A thrilling night of FFA Cup 5th Round qualifiers might have failed to produce any upsets but did deliver plenty of exhilarating action on the park with North Sunshine’s penalty shoot-out victory over rivals Preston Lions being the pick of the seven matches played out.
Taking place at George Andrews Reserve in Dandenong South, both sets of supporters turned up in good numbers to witness an action-packed rollercoaster night of football.
Newly appointed Preston coach Lou Acevski had overseen a single training session at BT Connor Reserve and it showed as his side began the contest on the back foot when Diellon Memishi teed up Edison Ponari in the 5th minute to flash his effort past Douglas Lindberg for the opener.
The Eagles had a great opportunity to extend their lead only for Nicholas Cullen to see his effort saved on the line by former Kingston City goalkeeper Lindberg, who was being kept busy.
Preston grew in confidence as the half went on and were back on level terms in the 35th minute when Chris Davies intercepted a poor Miles Shannon back pass before slotting the ball past Frano Saric.
Davies then almost gave the Lions the lead immediately after as he met a pin-point cross from Angel Taravillo only to see his header bounce onto the crossbar and away.
Arben Isai’s men responded and retook the lead in the 39th minute when the deadly Memishi pounced on an attempted chest back from Lions defender Caner Ucarli to hand the hosts the lead going into the break as Saric was forced into making a sharp save to deny Taravillo shortly afterwards.
The 2007 VPL Champions were finding it hard to get past the resolute Saric, who denied Davies a second as player-coach Arben Isai was a substitute in addition to injured goalscorer Memishi.
Davies was not to be denied as the Welshman was fouled by Shane Rexhepi in the penalty box before stepping up and converting past Saric for the leveller in the 81st minute.
Preston’s chances of securing a victory were dashed minutes later when English defender Scott Dixon collected a second yellow six minutes after collecting his first for dissent.
North Sunshine made the most of their numerical advantage in the 87th minute when a Feston Azizi delivery was met by the head of Ponari, with the ex-Bullen midfielder’s header looping over Lindberg.
Just as it appeared that the game would be settled in normal time, up stepped Davies to complete his hat trick from the set piece, with his curling free kick finding the top corner and subsequently evoking jubilant scenes between Lions players and supporters on the touchline.
Davies’ magical night continued in extra time when he latched onto a long ball forward, turned his marker before finishing well past Saric to collect his fourth and give the visitors an unlikely lead.
That lead lasted until the 120th minute when Azizi’s corner was met by the head of former Dandenong Thunder teammate Rexhepi, who redeemed himself with a powerful header past Lindberg.
The resulting penalty shootout saw Daniel Dragovic, Feta Memishi, Lewis Shannon and Azizi all convert their spot-kicks for the Eagles, as Taravillo had his penalty saved by Saric, while man-of-the-match Davies blazed over after Tom Morrison and Josh Stadnicki had slotted in their attempts.
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North Sunshine’s next opponents will be Hume City, who comfortably defeated Nunawading City 3-0 thanks to goals from Wayne Wallace, Atilla Ofli and Theo Markelis, with Liam Boland missing a penalty for the hosts as they prepare to square up against old boy Rexhepi in the sixth round.
Doubles to Sami Nour and Wade Dekker helped Green Gully dismantle State League One promotion hopefuls Altona Magic 4-0 in a rather one-sided encounter at Green Gully Reserve.
Green gully will face off against Avondale in a mouth-watering clash next round.
NPL2 East front-runners Dandenong City defeated top tier Bulleen Lions 2-0 under the lights at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex thanks to goals either side of the break from Shaun Filipovic and Nick Kalmar.
Dandenong City will now play the winner of Melbourne Knights and Banyule City
Heidelberg United had little trouble accounting for fifth-tier Knox City, defeating the giant killers 6-1 at Olympic Village. Braces to Kosta Kanakaris and Kenny Athiu, as well as further strikes to Jordan Wilkes and Phil Petreski, cancelled out City’s first-half consolation strike.
Heidelberg now await a more difficult prospect in top-flight rivals Kingston City next round.
Box Hill came from behind to defeat South Springvale 3-2 at White Eagles Stadium with a Joshua Calle double and Todd Dekker strike setting up a showdown with South Melbourne.
Two goals from Anthony Ramzy and a Alec Goodwin strike did the job for NPL2 West table-toppers Northcote City who defeat Mooroolbark 3-1 at Esther Park. Sam Klepac scored the sole goal for the Barkers who were denied a second following Griffin McMaster’s penalty save at 2-1.
Northcote’s draw goes from state one opposition to NPL with Port Melbourne their next assignment.
33 goals were scored across seven fixtures in an enchanting night of cup football, with the thriller at George Andrews Reserve set to remain etched in North Sunshine Eagles folklore for years to come.