NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 04: Erik Paartalu of Melbourne City heads the ball during the FFA Cup match between Edgeworth FC and Melbourne City FC at Magic Park on August 4, 2015 in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Melbourne’s two A-League clubs avoided potential major FFA Cup upsets by recording away wins last night, albeit in vastly contrasting fashions.
Melbourne Victory were rarely threatened as they cantered to a 6-0 victory over Sydney’s Balmain Tigers, however Melbourne City needed an injury-time winner from Aaron Mooy to scrape to a tense 2-1 comeback win over Edgeworth Eagles in Newcastle.
Part-timers Edgeworth threatened to record a massive upset when they took the lead through a Bren Hammel penalty midway through the first half, only for Mooy to quickly draw City level with a scintillating 30m free kick.
The sometime Socceroo then repeated the feat late on to get the ambitious City out of trouble via a 92-minute winner.
In Sydney, A-League champions Victory scored after only 11 minutes through Besart Berisha, who slotted the ball home after a sharp interchange of passes with Jesse Makarounas. It took until four minutes from halftime before the Victory claimed their second thanks to Connor Pain.
Victory nabbed two more soon after the break through Kosta Barbarouses and Daniel Georgievski, ending any hopes of an upset from the fourth-tier side, much to the disappointment of a lively 4849-strong Leichhardt Oval crowd.
Balmain, who hit the post in the first half with a Joel Cook header, were overrun in the latter stages and there were further goals for George Howard and Fahid Ben Khalfallah.
Sydney Olympic won through to the round of 16 for the second year in succession but needed an 83rd-minute winner to see off Canberra’s Gungahlin United.
Another major upset loomed as South Hobart took a 2-0 lead away to Sydney United but the former National Soccer League powerhouse revived in the final half-hour to level at 3-3 on the back of a Panny Nikas double.
The teams were unable to be separated throughout 30 minutes of extra time only for the Sydneysiders to prevail 3-1 in a penalty shootout.
Former Central Coast Mariners’ goalkeeper Justin Pasfield made two saves.
source:theffacup.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 