NPL Pre-Season Cup Final
Tuesday 1st April 2014
Canberra FC 8 (Philippe Bernabo-Madrid 24’, Aaron Evans 27’, Daniel Bennett 34’, 50’, Alex Oloriegbe 48’, 82’, James Field 58’, Domenic Giampaolo 89’) Belconnen United 0
(Hawker Football Centre, kick-off 7:15pm)

Canberra FC swept aside an under-manned and under-strength Belconnen United to claim the 2014 NPL Pre-Season Cup with an 8-0 thrashing of the Blue Devils at Hawker Football Centre. The hot favourites took twenty-four minutes to find a way through the young Belconnen defence but, when they did, there was little doubt as to the outcome of the match. Facing the prospect of kicking off the National Premier League: Capital Football season on Friday night with a home fixture at McKellar Park against Tuggeranong United, their third game in six days, Belconnen Head Coach Dean Ugrinic took the decision to rest almost his entire first grade squad putting his faith in the under-20 team to do the club justice on a clear evening in the national capital. And, in the main, the youthful Blue Devils did well, even controlling the match for a period of around ten minutes before Canberra FC took control.

There had been warning signs of what was to come early on as Philippe Bernabo-Madrid seized a loose ball in the area and fired wide inside the first twenty seconds before forcing Stipan Ujdur in the Blue Devils goal into his first save of a busy night, the custodian shovelling a vicious swerving effort from Bernabo-Madrid up and over the bar in the fourth minute. But Belconnen settled after those early scares and even created a chance on twenty minutes when Aisosa Ihegie spun in the box to drive a shot at goal only for the ball to drift harmlessly wide of Jakob Cole’s left –hand post. That was as close as Belconnen came however as Canberra FC inexorably took command of the contest and began to move effortlessly through the gears taking the lead just four minutes later.

Aaron Evans had already seen a goal chalked out for offside, but the Blue Devils defence had no such luck against Bernabo-Madrid who broke the offside trap and slammed a finish past Ujdur at his near post. In so doing the in-form forward suffered a hamstring strain which could sideline him for a couple of weeks, the only downside of a routine evening for the League Champions. Having taken the lead the Blue Devils resolve cracked momentarily and FC doubled their advantage only minutes later. The Belconnen defence was exposed again as Canberra FC carved through them like a hot knife through butter and Aaron Evans showed his composure to roll home the second goal. And it was as good as game over when they went 3-0 ahead thanks to the pace of Daniel Bennett who broke away to net again nine minutes before the break.

Ujdur was certainly earning his keep in the Blue Devils goal by this stage denying Aaron Evans in a one-on-one and spectacularly palming a curling shot from James Field away for a corner as the pressure increased. The young ‘keeper made an even better save at the commencement of the second half, flinging himself in front of Bennett from point-blank range, to block what appeared a certain fourth only eighteen seconds after the resumption of play. It was a mere delaying of the inevitable however and first half substitute Alex Oloriegbe outlined FC’s dominance streaking through the middle of the defence ad cleverly dummying the ‘keeper to roll in the fourth.

It was evident that the raw speed of the Canberra FC forwards was the main difference between the teams and that was underlined further still as Bennett crowned a successful tournament for him with his sixth goal in four matches shortly before Field latched onto an Oloriegbe cut back to blast home goal number six from close range. Oloriegbe made it seven with time running out as Canberra FC countered from a rare Belconnen foray upfield and the rout was complete in the final minute as substitute Domenic Giampaolo capped his return with the final goal, hammering low across Ujdur into the far corner, a harsh reality check for the youthful Blue Devils who arguably played better than the final score-line indicated.

STATISTICS

Canberra FC: 1. Jakob COLE, 2. Aaron EVANS, 6. Ryan KEIR (16. Kaz PATAFTA 51’), 8. Ian GRAHAM, 9. Philippe BERNABO-MADRID (10. Alex OLORIEGBE 27’), 13. Daniel BENNETT (14. Domenic GIAMPAOLO 51’), 15. Jordan LAMB, 17. Aiden BRUNSKILL (5. Izach CLEMENTS 66’), 20. James FIELD, 23. Nathan EVANS, 99. Antonio BARBARO
Substitutes not used: 18. Farid RASHAD

Belconnen United: 1. Stipan UJDUR, 2. Bernard RENE, 3. Adam DE FRANCESCHI (5. Nick CRAWFORD 46’), 4. Cameron REINHART, 8. David ARRANZ (6. Sean O’NEILL 53’), 9. Aisosa IHEGIE, 10. Nicholas RATHJEN, 11. Kelvin DELLE, 14. Matthew STIRTON, 15. Tom McLACHLAN (17. Ohio ASIKHIA 66’), 16. Frano BLAZEVIC (7. Kieran MATTRESS 59)
Substitutes not used: 20. George KAZOULIS

Discipline: YELLOW CARDS: 99. Antonio BARBARO (Canberra FC), 11. Kelvin DELLE (Belconnen United)
Match Officials: Referee: Richard NAUMOVSKI, AR1: Bruno KEHL, AR2: Delfina DIMOSKI, 4th Official: Daniel RAJIC

LEADING SCORERS
6 Daniel BENNETT (Canberra FC)
5 Michael TAURASI (Belconnen United)
4 Philippe BERNABO-MADIRD, Alex OLORIEGBE (Canberra FC)
3 Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic), Stephen DOMENICI, Pepe VARGA (Cooma Tigers)
2 James FIELD (Canberra FC), Robbie DEELEY (Canberra Olympic), Robbie CATTANACH (Cooma Tigers), Thomas JAMES (Monaro Panthers)
1 David KEMP, Tom McLACHLAN, Goran MUKEVSKI, Jason UGRINIC (Belconnen United), David DEXTER, Gimale ESSACU, Luke GIBSON, Misko NAUMOSKI (Canberra City), Aaron EVANS, Nathan EVANS, Domenic GIAMPAOLO, Ryan KEIR (Canberra FC), Callum SMITH, Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Julian BORGNA (Cooma Tigers), Kamal AHMED, Arok THON (Monaro Panthers), Conor NOLAN, Andrew SLAVICH, Mitch STEENBERGEN, Thomas ZEITLHOFER (Woden Valley)