Green Gully striker Liam Boland revealed that he felt his late effort was goal-bound from the moment it was struck, as Central Coast Mariners succumbed to a late charge from the Victorian NPL outfit in Kealba.
Speaking to media post-match, the forward was visibly overawed by what he and his team had just accomplished.
Football has a long history of its best moments coming as a direct result of players following instinct, and Boland did just that.
“I saw (Ivan) Necevski off his line and straight away I backed myself and just went for it”
“I hit it pretty flat and it came off, just under the crossbar, so I was stoked. I knew as soon as I hit it,” he said.
The magic of the bloody cup…#GRGvCCM #FFACup pic.twitter.com/tcVaGrlXxi
— Outside90 (@Outside90) August 2, 2016
Head coach Arthur Papas praised the togetherness of his team following the landmark result
“We spoke about staying in the game as long as possible. We believed we had the legs to keep going, and also the belief and the spirit.
“This group’s amazing, we’ve shown it many times.”
It is only the second time in FFA Cup history that an A-League club has been knocked out by a lower league side, with Adelaide City the first to complete the feat against the Wanderers in August 2014.
The 36-year-old manager was hoping to draft in A-League veteran and former Socceroo Ante Covic to replace suspended goalkeeper Rani Dowisha, a move that was blocked by Football Federation Australia (FFA) this week.
“Over the weekend, there wasn’t a lot of correspondence (with FFA), even up until yesterday we weren’t sure,” Papas said.
“If he (Ante Covic) was cleared, he was here. We were so grateful to him for putting himself in that position where he made himself available.”
Boland's brilliance, Jones' midfield mastery. @liambednarski's player ratings from #GRGvCCM #FFACup https://t.co/idrvJOdntr
— Outside90 (@Outside90) August 3, 2016
While the Gully coach bemoaned the decision initially, stand-in ‘keeper Sebastian Mattei was a pillar of strength between the posts, making a number of crucial interventions.
“I may have found a new no.1 tonight anyway, because Seb Mattei was outstanding,” Papas said.
Green Gully currently sit sixth in the Victorian NPL standings, and face Oakleigh Cannons on Monday night at 8:30pm at Jack Edwards Reserve. The Cavaliers also have the Dockerty Cup final against Bentleigh Greens to look forward to on August 17.
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