Hume City advanced to the last 16 of the FFA Cup for the second consecutive year, defeating a gritty and determined Marconi Stallions outfit at ABD stadium on Wednesday night.
Former A-League striker with Newcastle Jets and Wellington Pheonix Mirjan Pavlovic converted a fantastic curling effort just four minutes into extra time to give the visitors the lead before Kym Harris headed home a 117th minute equaliser to send the match to penalties.
With Pavlovic missing the first spot kick, it would be Hume City’s night with centre half Shane Rexhepi slotting home the deciding spot kick to win the match for the Melbourne based outfit.
Here the major talking points from what was an enthralling contest.
The FFA Cup is back, and we love it!
Its been a long twelve months since the last incarnation of what has been a revelation for football in this country, the FFA Cup.
2015 featured many highlights, especially for Victorian based outfits with the Melbourne Victory crowned champions, Hume City making the semi finals (the second Victorian based outfit in two years outside the A-League to do so) and Heidelberg United cramming 12,500 people into Olympic Village as they hosted Melbourne City.
Although the clash itself wasn’t a blockbuster by name, with Hume City, despite last seasons heroics in the cup, sitting mid table in the Victorian NPL against an opponent in Marconi Stallions who were relegated to NPL2 New South Wales last season, that air of the cup was certainly afresh at a cold and windy ABD Stadium.
Hume may have gotten the win at the end of the day but for football fans around the country the match was merely the beginning of what is growing to be one of the most eagerly anticipated tournaments in the calendar year.
Hume City, Australia’s ‘cup’ team?
Hume City are becoming Australia’s own experts in the dramatic.
We saw last season how the side from Melbourne’s northern suburbs showed character and resolve, coming from behind on a number of occasions to get to the semi finals. The Broadmeadows outfit fell at the semi final stage against eventual winners Melbourne Victory, and a simil
Granted, Marconi are no A-League outfit and despite putting up a real fight tonight are not even a top tier state league outfit but that character was on show again from Hume, coming from behind to equalise late on in extra time to win the match on penalties.
What league positions?
One thing was for sure tonight though as Hume smashed home the winning penalty, whatever division you may be playing in, league form goes out the window in cup matches.
Interestingly enough of the two editions of the FFA Cup to date, Bentleigh Greens (2014) and Hume City (2015), who both reached the semi final stage, neither won their respective league competitions that season.
Similarly so tonight, we had two sides who haven’t lit the world on fire in their league campaigns as Marconi sit third in NSW NPL2 and Hume City fifth in NPL Victoria with the home side technically being a division higher on the Australian footballing pyramid.
Despite those standings though, Marconi pushed the home side all the way.
Kym Harris, the next Marcus Schroen?
Many people around Australian football wont know who Marcus Schroen is, but anyone who watched Hume City’s run to the semi final last season would most certainly be familiar with the now South Melbourne attacking midfielders exploits for his former club.
Having achieved almost legendary status in Broadmeadows, Schroen was one of the main pin-up boys of the run last year, scoring a number of critical goals including one of the most dramatic doubles in Australian football history against the Brisbane Strikers.
With the game poised at 2-1 going into second half stoppage time, Schroen stepped up to score a dramatic equaliser to send the match to extra time before scoring another in the 120th minute to take the game to penalties with Hume eventually prevailing in the shootout.
Despite possessing somewhat of a physical resemblance to Schroen, Harris is more like a traditional number 9 rather than a 10 but still can cause problems in the box with his aerial ability.
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