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

The Round 5 game of the round was at McKellar Park, for a first meeting in the 2021 season proper between the two long-standing powerhouses and rivals of the league, Belconnen United and Canberra Croatia.

Other Round 5 games that were held this weekend included:

Wagga City Wanderers vs Canberra Olympic
Canberra United Academy vs Gungahlin United
West Canberra Wanderers vs Tuggeranong United

Match of the Round: Belconnen United vs Canberra Croatia

It’s been a long time between visits to McKellar Park for this Beyond 90 writer, since February 2020 to be exact, and it felt good to settle back into the alternating sky blue, navy blue, and white bucket seats of this hallowed Canberra football institution.

Just a few short rows below me sat a wealth of Belconnen United NPLW1 experience, in the form of Karen Clarke, moon-booted Nicole Jalocha, Jaz Zabel and Lexi Forner, all recovering from injuries.

This is always a premium fixture on the NPLW1 calendar, and this season fans are treated to a minimum of four of these (Charity Shield plus three regular-season games); more if you add in possible Federation Cup and finals games.

New Belconnen coach Michael Zakoski has his team looking fit and the team has hit the ground running since their convincing win against Canberra Croatia in the Charity Shield, with four wins from four and a +21 goal difference. Zakoski opted to play impactful midfielder Sarah Johnston in central defence alongside Bella Tammaro to help cover Clarke and Zabel’s absence, bringing young gun Reilly Yuen into a wide midfield position.

As in the 2020 season, Canberra Croatia coach Nik Brozinic has a settled squad building nicely into the 2021 season and looking better with each game. For this contest, Renee Junna lined up at right back and Chantel Jones was on the bench.

The game couldn’t have started better for the away team as they scored in the second minute. Grace Gill held the ball up and fed a pass through perfectly for an onrushing Brittany Palombi, who slotted the ball with her right foot past Christina Esposito.

Possession mainly fell Canberra Croatia’s way in the first half-hour, with Jen Bisset making her presence felt in fierce challenges (resulting in Belconnen free kicks) against Michaela Thornton and Olivia Bomford.

Palombi was then involved in two attacks in two minutes, first on the end of a long ball from the left by Olivia Fogarty (but under duress by Vanessa Ryan on the edge of the six-yard box), and then playing a neat one-two with Gill for an easy Gill finish and Canberra Croatia’s second goal.

The second goal jolted the home side into action. Talia Backhouse put in a great tackle on a flying Renee Junna down the Canberra Croatia right wing, Bomford showed her class with a brilliant flick over Bisset, and late in the half Michaela Thornton fired a 30 yard free kick just over Ally Hinson’s crossbar. At the other end, Esposito distributed the ball straight to Palombi but was not punished for her indiscretion.

The second half nearly opened with a bang as Canberra Croatia midfielder Krista Hagen found Jamie Berkeley in the Belconnen United box, but Berkeley’s outstretched effort went straight into Hinson’s arms.

Belconnen right back Leah Carnegie was to put a series of well-placed corners in and around Hinson’s six yard box in the next 20 minutes. Dangerous as they were – the best of them saw a charging Backhouse with an unchallenged header at the back post – the home side were unable to capitalise, and despite their endeavour (epitomised by Thornton) were not able to build open play pressure in and around the Canberra Croatia penalty area. 

A Palombi corner near the hour mark found Fensom with a clear header towards the back post, but Hinson did remarkably well to get a hand to it and away from goal. A few moments later Fogarty stole the ball off the Belconnen defence and laid it off to Gill, whose shot cannoned onto the crossbar.

Bomford broke Belconnen’s duck with around 15 minutes to go, displaying exquisite control in bringing the ball down, then driving forward into the penalty box and finishing accurately with a left foot drive.

Successive Krista Hagen corners inside the last ten minutes saw the away side reply in kind after Esposito spilt the ball, gifting Fogarty a goal – Canberra Croatia’s third of the afternoon. From there the team in red and white were able to close the game out and seal the three points.

This result will leave Zakoski with some pondering to do ahead of Wednesday’s Federation Cup Round 3 game against the same opposition. Johnston’s influence in midfield and contribution to the team’s attacking build-up was clearly missed. Kudos goes to Tammaro, who has answered Zakoski’s call in recent games by doing an admirable job in the heart of the Belconnen defence, and to Bomford who continues to impress with her technique and decision making.

Canberra Croatia coach Brozinic was pleased but not getting carried away after the game:  “… I think it was a good performance for Round 5; I said to some others earlier that it would be 5, 6, 8, 10 rounds before we’re playing our best football. It’s a long season, we had a much more relaxed pre-season than usual so it was always going to take us a few games to get things going. 

“Today was our best performance of the season by far. We went out with a plan on how to play Belconnen and executed it really well. We didn’t want to allow them any time or space in the middle of the park, force negative football out of them, and we did that really well. We also asked the team not to give too many set pieces away today and we did, so that’s something we can improve on.

“A really positive thing for us is we’re getting goals from all angles up top and from midfield, and we’ve had a centre back and a fullback score this year. There are goals all over our pitch, and with someone like Olivia [Fogarty], she has come in and become an integral part of our final three.”

Final score:

Belconnen United 1 (Bomford 76′)

Canberra Croatia 3 (Palombi 2′, Gill 30′, Fogarty 81′)

Teams:

Belconnen United – Coach: Michael Zakoski

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

Subs: Bianca Kimpton, Cassia McGlashan (72′ => Woodman), Maria Pachi, Nina Zaravec, Samantha Price

Yellow/Red cards: Johnston 78′, Thornton 88′

Canberra Croatia FC – Coach: Nik Brozinic

Alexandra Hinson, Renee Junna, Rhiannon Fensom, Cecilija Matic, Alice Churchill, Jamie Berkeley, Jennifer Bisset, Krista Hagen, Olivia Fogarty, Grace Gill (c), Brittany Palombi

Subs: Sharon Chao (87′ => Gill), Chantel Jones, Jordan Ujdur (83′ => Fogarty), Eisha Ratsch, Lara Bray

Yellow/Red cards: Nil

Around The Grounds:

West Canberra Wanderers 6 – 0 Tuggeranong United
Wagga City Wanderers 0 – 6 Canberra Olympic
Canberra United Academy 3 – 2 Gungahlin United

Round 3 Federation Cup:
West Canberra Wanderers 2 – 1 Gungahlin United

Ladder:

Next week:

Canberra Croatia vs Wagga City, Deakin Stadium, Sunday 16 May, 2:30pm
Canberra Olympic vs Canberra United Academy, O’Connor Encl., Sunday 16 May, 2:30pm 
Gungahlin United vs West Canberra, Gungahlin Enclosed, Sunday 16 May, 3:00pm
Tuggeranong United vs Belconnen United, Kambah 201, Sunday 16 May, 3:10pm

Round 3 Federation Cup:
Canberra Croatia vs Belconnen United, Deakin Stadium, Wednesday May 12th, 7:00pm

Follow all our ACT NPLW coverage here.