The Weekly Wash-Up
Some interesting results from the weekend as some sides look to be falling away whilst others are timing their runs to perfrection. Here’s the five things that we picked out from the latest week of action. #1:: We start with the Pig ’N’ Whistle Canale Cup from last Tuesday where Capital League 2 side Toowong stunned Capital League 1 high-flyers North Pine with a 2-1 ‘cupset’ in extra time. Jamie Hill scoring the deciding goal in the 111th minute to progress to a RD4 tie against away to either fellow Capital League 2 Brisbane Phoenix or Capital League 3 Westside who play their RD3 tie this evening. #2:: It’s hard to avoid the happenings in the Flight Centre Premier League with two results that stood out from the weekend in particular Friday night saw Grange Thistle’s revival continue as they all but ended Albany Creek’s title hopes with a 3-1 win at Wolter Park. It was Thistle’s third straight win with the Lanham Park side having only once in the league from their last five outings. A rescheduled RD15 game at home to bottom side Capalaba could see them jump above Ipswich Knights and out of the relegation zone for the first time this season. The other result that made everyone sit up and take notice was Rochedale Rovers 2-0 success over league leaders Eastern Suburbs on Saturday evening. Rovers moving to the top of the tree after that win as Easts hit a wobble in their season which seems to have coincided with the departure of Abraham Yango to Victoria. More alarmingly was the injury to striker Youiel Shol who was forced to depart the field with a suspected hamstring injury. East will hope it’s not long term as they strive to remain in the title hunt before heading to the QPL in 2018. #3:: Next we head to Capital League 3 where St George Willawong might well be paying Bardon Latrobe a huge debt of gratitude as Latrobe became the first side to take points from Caboolture’s Grant Road Sportsground home following a thrilling 4-4 draw on Saturday and thus handing the Saints a clear lead again at the top of the Capital League 3 table. It could have been worse for Caboolture who needed a late equaliser from James Fairgrieve after playing for nearly an hour with ten men following the send-off of captain Taylor Henderson. However, the Snakes did notch up their 40th goal at their home venue from eight games, giving them an impressive 5 goals per game at Grant Road. But momentum will now be with St George who must maintain their run if they’re take the title. #4:: The season continues to provide us with plenty of variables in almost every division as only Mitchelton in the Mt Franklin Women’s Premier League look to have the premiership sewn up at this point of the season. In the Flight Centre Premier League, there are still eight teams in with a should of the title and finals. In Capital League 1, Taringa Rovers look firm favourites to become premiers whilst a gap seems to be developing between the top four and the chasing pack. Capital League 2 leaders Centenary Stormers look on track to becoming premiers with a 5pt gap to Virginia Utd in second and as is the case on Capital League 1, the top four seem to be breaking away from the rest. As mentioned before, Capital League 3 really is a battle between the top of St George and Caboolture but AC Carina may yet have a say in that whilst the top four is much more open with anyone from third down to seventh capable of making the finals. Capital League 4 also remains wide open with North Brisbane, early season favourites Samford Rangers and Bethania Rams all vying for top spot and top four open down to sixth placed Springfield Utd. The Mt Franklin Women’s Premier League does appear though to be Mitchelton’s for the taking. Perhaps the only question being can they go through the season winning every game? The top four also look to be taking shape although it’s possible that anyone down to eight spot could make finals. #5:: Finally we decided to see who are the top scorers from each league as Golden Boot races hot up leading into the final third of the season. The stand out has to be Mitchelton’s Jaimie MacFarlane from the Mt Franklin Women's Premier League who’s netted 23 times in 8 games and has only failed to score in one of those games. The Canadian sits 4 goals ahead of team mate Darcie Wilson who has has helped MacFarlane with assisting her with the majority of her goals. The Flight Centre Premier League Golden Boot is as tight an affair as the title race is. Albany Creek’s Chom Arop leads the way on 13 goals, closely followed by Easts duo Jordan Farina and Youiel Shol on 12 and 11 respecively whilst 2014 Golden Boot winner Kado Aoci is on 10 goals. Acacia Ridge’s Juan Jaimes heads the Capital League 1 Golden Boot with 17 goals which was hugely aided after scoring four times in their 8-0 win over Moggill on Sunday night, with North Pine’s Shuto Kuboyama behind him on 13 goals. Capital League 2’s Golden Boot is surprisingly being fought out between Ipswich City and Annerley with Bull’s Ryan Adekoya New leading on 20 goals, followed by Annerley’s James Gorrie on 18 and then a host of players on 13. Capital League 3 has a tight Golden Boot race with Bardon Latrobe’s Shannon Mavrik leading on 15 goals courtesy of a recent formidable strike rate of 11 goals in his last 5 games. Caboolture’s Sam Heaney is second on 13 goals with a number of players in hot pursuit behind them. Samford Rangers Dane Forsyth, who won the 2016 Golden Boot in Capital League 4, again heads that particular Golden Boot race with 18 goals. He's enjoyed playing the bottom three sides most of all having netted 15 times against them in three games. Springfield’s Kevin Barraclough is in second spot on 15 goals.
