The Western Sydney Wanderers have scraped through to the FFA Cup Round of 16 after narrow 4-3 victory over Darwin’s Hellenic AC.
The Western Sydney Wanderers have scraped through to the FFA Cup Round of 16 after a narrow 4-3 victory over Darwin’s Hellenic AC.
A double from Oriol Riera, as well as goals from Roly Bonevacia and an own goal, was just enough to see the Red & Black progress to the next stage of the FFA Cup tournament.
It was a manic start to the match in Darwin with Hellenic gifting the lead to the Red & Black in the 8th minute after Daniel Smith headed Bonevacia’s corner kick into the back of his own net.
Two minutes later, Brendan Hamill broke through Hellenic’s defence and was brought down in the box after a messy challenge, resulting in a penalty being awarded.
Riera stepped up to the spot and converted, putting the Wanderers up 2-0.
Kosta Grozos almost made it three for the Red & Black in quick succession, but his curved shot went wide of the goal.
The home side pulled one back in the final minutes of the first half and Smith redeemed himself for his earlier error, firing past Wanderers debutant goalkeeper Danijel Nizic.
Bruce Kamau and Bonevacia continued to combine well in the early stages of the second half with Kamau whipping in a great cross to Bonevacia, whose header went just wide of the goal.
Hellenic’s Sulev Maskey then levelled the scoreline with an incredible free kick that evaded Nizic and the Wanderers defence.
Tarek Elrich was called into the action, making some crucial defending to block another chance by Hellenic on the counter.
The Red & Black hit back and a great play between Nick Fitzgerald and Kamau set Riera up for his second of the match.
Yet the Wanderers couldn’t celebrate for long with Maskey equalising for Hellenic once more, the score sitting at 3-3.
The Wanderers fought back and Tokich fired from distance before Hamill was forced to make an incredible clearance off the line.
With their backs against the wall in the final minutes of additional time, Kamau barged through Hellenic’s defence and combined with Bonevacia who smashed the ball home.
The Red & Black held onto their lead for the final four minutes of the challenging match and will now progress to the FFA Cup Round of 16 where they will face Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
