarter of the game.

The pressure from the Blue Devils was mounting: cue Bomford exploding again into action.

In the 75th minute, Carnegie drove a corner to the Gungahlin far post, with the ball falling into the six-yard box as Bomford scrapped with Sander for the ball on the ground. Somehow the ball found its way over the goal line for Belconnen’s second of the afternoon.

With ten minutes to go Carnegie delivered a terrific ball from the right touchline to outstretched substitute Nina Zaravec in the Gungahlin six-yard box, but her touch could only guide the ball past the outside of the left post.

By this point Iglesias had his players in more familiar roles from previous years, as they threw everything at the Belconnen defence but without any goalscoring joy.

That joy was reserved for Bomford and the visitors, as she ended her game with an assist and a second goal with two minutes of normal time remaining, bamboozling her defender with successive 180 degree turns before firing with her left foot into the bottom right corner of the Gungahlin net.

Gungahlin coach Iglesias had the following thoughts after the game: “At times we were good, at times we did push in [forward], but at times we also sat back a little. We probably needed to control the midfield a bit better, there was a little too much space in there, but they [Belconnen] are like that: they work hard in midfield and they push forward in those transitions.

“Against Belconnen you need the work rate in the middle and I’ve been playing Eri [Pennyfield] there as I know she can play 90 minutes of intense football. I’m lucky; these girls are flexible in the way they play so I can move them and give them specific instructions, and they’ll go and deliver that.

“The changes don’t always result in a victory but at least I have the ability to make some changes and try and spark them; there’s no point sitting there with the same shape the entire time if it’s not working.”

On signing Heyman: “Michelle brings a lot to the club on and off the field. It’s fantastic for the girls to see how a professional prepares; how she approaches the game; and the way she interacts with the other players … there will be obvious benefits on the field but I’m more interested in what she can do to assist and develop the others.”

Belconnen coach Zakoski was largely satisfied with how his team performed while thinking ahead to two upcoming challenging games, and the injuries within the squad.

“I thought this was going to be the biggest challenge of our season to date and it definitely was. We’re pretty challenged at the moment with injuries and a bit of rotation in the squad; we’ve now got [Nicole] Jalocha out for 6 to 8 weeks so someone has to step into that role and we changed our style a little bit; we didn’t press as aggressively as we usually have. We played more of a hold up 9 rather than a 9 in behind, so I was pretty happy that we scored three goals.

“When we took on the team, we asked them to play a different style to what they were used to. We’ve asked girls to play different positions than they have before … and I think the way the girls have adapted to the way we want to play is fantastic; they have bought into it, and the results are there; so now it’s [about] consistency.”

On the influence of Olivia Bomford in the game: “I think with Liv, she’s got all the technical ability in the world; again it’s adapting to the way we want to play. It may be a little different to what’s she’s familiar with back in Tassie, but she’s someone who’s got some massive goals and ambitions… [having made] the step from Tassie to Canberra, I’d back her to make the step to Sydney too at this rate.” 

The Blue Devils march on with their impressive start to the season but a challenging week awaits in the form of successive encounters against Canberra Croatia FC – their Round 5 game is followed by a midweek Federation Cup semi-final.

As for the Gunners, season 2021 with Michelle Heyman on board may finally see them fulfil the promise of the last couple of seasons, truly challenging the Big Two and forming part of a Big Three… but only time will tell. They too have a big week coming up, with a Round 5 game against Canberra United Academy followed by a midweek Federation Cup semi-final against West Canberra Wanderers.

Not quite the result we’d hoped for but a great day out none-the-less. Thanks @FCBelconnen_aus @BLUE_DEVILSFC for the game! Off to visit our sponsors Eastlake Gungahlin to celebrate Kailey and Ruby’s 50th NPLW game. pic.twitter.com/6H88bk4wmN

— Gungahlin United Football Club (@GungahlinUnited) May 2, 2021

Final score:

Gungahlin United 0

Belconnen United 3 (Johnston 21′ Bomford 74′ 88′)

Teams:

Gungahlin United – Coach: Diego Iglesias

Kailey Tonini (c), Ella-Rose Brown, Ruby Gambale, Madeleine Perceval, Brigitte Sander, Stella De Marco, Rachael Corbett, Erika Pennyfield, Natalie De Marco, Stefi Lejins, Jade Brown 

Subs: Courtney McCann, Ayla Robertson, Emily Davidson, Anna Wilkinson

Yellow/Red cards: Nil

Belconnen United – Coach: Michael Zakoski

Christina Esposito, Leah Carnegie, Karen Clarke, Isabella Tammaro, Vanessa Ryan, Sarah Johnston, Michaela Thornton (c), Keira Bobbin, Katie Woodman, Talia Backhouse, Olivia Bomford

Subs: Bianca Kimpton, Cassia McGlashan, Reilly Yuen (71′ => Bobbin), Nina Zaravec (79′ => Woodman), Monique McGlynn

Yellow/Red cards: Nil

Around The Grounds:

Canberra Croatia 7 – 2 Canberra Olympic
West Canberra Wanderers 4 – 1 Wagga City Wanderers
Canberra United Academy 2 – 0 Tuggeranong United

Ladder:

Next week:

Belconnen United vs Canberra Croatia, McKellar Park, Saturday 8 May, 3:00pm
West Canberra vs Tuggeranong United, Melrose Synthetic, Sunday 9 May, 12:45pm
Wagga City vs Canberra Olympic, Gissing Oval, Sunday 9 May, 2:30pm
Canberra United Academy vs Gungahlin United, Hawker Enclosed, Sunday 9 May, 4:20pm
 

Follow all our ACT NPLW coverage here.