Gungahlin United FC is in the hunt for a Canberra NPL finals spot after fighting its way back from a 2-0 deficit to walk away with a crucial three points at O'Connor Enclosed on Saturday.
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United trailed 2-0 until late into the second half after Canberra Olympic FC took the lead and kept them scoreless for 39 minutes.
Olympic opened the scoring in the 24th minute after Gungahlin's defence was caught flat-footed. Aisosa Ihegie drove the ball into the box but was denied by a defender, and the tackle deflection fell to the feet of Tupaia Ringi. Ringi split the visitors' centre backs with his pass for James Crawford to slot home 1-0.
The home side's second half started with a throw in into the 18-yard box. Another decoy from Ihegie caught the defence by surprise and allowed Crawford to turn and chip the goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
A brace from Crawford should have been enough for the three points, Olympic coach Robbie Cattananch said, but it was not to be.
"The boys were disappointed not to get a result after the amount of chances they had," he said.
"We thought we created more chances but they were more clinical in front of goal. We worked hard and had good shape."
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The visitors clawed a goal back six minutes before half-time. Roy Anderson picked up the ball at halfway and drove it forward, finding Misko Naumoski.
The No.11 played a square ball to Domenic Giampaolo, who touched it around his defender and fired it into the bottom right corner.
It was tied 2-2 at half-time after the NPL's leading goal-scorer proved his worth in the 41st minute. An intercept by Tom Krklec led to a counter-attack by Gungahlin, with the midfielder playing a through ball behind the defence to Philippe Bernabo-Madrid to find the equaliser.
The visitors secured the lead 11 minutes into the second half. Badreldin Abbas' long ball took a helping touch on from Giampaolo and a header from Olympic's Adam Forner, to find a sprinting Bernabo-Madrid. He found his second of the day to make it 3-2.
Gungahlin coach Marcial Munoz was proud of his side's reaction and resilience to fight back.
"It was super important. Those three points were critical, as it distances ourselves from sixth, seventh, eighth and consolidates our chances in third or fourth," he said.
"We knew we would have to grind out some wins at this stage in the season, and today was one of them."
United jumps to 26 points to further shore up its spot in finals spot, with a game in hand over fourth-placed Belconnen United FC.
The loss for seventh-placed Olympic makes its road to the top four even harder.