So he sprinted from the carpark, made some tactical changes, ran back to his car and drove to the airport to catch a flight.

Tuggeranong came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Gungahlin United 3-2 on Sunday and their coach nearly missed it all.

"It was incredible," Stevens said.

"I was sweating in the car and worried I was late for my flight. But I had to sprint back and make some changes. It was chaos."

The match seemed all but lost at half-time as Gungahlin held a 2-0 lead.

The visitors came out firing, eager to prove themselves after last week's heavy loss to Canberra Olympic.

It took just four minutes for Gungahlin to score as Nicolas Rathjen tapped the ball into the left-hand corner off a defensive deflection.

MORE LOCAL SOCCER

Forward Michael John rode the momentum and converted their hard work with a spectacular strike into the top corner in the 35th minute.

But Stevens never doubted his side.

"None of them are quitters." Stevens said.

"I told them to have some faith [at halft-ime]. We created a lot of one-to-one opportunities in areas where we thought we could hurt Gungahlin, but we weren't making the most of those chances.

"All we needed was a little improvement on an individual level rather than a collective. Then the boys turned it on."

Tuggeranong came roaring back in the second half and took control of the match.

Left-footer Mitch Steenbergen struck a spectacular ball off a free-kick in the 65^th minute and it deflected off the crossbar.

But star striker Aisosa Ihegie ran forward and beat the keeper to head it into the net.

"It was a cracking volley, world-class," Stevens said.

"Mitch has a wonderful left-foot and he nearly broke the post. Thankfully Aisosa was there in time to make sure it went into the net and had no questions asked."

Ihegie backed up the effort with a second goal six minutes later to level the score.

Tugggeranong and Gungahlin fought neck-and-neck in the dying minutes of the match until Eddie Coggan took matters into his own hands.

He passed two defenders and shot at an open goal to win the match with three minutes remaining.

"Eddie works so hard at his game," Stevens said.

"For him to get such an important goal is going to do wonders for his confidence."

NPL ROUND 12

Saturday: Tigers FC 3 bt Belconnen United 2. Woden-Weston 1 bt Riverina Rhinos 1.

Sunday: Tuggeranong United 3 bt Gungahlin United 2. Monaro Panthers 3 bt Canberra FC 2.