The cupsets keep coming as Moreton City claim thrilling comeback win over Perth Glory
Round Ball Australia 
Melbourne Victory and NWS Spirit walking out for the Round of 16 clash. Photo: Poletti
The quarter-final draw for the 2024 Australia Cup is set as a remarkable cupset in Brisbane, Victory’s domination in NSW, and penalty dramatics in Melbourne wrap up the Round of 16.
Glory slip up on a two goal lead to the Banana Skins
In what can only be described as a bonkers Round of 16 clash, Queensland’s Moreton City Excelsior produced one of the greatest Australian cupsets in history to come from behind and defeat Perth Glory 3-2 at a rapturous Perry Park.
As expected, David Zdrilic’s Glory outfit suffocated Moreton City with intense high pressing, pushing numbers forward to break the deadlock in less than three minutes, from a corner finding left-back Zach Lisolajski’s head.
Perth doubled their advantage in the 10th minute after the Moreton City defence was caught napping from another set-piece whipped into the box – headed home by academy product Jacob Muir to have one foot in the quarter-finals.
Instead, the script changed dramatically when the Glory deployed a conservative approach for the first time under Zdrilic’s short reign which backfired as the two-goal buffer lasted only four minutes, continuing to pile on the pressure when they thought they had found the leveller from Marquez Walters, only to be ruled out for offside.
However, they didn’t have to wait long thanks to a darting run by Ben Holliday, thumping the ball into the roof of the net to produce an emphatic equaliser.
It went from bad to worse for the A-League club, as Adam Bugarija committed a late challenge in the centre of the park, giving referee Adam Kersey no option but to dish out a second yellow card three minutes before the break, resulting in no complaints from the 19-year-old.
The second half was a gritty backs-against-the-wall performance from Perth, clinging on for dear life after a couple of glorious chances went begging for Adam Taggart and Josh Risdon.
With five minutes remaining in regular time, super-sub Joseph Scott latched onto a cross from goal scorer Holliday to find the top corner and complete a miraculous victory.
Moreton will face Melbourne Victory away from home in the last eight next month.
Christian Montegan
Victory freeze out NWS Spirit at the Arctic Cricle
Despite the unseasonably warm weather in Sydney, the Arctic Circle once again lived up to its name, providing a chilly and windy atmosphere for the bumper crowd in attendance who watched Melbourne Victory run out 4-0 winners over NWS Spirit.
Ryan Teague scored first, before Nishan Velupillay added a second just shy of half time, with Nikos Vergos adding a third for the visitors in the 57th minute and Velupillay wrapping up the match with his second in the 67th minute.
After a 4-1 victory over Lambton Jaffas in the Round of 32, Victory are off to a good start to life under Patrick Kisnorbo, who said that his side showed great character in the win over Spirit, but also that his side could have performed better at the end of the game.
“In the last sort of 20 minutes, we sort of stopped and fell away a bit and we need to improve that,” Kisnorbo said.
“There’s a lot to work on. I think for me it’s the positioning of the players and their decision making in sort of the final third.
“All goals are collective, which I’m happy about, but also we can improve that as well.”
For NWS Spirit, their season comes to an end after not qualifying for the NPL NSW Men’s Finals Series.
Spirit coach David Perkovic was full of praise for both his opposition and his own squad.
“At this stage of their A-League season, I think they’ve probably got arguably the best squad in the country at the moment,” Perkovic said about Melbourne Victory.
“They’ve kept more visa players than most teams, so it was always going to be a tough challenge and accentuated that we lost a few players in the last week as well.
“But I’m pleased that my players got the experience, especially the younger ones. They’ll learn from it and they know what that level is, to play against that level, so they’ll be only the better for it.”
Poletti
Heidelberg sink to second shootout loss in a week
Just five days after their penalty shootout defeat to Hume City in the elimination finals of the NPL Victoria finals series, Heidelberg United have suffered the same fate again, this time in the Australia Cup Round of 16, but also against fellow Victorian state league opposition, Oakleigh Cannons.
Spot kicks were the theme of the entire game. The first came in the 40th minute for Oakleigh, after Mohamed Aidara was on the wrong end of one of the more soft handball decisions, the ball barely moving after clipping his supporting arm whilst diving for a challenge.
The Bergers perhaps thought that justice had been done when the Cannons’ English captain, Joe Guest, blasted the ball wide of the post to keep the score at 0-0 going into half time.
It was a scrappy and opportunistic finish for Jordan Hall who eventually did put Oakleigh into the lead early into the second half.
The Cannons, who had won their own elimination final in NPL Victoria at the weekend, must’ve thought it was their night when an acrobatic goal line clearance from Oliver Kubilay, denied Heidelberg in the 80th.
But, it was another handball penalty awarded in the final embers of the 90 that allowed Sean Ellis to convert from 12 yards and send it to extras.
The additional 30 minutes were symptomatic of two teams at the end of a long slog of a season, with the shootout growing increasingly likely with every long ball and no-nonsense clearance.
In the end, it was the crossbar that proved the ultimate enemy for Heidelberg. The tired legs of Ben Collins and Joshua Pin sacrificed accuracy for power, sending the ball flying off almost the exact same spot of the woodwork and into the night’s sky at the Home of the Matildas.
Two penalty shootouts, a tough way to tend their season, even more disappointing is that they didn’t even force a save out Cannons’ keeper, Nick Feely.
Oakleigh now must regather themselves, to take on the reigning NPL Victoria Champions, Avondale in a league semi-final on Saturday afternoon, before they welcome Macarthur FC in the next round of the Australia Cup, a repeat of the 2022 semi-final where Macarthur were victorious, five goals to two.
Lachlan Avil