Gungahlin United's title defence takes hit with Belconnen United draw

The reigning champions were lucky to come away with a 2-all draw against Belconnen United at Deakin Stadium on Saturday, with the Blue Devils sharing the majority of solid chances.

Munoz was happy to take the point but was left disappointed by his side's performance, having claimed just a single win in their last four matches.

With only two rounds left to secure their grand final spot, the Gungahlin mentor says his side needs to "rediscover how they play" to defend their title.

"We're a highly attacking and attractive football team and it appears we've lost all that somewhere, slowly along the lines," Munoz said.

"We're not transitioning quickly enough in loss of possession, which then doesn't allow us to recover the ball quickly enough. Then we're playing in a transitional game which we're not used to.

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"When you're a possession-based team and constantly on the ball, then you leave a lot of spaces behind and get countered often. We need to rediscover how we play and want to play."

The tone was set in the opening minute when Luca Macor intercepted a weak touch by defender Antoni Timotheou, turned and struck the ball on target. But the glorious chance was saved by goalkeeper Joshua Lagudah, who went on to deny Max Mellick moments later.

After two chances went begging for Belconnen, but it was Philippe Bernabo-Madrid who put Gungahlin ahead with his first touch in the sixth minute.

A soaring cross-field ball from Timotheou found the 28-year-old striker upfront, for him to finish the play with a right-footed strike.

Munoz thought it was Gungahlin's chance to take control of the finals match, but Belconnen responded in attack and cut through their defence with numerous attempts on goal.

"I thought we had found our approach to the game, to try and hit them behind quickly when we had the chance," Munoz said.

"If we carried that forward then we were going to go away with it, but clearly we then lost ourselves a bit. We turned it into a struggle."

Macor, Max Mellick, Kofi Danning and Dustin Wells all had solid chances to score an equaliser, but it was 17-year-old Luca Florez who found the net six minutes before halftime.

Mellick's rapid runs down the right broke down Gungahlin's defence, creating a chance for a Florez to receive a cross and score his sixth goal of the season.

In his 50^th NPL match, Phil Borgeaud put the Blue Devils ahead in the second-half with a brilliant header into goal from a Wells free-kick.

Gungahlin levelled the scores with 20 minutes remaining when Bernabo-Madrid converted a penalty for a handball against Bourgeaud.

Munoz felt the penalty was deserved after having two solid chances before it was awarded.

"To be fair, we should have scored two plays before the penalty. It justified that moment of time," he said.

Meanwhile Canberra Croatia launched their Championship Series campaign to a flying start and beat Tigers FC 3-0.

AT A GLANCE

NPL Canberra Championship Series round one: GUNGAHLIN UNITED 2 (Bernabo-Madrid 6' 68') dw BELCONNEN UNITED 2 (Florez 39' Bourgeaud 57'), CANBERRA CROATIA 3 (Colbertaldo 4' Ujdur 49' 69') bt TIGERS FC 0