Hume City's Aamir Abdallah taking a free kick against Melbourne Srbija in the Round of 16. Photo: Ross Papadakis

There was no Cupset on Match Day Two of the Round of 16, but there was windy weather which treated everyone to an Olimpico in Melbourne, while the Wanderers remain undefeated under their new coach, and Adelaide United made life difficult for themselves over in Western Australia.

Aamir Abdullah Olimpico sees Hume City defeat Melbourne Srbija

Hume City defeated VPL2 side FC Melbourne Srbija 1-0 to advance to the Quarter Finals of the 2024 Australia Cup.

The first half was a tight and cagey affair saw both sides with close efforts and excellent goalkeeping efforts from both Michael Weier and Jarrod Hill in between the sticks, yet neither side could break the deadlock. 

The second half was a battle nothing short of intense passion and physicality that saw Aamir Abdallah use the wind to his advantage to score a wonder goal directly from the corner to finally separate the two sides. 

Abdallah’s goal in front of 3163 passionate supporters sent Hume City’s Red and White Army into elation.

The active support erupted as the ball nestled into the back of the net, the stadium shook with the collective joy of it’s supporters. The moment was a testament to the unwavering spirit of Hume City and their fans, who had witnessed a truly remarkable goal that would be remembered for years to come.

Abdallah was effusive in his praise for the active fans.

“Honestly, it’s been really good. Throughout the season, they’ve been building and building and building and it’s just been an amazing atmosphere,” Abdallah said.

“They give us a whole different sort of atmosphere in the game and it’s just boosts us all to perform to the best of our ability.”

Into the Australia Cup quarter-finals for just the third time in the club’s history, Hume City will face a familiar opponent in South Melbourne. If this games passion and atmosphere were any precedent, this match-up is set to be even bigger and better, with both teams eager to advance further in the competition.

With both teams wanting the Cup for themselves, this quarter final clash promises to be a thrilling spectacle for fans of both clubs. The winner will advance to the semi-finals and take a significant step towards lifting the Australia Cup trophy.

Ross Papadakis

Adelaide do it the hard way against Olympic Kingsway

It was again a case of the Reds making life far more difficult for themselves than it needed to be, barely scraping by NPL WA side Olympic Kingsway 3-2. At least this time viewers weren’t subjected to the mental torture of another United game going to extra time.

Austin Ayoubi again made his case to start come Round 1, with a well taken finish putting the visitors in front after a period of sustained attacking threat. Indeed, the Adelaide front line as a whole looked solid throughout the 90, with Jovanovic offering an option by dropping deep into the midfield (and getting on the scoresheet with a tidy header), and Madanha was dynamic and explosive, if lacking the final product, as he bombed up the right wing from full back. 

But credit must be given to Olympic Kingsway for the way they stayed in the game. Even at 3-1 down, and with United firmly in control of the tempo, Kingsway found ways to disrupt the rhythm and tip the scales back in their favour.

Consistently threatening on the break, especially when they could bypass the ball-winning machine of Ethan Alagich in the middle of the park, Olympic got their chance when James Delianov over-committed and brought down Joseph Knowles in the box.

A simple penalty to partner his header earlier in the game saw Liam Boland pencil himself one clear of Besart Berisha as the cup’s leading goalscorer, and brought Kingsway back into the game for the final few minutes.

Unfortunately for the West Australian side, it wasn’t enough; a late header missing the bar by inches proving to be their last chance to equalise.

Again, questions must be asked of the Adelaide defence. The single centre back formation has again proven shaky, and Veart is doing himself no favours having to use such a formation by keeping Bart Vriends out of the squad.

Panagiotis Kikianis looked uncomfortable on the ball against the Knowles-Boland press, and was out-muscled on a couple of occasions. Javi Lopez, meanwhile, made the out-of-form Ryan Kitto look like an attractive option at full back by dropping one of his worst performances yet in an Adelaide shirt.

The marking system Adelaide use is shambolic, with defenders routinely standing around in space, inviting headers from opposition attackers – such as the first goal scored by Boland, and the chance from the free kick in the dying moments.

There is also a general apathy towards taking initiative. Defenders are frequently too passive, giving time and space around the box to attackers, and not committing to challenges in the right moments. The coaching staff need to take a long hard look at what they’ve done over the last few years with the backline and get things in order, because it is foolish to think the inclusion of Bart Vriends will suddenly make everything perfect.

Alas, the Reds stumble on into the quarter-finals, with an even bigger test now ahead of them. The Wanderers absolutely crushed Adelaide in the last edition of this competition, and given how both teams have looked so far, a similar result would hardly be surprising.

Jacob Stevens

Wanderers remain unbeaten under Alen Stajcic

The Wanderers advanced to the quarter-finals with a 4-0 victory over Lions FC, defeating NPL Queensland opposition for the second time after winning against Brisbane City in the Round of 32.

Nicolas Milanovic scored the lone goal of the first half, before Zac Sapsford (53rd minute), Marcus Antonsson (76th minute), and Marcus Younis (84th minute) sealed the victory to make it two wins from two under new coach Alen Stajcic.

Speaking on Network 10 after the game, Brandon Borrello noted that everyone has bought into his brand of football ahead of the new season.

“It’s been great. He’s done an exceptional job on making everyone feel welcome and included,” Borrello said.

“It’s quite hard obviously coming into a new team, you know. There’s all these different players, new faces, you know, to get sort of a starting 11 rolling, I could imagine it’s not easy at all.

“He’s doing really well in that and I think he’s getting the most out of the boys of what he can this far into preseason.” 

He also praised the opposition, saying that they play a really nice brand of football and are a very strong team.

Lions FC now turn their attention to an NPL Queensland semi-final match against the Gold Coast Knights on Saturday afternoon.

Shaun Carlos, who has been part of the club since he was five, talked about how the long season has impacted the club.

“We’ve got a decent squad. We’ve got some great depth which is amazing. We’ve called on everyone,” Carlos said.

“I think we’ve used nearly 25-odd players easily throughout. We’re up to nearly 40 games through a season.

“We played on Saturday and we back up against an A-League team tonight, and then we go down to the Coast and play on Saturday again against the Premiers who are obviously quality.

“It’s a tough season but these are the games you want to play in and you work so hard in pre-season to be here, so you enjoy the moment and obviously you want to put on a great performance and obviously we’re disappointed with the result.

“But we’re here, we made it, we put on a show, we backed it up with a great effort tonight so [we] hope we’ll continue on and get a better result on Saturday.”

Poletti

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