A stunning late show, a genuine ‘Cup-set’, a nine goal thriller and last year’s semi finalists being bundled as a Western Australian club made its own bit of history were all part of a drama filled opening night of the Westfield FFA Cup 2017 Round of 32.
There were Cup fairytales at all four venues on match night one as South Melbourne, Hakoah Sydney City East, New South Wales Division 2 club Bankstown Berries, and Sorrento from WA all secured their passage into the Round of 16.
In the FOX SPORTS broadcast match, South Melbourne found themselves in a titanic tussle with three time Round of 32 entrants Edgeworth Eagles in front of a crowd of 2,622 at Lakeside Stadium.
Both sides had their chances as opposing goalkeepers Nikola Roganovic and Nate Cavaliere were forced to produce of string of fine saves to prevent either side breaking the deadlock.
Then just as the match seemed destined for extra time, South’s goal scoring machine Milos Lujic headed home from a corner in literally the final play of the game to snatch victory and send the home supporters into raptures.
The upset of the night took place at Jensen Park as the Bankstown Berries, who compete in the PlayStation 4 NPL NSW second division, eliminated South Australia’s highly fancied entrant MetroStars.
Goals either side of half time from Jake Bradshaw and inspirational player/coach Perry Moustakas proved enough for the Berries, one of Australia’s oldest clubs, to seal the 2-1 result and arguably one of their most memorable wins.
Hills United looked on track to join their PS4 NPL 2 counterparts in the next round as they led higher division outfit Hakoah Sydney City East three times at Lily Homes Stadium.
But on each occasion Hakoah managed to equalise, captain Neil Jablonski’s second goal in the 90th minute sending the match to extra time.
From there it was one way traffic as Hakoah found the back of the net three times in the 30 minutes of extra time to book their place in the last 16 of the Westfield FFA Cup for the first time.
Over in the west, Sorrento became the first member Federation club from WA to reach the Round of 16 as the Gulls held out last year’s semi finalists, Canberra Olympic, 1-0 in front of a thrilled home crowd at Percy Doyle Reserve.
Sean Canham put his name in the history books as his 7th minute winner became the 300th goal scored in the Westfield FFA Cup Final Rounds.
The Round of 32 continues next week with back to back match days on Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd of August.
Match day 2 and 3 will see FOX SPORTS broadcast two intriguing Member Federation v Hyundai A-League encounters – Heidelberg United against Perth Glory on Tuesday night followed by Blacktown City hosting the Central Coast Mariners on Wednesday night.
The other six matches across the two nights will be streamed at https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/ffa-cup/live-stream.
For ticketing details on all of the upcoming Round of 32 matches, click here.
Westfield FFA Cup 2017 Round of 32 – Match Day 1 Results
South Melbourne 1 (Lujic 90+4’)
Edgeworth Eagles 0
Crowd: 2,622 @ Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park
Referee: Alex King
South Melbourne starting line-up: 1.Nikola Roganovic (gk), 3.Kristian Konstantinidis, 4.Michael Eagar, 7.Nicholas Epifano, 8.Luke Pavlou, 9.Milos Lujic, 11.Brad Norton (c), 15.Jesse Daley (27.Leigh Minopoulos 74’), 17.Marcus Schroen, 18.Matthew Millar, 23.Matthew Foschini
Substitutes not used: 5.Luke Adams, 10.David Moreno, 12.Stefan Zinni, 21.Zaim Zeneli (gk)
Yellow cards: Schroen 30’, Daley 32’, Eagar 45’, Norton 69’
Red cards: Nil
Edgeworth Eagles starting line-up: 20.Nate Cavaliere (gk), 2.Daniel McBreen, 4.Patrick Wheeler, 5.Ayden Brice, 6.Lachlan Pasquale, 9.Brody Taylor, 10.Kieran Sanders, 11.Dylan Holz, 14.Adam Cawley (17.Keigo Moriyasu 67’), 15.Josh Evans (c), 19.Aaron McLoughlin
Substitutes not used: 1.Josh Low (gk), 8.Aden Gardner, 13.Aaron Oppedisano, 18.Will Bower
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Hills United 3 (W.Giovenali 24’, Kelshaw 31’, Robertson 80’)
Hakoah Sydney City East 6 (Frangie 30’, Jablonski 54’/90’, Sweet 99’, Lekoski 107’, L.Jones 115’)
Crowd: 879 @ Lily Homes Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Ben Abraham
Hills United starting line-up: 69.Alastair Bruce (gk), 6.Bradley Robertson, 7.Wade Giovenali (45.Jacob Basden 73’), 8.Eoin Montford, 9.Sean Mitchell (12.Matthew Viera 91’), 10.Jordan Parfait, 11.Daine Merrin (c), 15.Matias Toro Suazo, 16.Greg Giovenali, 19.Glen Kelshaw, 24.Nathan Rayner (35.Michael Glenfield 63’)
Substitutes not used: 1.Roberto Maiorana (gk), 28.Keiran Pace
Yellow cards: Montford 37’, Merrin 55’, Mitchell 75’, Toro Suazo 83’, Bruce 115’, Robertson 119’
Red cards: Nil
Hakoah Sydney City East starting line-up: 1.Anthony Bouzanis (gk), 4.Bradley Walker, 9.Neil Jablonski (c), 10.Andre De Jong, 14.Anthony Frangie (17.Gideon Sweet 73’), 15.Dean Bereveskos (7.Aleksandar Lekoski 87’), 16.Oliver Green, 18.Harry Jones (36.Lee Jones 84’), 19.Gavin Rae, 33.Connor Shaddock, 40.Michael Kouta
Substitutes not used: 6.Cameron Draper, 45.Michael Figueira (gk)
Yellow cards: Bouzanis (gk) 75’, Green 79’, Walker 85’
Red cards: Nil
Bankstown Berries 2 (Bradshaw 17’, Moustakas 47’)
MetroStars 1 (Dawber 90+3’)
Crowd: 556 @ Jensen Park, Bankstown
Referee: Lachlan Keevers
Bankstown Berries starting line-up: 21.John Dimitrakas (gk) (1.Chad Taylor (gk) 27’), 2.Domenico Tripodi, 3.Daniel Di Ruocco, 5.James Combes, 6.Mitchell Farmer, 7.Kyle Ewart (c), 11.Andreas Vais (9.Gavin Forbes 75’), 12.Jake Bradshaw, 15.Perry Moustakas, 17.Daniel Fornito (16.Steven Drewery 86’), 19.Hyams Tomohiro
Substitutes not used: 4.Brandon Cook, 10.Timothy Raftopoulos
Yellow cards: Forbes 90+1’, Taylor 90+4’
Red cards: Nil
MetroStars starting line-up: 1.Isaac Carmody (gk), 3.Cohan Morris, 4.Justin Davis, 5.Tim Henderson, 8.Rocky Callisto (16.Alex Jakob 76’), 9.Jonathon Negus, 10.Liam Wooding (c), 17.Matthew Dawber, 18.Fabian Barbiero, 21.Adam Van Dommele, 23.Christian Esposito
Substitutes not used: 2.Nicholas Menechella, 14.Martin Duku, 22.Jarrod Moffa, 25.Daniel Godley (gk)
Yellow cards: Wooding 54’, Van Dommele 63’, Barbiero 90+2’, Henderson 90+4’
Red cards: Nil
Sorrento 1 (Canham 7’)
Canberra Olympic 0
Crowd: 928 @ Percy Doyle Reserve, Duncraig
Referee: Adam Fielding
Sorrento starting line-up: 1.James Morgan (gk), 4.Shaun Kilkenny, 6.Daryl Platten (c), 8.Ryan Pearson, 9.Sean Canham, 11.Timothy Hill, 13.Steven McDonald, 14.Scott Witschge, 17.Reece Vittiglia, 20.Brad McDonald, 21.Sammy Byles
Substitutes not used: 2.Jacob Shore, 7.Alex Morgan, 18.Jordan Brown, 19.Daniel Pearce, 60.Connor Campbell (gk)
Yellow cards: Morgan 90+2’
Red cards: Nil
Canberra Olympic starting line-up: 1.Angelo Konstantinou (gk) (c), 2.Tim Bobolas, 3.Josh Calabria, 4.Daniel Colbertaldo, 5.Phil Yarnold (15.Tommy McLachlan 65’), 6.Jeremy Habtemariam (22.Michael John 83’), 10.Stephen Domenici, 11.Michael Reeve (16.Josh Gulevski 78’), 12.Rob Cattanach, 17.Nick Bobolas, 23.Nathen Megic
Substitutes not used: 8.Bernard Rene, 20.Jack Pettit (gk)
Yellow cards: Bobolas 11’, Calabria 43’, Yarnold 53’, Colbertaldo 89’
Red cards: Nil
