Victorian amateur football club South Springvale’s dream run in the national FFA Cup continued on Tuesday after a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over South Cardiff at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
The teams were tied 2-2 after extra-time, with South Springvale levelling twice after falling behind.
South Springvale will now play in the Round of 16 of the newly formed FFA Cup competition and a match-up against A-League opposition could possibly await.
The third-tier Victorian side, fourth-tier nationally, had to beat five teams to qualify for the tournament proper.
Bill Lambropoulos, head coach of South Springvale, was lost for words after seeing his side fight back.
“We were falling over like rabbits in the end,” Lambropoulos said. “We were so tired, boys were cramping up everywhere and I thought we were going to concede. What courage, I take my hat off to them.
“FFA and Westfield, what they’ve done for us is incredible. They’ve opened the doors for grassroots clubs.
“No one even knew who we were, now we’re on Fox Sports and in every paper.”
Cardiff got off to a perfect start just four minutes in, when a long throw-in from left-back Chris Gizzard was flicked on by Jarryd Johnson. Forward Lee Ashton had the simple task of tapping into an open net.
Ashton came close to making it 2-0 soon after but an attempted shot from a rebound was blocked by Springvale defender Anstidis Drakos.
All of South Cardiff’s attacks were down the right flank, with Dean Panagopoulos the next to miss with his header following a cross from the right.
Despite the New South Wales’ side’s dominance in the early stages, Springvale found an equaliser on 25 minutes when Alexandru Florea headed home at the back post following a dangerous corner-kick.
Springvale had a chance to go ahead a minute later, when Luke Burgess had a chance right in front but his volley crashed off the crossbar.
The miss proved costly with Cardiff restoring their lead minutes before half-time, thanks to a powerful effort by Mitchell Wallace.
The second half was dull in comparison, with chances few and far between. It was not until the 75-minute mark that a clear-cut opportunity was created, but despite James Byrnes' cool finish he was adjudged offside.
Springvale sent on former Melbourne Victory forward Ricky Diaco in the latter stages of the game and his class was apparent immediately.
With 11 minutes to go, Springvale managed to equalise again when Darragh Ryan played a perfect pass for Sotiros Dimitrakopoulos to slot past the Cardiff goalkeeper.
Extra-time saw a number of players suffer from fatigue with all their substitutes used by the end of regulation time.
South Springvale converted all their penalties. Gazzard missed for Cardiff, before the last spot-kick by Jarryd Johnson was saved by Springvale goalkeeper Rani Dowisha.
In other FFA Cup action, National Premier League Victoria side Melbourne Knights was knocked out by Queensland outfit Olympic FC, losing 3-1 in Brisbane.
