Thursday night in the Australia cup was filled with late drama as two Melbourne clubs advanced through to the semi-finals.
Both sides performed stoppage-time comebacks in another exciting night of Cup football.
MetroStars FC - 1 (Austin AYOUBI 27’)
Melbourne City FC - 2 (Curtis GOOD 84’, Tolgay ARSLAN 90+5’)
Melbourne City scored twice in the final 10 minutes to defeat a valiant MetroStars outfit 2-1 at T.K Shutter Reserve.
MetroStars stunned City, opening the scoring in the 27th minute when Austin Ayoubi rifled home from the right of the box with a high-quality strike.
The NPL SA premiers remained in front as the game heading into the final 10 minutes, but with six regular-minutes to go, Curtis Good got City back on level terms, rising highest in the box.
Melbourne City snatched the win deep into stoppage when Tolgay Arslan, after missing his initial effort from the spot, converted the rebound.
Melbourne Knights FC - 3 (Gian ALBANO 29’, Anton KINNANDER 90+1’, Mitchell HORE 90+6’)
Heidelberg United FC - 2 (Adrian ZAHRA 21’, Kane SHEPPARD 27’)
Melbourne Knights made their passage through to the semi-finals with an exhilarating stoppage-time turnaround against Heidelberg United at Knights Stadium.
Heidelberg United took the lead midway through the first half when Adrian Zahra made no mistake from the penalty mark.
United had their second six minutes later when Kane Sheppard continued his fine run of form in the competition nodding in a well-placed header from a left-sided cross.
Gian Albano halved the deficit for the Knights half an hour in, to give the side some hope as they went into the sheds.
The Knights carried on pushing for an equaliser deep into the second half and were handed an advantage 80 minutes in as Anthony Lesiotis was sent off for Heidelberg.
Pressure finally paid off for Melbourne Knights in the 91st minute with Anton Kinnander scoring from close range.
The hosts buoyed by that late equaliser, managed to grab the winning goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time through Mitchell Hore.
Hore's effort from the edge of the box squeezing past Pierce Clark in one of the most dramatic matches of the Cup so far.
