NPL1 Round 18 | Canberra Olympic Roll Tigers To Claim Premiership
- Tim Warren
- Sep 26, 2019
- 2 min read
By Tim Warren / capitalfootball.com.au
Canberra Olympic claimed the Premiership on the final day of the season with a confident performance against Tigers FC, while Canberra FC stormed out of the blocks at Deakin to jump Belconnen United back into the top four.
Canberra Olympic 4 (Stephen Domenici 22’, 82’, Kofi Danning 44’, Nik Popovich 58’) def. Tigers FC 0
Canberra Olympic claimed the 2019 NPL1 Premiership on the final day of the season with a convincing 4-0 win over Tigers FC at O’Connor on Sunday afternoon.
The victory meant Olympic finished the 2019 title race in 1st position, with Frank Cachia’s men amassing a total of 37 competition points, recording 12 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses.
Olympic have now won their third Premiership in just four years and booked a spot against the Wollongong Wolves in the first round of the 2019 NPL Finals Series.
The first chance of the game fell to Michael Piccollo who failed to convert a rebound from just six yards out after Tigers keeper Jakob Cole parried Daniel Sparrow’s long-range strike in the 8th minute.
Just minutes later Cooma had their first major goal scoring opportunity when Mark Shields hammered a low shot at goal, but it was smartly kept out by Olympic keeper Rory Larkin.
The title deciding match was a closely fought contest in the early stages but a 22nd minute goal from Stephen Domenici proved to be the turning point as the hosts jumped to the lead and never looked back.
Some clever build-up play from Olympic in the middle of the park brought the ball to Nik Popovich at the top of the box, and he threaded a pass through to Domenici whose shot was deflected into the back of the net.
Piccollo should have doubled Olympic’s advantage in the 37th minute when he sliced the ball wide of the left upright, following Kofi Danning’s superb low-cross from the right wing.
But Olympic didn’t go on to rue the missed chance as Danning scored their second goal of the afternoon on the stroke of half-time, calmly swiveling on the spot and tucking the ball home.
Straight after the restart Laurence Redmond received a yellow card for a rash challenge on Daniel Sparrow, in a match that proved to be a physical contest due to the prize at stake.
Olympic all but confirmed the three points and therefore the title in the 58th minute when a fantastic cross from the right wing by Sparrow was met in the box by Popovich who cleverly flicked the ball past Cole into the bottom corner.
The fourth and final goal of the afternoon came in the 83rd minute when Seb Woods teed up Domenici in the box after a great run and striker proved his class recording a brace and ultimately putting the finishing touches on a marvelous campaign for Olympic.
As fate would have it Olympic and Tigers will once again face each other in the first round of finals at the AIS on Saturday the 31st of August in the Qualifying semi-final.
2019 NPL1 Capital Football Semi-Finals | Saturday, 31st August
Elimination Final: Gungahlin United v Canberra FC | 2pm @ AIS Grass 2
Qualifying Final: Canberra Olympic v Tigers FC | 4:30pm @ AIS Grass 2
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