Vrkic's men established a 2-1 lead in the second half, only to be overtaken by Woden Valley in the last five minutes.

The win had the Woden home fans celebrating, and coach Pat McCann was very happy with his side's performance.

''Ultimately Canberra FC are the benchmark, and our ambitions and aspirations are to be able to match them on any given day, and today we didn't just match them, we went beyond them,'' he said.

''Certainly they'll continue to be the benchmark, this is a one-off game, and we need to prove ourselves across the course of the greater season, not just 90 minutes … we'll celebrate tonight, but we'll come back tomorrow and get ready for next week.''

FC got off to a good start, Aaron Evans slotting a rebound from an awkward bounce off the Woden keeper's head into an open goal to give the visitors the early lead.

Simon Hinde scored the equaliser in the first half, helping Woden stay positive going into the second.

''We went in at half-time very, very satisfied with the nature of the football that we were playing and certainly we were confident that if we continued to play that type of football we'd be successful,'' McCann said.

FC scored first after the break, Ryan Keir heading in a Michael Spaleta corner.

Momentum then swung Woden's way, with Stephen Lee belting home an equaliser after a free kick.

Woden's American import Pete Marlette then scored from a quick break with two minutes remaining.

Woden has been the surprise packet this season, the 3-2 win its first over Canberra FC in the premier league, and keeping it in the mix at the top of the table with Belconnen United and the Cooma Tigers also winning yesterday.

A double from Robbie Cattanach helped Cooma to a 5-0 win over Canberra City. While Monaro couldn't repeat its heroics from last week's upset of Canberra FC, Belconnen winning 7-2.