FFA Cup by the numbers

Ahead of the Westfield FFA Cup Semi Finals, we decided to crunch some numbers on the four remaining clubs and across this year’s Final Rounds as a whole.

Firstly, everyone who has ventured out to a Westfield FFA Cup match this year take a bow. Crowds are currently up 26 per cent compared to the same time last year. 87,914 fans have come through the turnstiles to date, which included the second biggest crowd outside last year’s Final when 11,372 packed into Olympic Village for Heidelberg United’s clash with Melbourne City FC.

Olympic Village

There have been 96 goals scored in the 28 matches of the Final Rounds so far, equating to an average of 3.43 goals per game (can’t argue about the value for the money for goal action in the Cup).

Of the 96 goals there have been two own goals, the unfortunate recipients Melbourne Victory’s Leigh Broxham against Rockdale City Suns in the Round of 16, and Greg Henslee’s heartbreaker in the dying seconds of extra time which consigned Brisbane Strikers to a 4-3 loss to Hume City in the Round of 32.

Another 11 goals have come from the penalty spot and that number could have been even higher as another five have been awarded but the resultant spot kick hasn’t found the back of the net. Two of the missed penalties came on the same night at different venues but the ones that will arguably be missing the most sleep over them is Lions FC’s Andre Bonotto and Central Coast Mariners striker Roy O’Donovan.

In Gosford, O’Donovan had the chance to put the Mariners back on level terms against Wellington Phoenix in the 84 th minute of their Round of 32 clash but he cannoned his penalty into the crossbar.

After Perth Glory goalkeeper Jerrad Tyson was shown a straight red card in just the 7 th minute, Bonotto had the chance to give the Brisbane Premier League side a dream start against their highly fancied opponents only to see his penalty saved by Glory’s reserve keeper Nathan Feeley. What might have been as Perth went on to win in extra time.

Just on extra time, four matches have needed the full 120 minutes to been decided, while excitedly for some and agonisingly for others, five encounters have ended with penalty shootouts.

Of this year’s four semi finalists, Perth Glory have been the clutch kings as they prevailed in penalty shootouts in both the Round of 32 and Quarter Finals, while they needed extra time to get past Lions FC. They’ll fancy their chances again if it goes the distance against Melbourne City FC.

It would also be remiss not to mention the slices of cheese, with 112 yellow cards dished out so far, Oakleigh Cannons the biggest culprits having received 16 cautions across their three matches. There have also been five red cards.

The race for bragging rights as the competition’s all-time leading scorer is another stat worth noting. Perth Glory’s Serbian Nebojsa Marinkovic currently sits equal with Sergio Cirio on seven goals and can go ahead if he finds the back of the net against Melbourne City FC.

But Melbourne City’s marquee man Aaron Mooy and Melbourne Victory’s lethal marksman Besart Berisha are breathing down Marinkovic’s neck with six goals each, and you wouldn’t bet against them hitting the score sheet in their respective Semi Finals.

Marcus Schroen

Hume City’s Marcus Schroen also can’t be discounted. The 22 year old has scored four times (six if you include Hume’s matches in the Preliminary Rounds), and together with team mate Theo Markelis (who has scored three times), the duo are proving a lethal combination for the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria club. Notably, three of Schroen’s four goals have come after the 90 th minute. Just imagine if he scored a stoppage time winner against Melbourne Victory.

They’re just some of the numbers that the Westfield FFA Cup has provided so far this year. They make for some interesting reading but when it comes down to trying to work out which clubs are going to make it through to the big one, the only numbers that matter will be the ones in the goal column on the scoreboard. Bring it on!

WESTFIELD FFA CUP 2015 - BY THE NUMBERS

Total goals scored - 96

Average goals per game - 3.43

Own goals - 2

Penalties awarded - 16

Penalties converted - 11

Penalties missed - 5

Yellow cards - 112

Red cards - 5

Matches decided in extra time - 4

Matches decided by penalty shootouts - 5

Aaron Mooy

WESTFIELD FFA CUP 2015 FINAL ROUNDS – LEADING SCORERS

6 - Aaron Mooy (Melbourne City FC)

4 - Marcus Shroen (Hume City)

3 - Besart Berisha (Melbourne Victory), Bruno Fornaroli (Melbourne City FC), Theo Markelis (Hume City)

2 - Kosta Barbarouses (Melbourne Victory), Marcelo Carrusca (Adelaide United), Scot Coulson (Brisbane Strikers), Dimas Delgado (Western Sydney Wanderers FC), Daniel Heffernan (Heidelberg United), Jimmy Jeggo (Adelaide United), Marko Jesic (Rockdale City Suns), Jesse Makarounas (Melbourne Victory), Nebojsa Marinkovic (Perth Glory), Panagiotis Nikas (Sydney United 58 FC), Dean Piemonte (Oakleigh Cannons), Pablo Sanchez (Adelaide United)

WESTFIELD FFA CUP FINALS ROUNDS - ALL TIME LEADING SCORERS

7 - Sergio Cirio, Nebojsa Marinkovic

6 - Besart Berisha, Aaron Mooy

5 - Andy Keogh, Matt Sim

4 - Marcus Shroen

3 - Ali Abbas, Bruce Djite, Scot Coulson, Bruno Fornaroli, Michael Gaitatzis, Theo Markelis, Jacob McLean

Melbourne City 2 - use this one

SEMI FINALISTS

Melbourne City FC

Previous results
2015
Quarter Final (29/09/15)

Heidelberg United 0
Melbourne City FC 5 (Fornaroli 2’/90+2’, Mooy 65’/69’/84’)
Crowd: 11,372 @ Olympic Village

Round of 16 (26/08/15)
Melbourne City FC 5 (Mooy 18’ (pen), Novillo 20’, Fornaroli 32’ (pen), Koren 40’, Dekker 49’)
Wellington Phoenix 1 (Krishna 34’ (pen))
Crowd: 4,027 @ AAMI Park

Round of 32 (4/08/15)
Edgeworth FC 1 (Hammel 25’ (pen))
Melbourne City FC 2 (Mooy 35’, 90+2’)
Crowd: 2,430 @ Magic Park, Broadmeadow

2014
Round of 32 (12/08/14)

Melbourne City 1 (Kalmar 65’)
Sydney FC 3 (Gameiro 23’, Abbas 111’ (pen)/114’ (pen))
Crowd: 2,800 @ Morshead Park Stadium, Ballarat

Total number of Home matches: 2
Total number of Away matches: 2
Total goals scored: 13
Total goals conceded: 5
Overall leading goal scorer: Aaron Mooy (6)
Yellow cards this year: 3

Victory players celebrate Gui Finkler's stunning opener against the Reds.

Melbourne Victory

Previous results
2015
Quarter Final (22/09/15)

Melbourne Victory 3 (Finkler 10’, Barbarouses 45+1’, Berisha 82’ (pen))
Adelaide United 1 (Carrusca 78’ (pen))
Crowd: 10,521 @ AAMI Park

Round of 16 (1/09/15)
Rockdale City Suns 2 (Jesic 54’ (pen), Broxham 87’ (og))
Melbourne Victory 3 (Makarounas 45’/66’, Berisha 50’)
Crowd: 4,165 @ Jubilee Oval, Kogarah

Round of 32 (4/08/15)
Balmain Tigers 0
Melbourne Victory 6 (Berisha 11’, Pain 41’, Barbarouses 56’, Georgievski 58’, Howard 70’, Ben Khalfallah 84’)
Crowd: 4,849 @ Leichhardt Oval, Leichhardt

2014
Quarter Final (29/10/14)

Perth Glory 4 (Keogh 15’ (pen)/82’, De Silva 103’, Marinkovic 111’)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Ben Khalfallah 8’, Finkler 90+2’)
Crowd: 3,899 @ nib Stadium, Perth

Round of 16 (16/09/14)
Tuggeranong United 0
Melbourne Victory 6 (Berisha 11’/21’/86’, Delpierre 14’, Finkler 52’, Pain 57’)
Crowd: 5,150 @ Viking Park, Wanniassa

Round of 32 (20/08/14)
Bayswater City 0
Melbourne Victory 2 (Barbarouses 23’, Thompson 77’)
Crowd: 1,650 @ Western Australia Athletics Stadium, Floreat

Total number of Home matches: 1
Total number of Away matches: 5
Total goals scored: 22
Total goals conceded: 7
Overall leading goal scorer: Besart Berisha (6)
Yellow cards this year: 5

Ante Covic celebrates with Michael Thwaite after Glory's shootout win over the Wanderers.

Perth Glory

Previous results
2015
Quarter Final (29/09/15)

Perth Glory 1 (Marinkovic 61’)
Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 (Delgado 41’)
Perth Glory won 4-2 on penalties
Crowd: 3,003 @ Dorrien Gardens

Round of 16 (26/08/15)
Lions FC 0
Perth Glory 1 (Harold 116’)
Crowd: 2,550 @ Perry Park

Round of 32 (11/08/15)
Newcastle Jets 2 (Carney 24’, Haliti 116’)
Perth Glory 2 (Sidnei Sciola 87’, Marinkovic 93’)
Perth Glory won 4-3 on penalties
Crowd: 2,563 @ Magic Park, Broadmeadow

2014
Final (16/12/14)

Adelaide United 1 (Cirio 68’)
Perth Glory 0
Crowd: 16,124 @ Coopers Stadium, Hindmarsh

Semi Final (11/11/14)
Bentleigh Greens 0
Perth Glory 3 (Marinkovic 28’/50’, Harold 84’)
Crowd: 3,300 @ Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, Cheltenham

Quarter Final (29/10/14)
Perth Glory 4 (Keogh 15’ (pen)/82’, De Silva 103’, Marinkovic 111’)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Ben Khalfallah 8’, Finkler 90+2’)
Crowd: 3,899 @ nib Stadium, Perth

Round of 16 (23/09/14)
St Albans Saints 1 (McGuffie 68’ (pen))
Perth Glory 4 (Marinkovic 38’/90+3’, Maclaren 62’, Keogh 72’)
Crowd: 3,671 @ Knights Stadium, Sunshine North

Round of 32 (5/08/14)
Newcastle Jets 0
Perth Glory 2 (Keogh 22’/88’)
Crowd: 2,877 @ Magic Park, Broadmeadow

Total number of Home matches: 2
Total number of Away matches: 6
Total goals scored: 17
Total goals conceded: 7
Overall leading goal scorer: Nebojsa Marinkovic (7)
Yellow cards this year: 6
Red cards this year: 1

Hume City

Hume City

Road to the Semi Finals

Preliminary Rounds
Round 4 (14/03/15)

Hume City 5 (Shroen 23’/54’, Aguek 45+2’, Mbarga 65’/88’)
Riversdale 0

Round 5 (2/04/15)
Hume City 4 (Mbarga 6’, Franjic 40’/86’, Aguek 79’)
Geelong 0

Round 6 (6/06/15)
Ballarat Devils 1
Hume City 2 (Clark, Ingham)

Round 7 (24/06/15)
Hume City 2 (Markelis 2)
Kingston City 0

Final Rounds
Round of 32 (29/07/15)

Hume City 4 (Hegarty 3’, Shroen 90+1’/105’, Henslee 120+1’ (og))
Brisbane Strikers 3 (Henslee 23’, Coulson 90’/103’)
Crowd: 853 @ ABD Stadium

Round of 16 (1/09/15)
Hume City 3 (Clark 35’, Schroen 43’, Markelis 83’)
Sydney Olympic 1 (Hatzimouratis 64’)
Crowd: 1,624 @ ABD Stadium

Quarter Final (22/09/15)
Hume City 3 (Markelis 17’/84’, Schroen 118’)
Oakleigh Cannons 2 (Rooney 3’, Piemonte 34’)
Crowd: 1,504 @ ABD Stadium

Total number of Home matches: 3
Total number of Away matches: -
Total goals scored: 10
Total goals conceded: 6
Overall leading goal scorer: Marcus Schroen (4)
Yellow cards this year: 6