Canberra Croatia cement finals spot with win over Woden-Weston

Croatia sent an emphatic message to their NPL rivals with a dominant 4-1 win over Woden-Weston at Melrose Synthetic on Saturday.

It came just three days after they beat Canberra Olympic 2-1 in a mid-week clash, with all six goals coming from different players.

The back-to-back victories cement their spot in the shortened-season's finals, but Woden-Weston were left winless after five rounds.

With their top-four spot locked up, Ugrinic says their next target is finishing the regular season undefeated and claiming the minor premiership.

"It's very pleasing because we haven't dropped a game. The other teams are fearing us I think but we've still got two more games to go," Ugrinic said.

"We want to finish as high as possible and build some momentum into the finals series, we're going to give it a red hot go.

"We've still got a championship to play for, we want to finish first and be the best but Gungahlin is going to push us all the way.

"Hopefully we'll get some troops back as well because we've had some crazy injuries - it's a pretty crazy injury toll but the boys keep turning up and whoever is on the park will be competitive."

It took just 11 minutes for Croatia to assert their dominance when Ugrinic tapped in a defensive deflection, with the ball ricocheting from his first attempt.

A foul on Phakedi Manda set up Woden-Weston's first goal of the Premier League season, with Christopher McEwan leveling the score from a set-play minutes later.

It ended Woden-Weston's year-long scoring drought, with their last coming against the Monaro Panthers 12 months prior.

But the comeback came to no avail as Marko Vrkic put the visitors ahead in the 20^th minute when he pounced on a Jordan Lamb cross and struck it into goal.

"[Woden-Weston] played really well I thought, they pressed us quite high up the park and we just had to cope with it," Ugrinic said.

"We eased our way back into the game and scored an early goal. We got pegged back a bit but then scored through Marko, so we'll take confidence from that."

Croatia were awarded 10 corners to Woden-Weston's two, which came in handy with tall Nikola Udjur at centre-back.

His stature proved the difference when Domenic Giampaolo sent a flying-cross into the penalty area, with Udjur beating the defensive battle to head it into goal.

Star striker Daniel Colbertaldo put the result beyond doubt when he intercepted a pass near the penalty area and struck the ball past goalkeeper Willem Lejeune.

Croatia had a chance to extend their lead to five goals in the 78^th minute when Ujdur was fouled in the box. But his penalty attempt struck the post and Woden-Weston quickly cleared the area.

Dean Ugrinic's side will look to continue their unbeaten run at home against Belconnen United next week.

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The Blue Devils cemented their spot in the top-four with an emphatic 4-0 win over the Monaro Panthers, while Tigers FC beat Canberra Olympic 4-1 across town.

"We're going to expect energy from them. They're coming to our home ground but will be full of confidence and hoping to put on a good performance against us," Ugrinic said.

"We'll cope with it. We'll train on Tuesday and do our tactics, video analysis, recovery and get ready for Sunday."

Gungahlin United will look to retain their top-spot on the Premier League ladder when they meet Tuggeranong United under lights at Hawker Football Centre on Sunday.

AT GLANCE

Canberra NPL round five: CANBERRA CROATIA 4 (Ugrinic 11', Vrkic 20', Ujdur 50', Colbertaldo 65',) bt WODEN-WESTON 1 (McEwan 16'), TIGERS FC 4 bt CANBERRA OLYMPIC 1, BELCONNEN UNITED 4 bt MONARO PANTHERS 0