Canberra Croatia beat Belconnen United for 24th league premiership

Croatia came back from behind and scored two goals in stoppage time to beat Belconnen United 3-2 at Deakin Stadium on Sunday, securing the minor premiership with a match to spare.

The victory sent Dean Ugrinic's side six points clear at the top of the Capital Football NPL standings, on 16 points, while Belconnen's finals hopes rest on next week's results.

There were only seven regular rounds this season due to the coronavirus-forced shutdown, with the competition to then split in half for finals.

But there won't be a repeat of Croatia's 2018 treble-winning finish due to the cancellation of the FFA Cup, so centre-back Matt Grbesa said they would look to finish the season undefeated instead

"We're a club that always wants to fight for silverware," Grbesa said.

"We had that one draw, so we'll look for another three points next week and cement that because the main goal is to be undefeated going into finals."

Croatia had the majority of early possession but Belconnen had more shots on goal, with two near attempts by former A-League striker Kofi Danning and Luca Florez.

Max Mellick was thrust into Belconnen's starting side after Luca Macor pulled out in the warm-up. His rapid runs down the left broke down Croatia's defence and created the chance that opened the scoring.

The next play saw a Darren Bailey send a cross into the box for Danning. He had a prime position but opted for a tap pass to teenage sensation Florez, who put the visitors ahead with a seamless finish in the 13^th minute.

That was the difference at half-time, although Daniel Colbertaldo could have scored an equaliser with two solid strikes on goal - only to be denied by goalkeeper Jordan Thurtell.

Croatia levelled the scores with 30 minutes remaining when Daniel Barac swivelled in a deflection following a set-piece corner.

"We created a few opportunities so when you do get one back it builds confidence in everyone, that we can score goals," Grbesa said.

"We spoke about it [at half-time] and said we had to get more clinical in front of goal when it comes to it. Fortunately enough in the second half, we put away our chances.

"Credit to Belconnen, they defended well for basically the whole game. They're a good squad and hopefully the results will be fair to them next week and they can make the finals."

The match seemed all but sewn up for Belconnen when Mellick put the visitors in front with a stunning strike in the 80^th minute.

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Grbesa admitted there was a tiny seed of doubt as the time ticked down but that all changed when the 33-year-old went down in a challenge to give Croatia a penalty.

Aimilio converted the penalty with ease, giving Croatia hope of a late comeback.

No one knew how long was left on the clock, but time didn't matter when Marko Vrkic sent a sweeping ball into the box for Jason Ugrinic to score the premiership-deciding goal.

"There's always that bit of doubt but with the quality we have across the pitch, we still have that confidence of being able to score a goal, if not two, which we were lucky enough to get," Grbesa said.

"In those last few minutes, no one knew how long there was left on the clock. I think we would not have been happy with a draw, so [the penalty] gave us that extra go to try and sneak one more.

"We controlled the majority of the game so I think it was well deserved."

AT A GLANCE

NPL Canberra round six: CANBERRA CROATIA 3 (Barac 62' Aimilio 90+2' Ugrinic 90+4') bt BELCONNEN UNITED 2 (Florez 13' Mellick 80'), WODEN-WESTON 1 bt TIGERS FC 0, CANBERRA OLYMPIC 3 (Tanoski 30', Popovich 47', Piccolo 62') dw GUNGAHLIN UNITED 3 (Gulevski 37' 73', John 90+4'), MONARO PANTHERS 1 (Basser-Silk 10') dw TUGGERANONG UNITED 1 (Buesnel 48').