THERE was a sprinkling of Cup magic as Bentleigh Greens’ 10 men beat Wellington Phoenix 1-0 to reach the last 16 of the FFA Cup, while Western Sydney pulled off a dramatic escape against Hellenic.
BENTLEIGH GREENS 1-0 WELLINGTON PHOENIX
Marco Jankovic, son of former Real Madrid defender Milan Jankovic, scored the decisive goal in the 23rd minute handing new Nix coach Mark Rudan a disastrous debut.
James Kelly was sent off for a second bookable offence in the first half, leaving Bentleigh to see out the rest of the game with 10 men.
But the one man disadvantage hardly showed as the Victorian NPL powerhouse held on to secure a famous win at Kingston Heath.
HELLENIC ATHLETIC 3-4 WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS
The Wanderers narrowly avoided an upset when Roly Bonevacia struck deep into injury to give the visitors a 4-3 win over Hellenic.
Eyes were firmly fixed on Western Sydney’s clash with Hellenic in the Northern Territory as new boss Markus Babbel took charge for the first time.
But the dramatic match left more questions than answers, with the Wanderers’ defence virtually non-existent for much of it.
Still, they managed to snatch a result – ending the dream for Hellenic.
An own goal to Hellenic and a penalty saw the Wanderers storm to an early 2-0 lead, but the home side hit back twice to level the scores in the second half.
DEVONPORT CITY 3-1 NORTHCOTE CITY
Elsewhere, Tasmanian side Devonport City beat Northcote City 3-1. Two goals inside the first 15 minutes set the tone, with Northcote unable to get back into the game.
And it went from bad to worse for Northcote with Mancini shown red, before they managed to pull a goal back in the second half.
NEWCASTLE JETS 1-0 GOLD COAST UNITED
The Newcastle Jets easily beat Gold Coast United 1-0 courtesy of an early Nikolai Topor-Stanley goal.
The Jets had flown straight to the Gold Coast from their pre-season camp in Spain, shrugging off the effects of jetlag to finally register their maiden FFA Cup win in the tournament’s five-year history.
PERTH GLORY 0-1 MELBOURNE VICTORY
Kosta Barbarouses’ first half goal was enough for Victory in their all A-League clash with Perth Glory.
Victory withstood waves of attacks from the Glory, but the match ultimately ended in defeat for Perth’s Tony Popovic.
BRISBANE ROAR 0-1 MELBOURNE CITY
Just when a penalty shoot-out looked certain, Bruno Fornaroli struck in extra-time to give Melbourne City the win.
It was a sensational strike to end a dramatic night.
The match between Brisbane and City was halted for more than 30 minutes in the first half after Luke Brattan suffered a serious injury.
The City midfielder left the field in an ambulance with the exact details of his injury yet to be determined.
BRISBANE ROAR v MELBOURNE CITY
PERTH GLORY v MELBOURNE VICTORY
Live stream the rest of the games on foxsports.com.au – CLICK HERE
RELIVE ALL THE ACTION IN OUR LIVE BLOG BELOW:
