Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat is predicting an entertaining Westfield FFA Cup clash against Adelaide United after the two fierce rivals were drawn against each other in the Cup quarter finals.
Victory narrowly booked their spot in the last eight with a pulsating 3-2 win over a plucky Rockdale City Suns at Jubilee Oval on Tuesday night.
Young midfielder Jesse Makarounas made the most of a rare start with a goal in each half, with Besart Berisha grabbing the other.
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The Victory boss then watched the live draw on Fox Sports just after full-time as his side were given a home tie against the FFA Cup's defending champions.
“It wasn’t great tonight but we look forward. Adelaide possesses a good game for us,” Muscat told Fox Sports.
“We’ve got them [Adelaide] in the first game of the [Hyundai A-League] season, we’ll get a good luck at them and I suppose they’ll get a good look at us.
“It should be an entertaining game and a little bit different now that both teams have something to lose.
“There was only one team that had something to lose tonight and I thought we just hung on," he added.
Victory were forced to work hard for their win against the PS4 NPL NSW outfit, who took the game to the Hyundai A-League champions.
It looked like being a comfortable night for the visitors when Berisha made it 2-0 early in the second half but the Suns roared back with Marko Jesic converting a penalty soon after.
Makarounas then curled in a screamer before Rockdale responded again, halving the deficit four minutes from time via a Leigh Broxham own goal.
It led to a frantic finish as Victory were forced to defend a series of corners and set-pieces but they held firm to avoid a potential boilover.
“We are pleased that we are through another round but not with our performance,” striker Besart Berisha said.
“I thought in the beginning we didn’t keep the ball and penetrate. We lost a lot of balls which we could have kept and have more possession.
“We can play much better. But full credit to Rockdale, they played really good and respect for their performance."
