Hume City's match-winner Shane Rexhepi was thrilled to strengthen the club's brilliant FFA Cup reputation after a tumultuous week.
Rexhepi scored the winning penalty for hosts Hume as they defeated Marconi 4-2 on penalties at ABD Stadium.
Last week, Lou Acevski quit as coach of Hume after five years in charge, with the former NSL goalkeeper having led the NPL Victoria side to the FFA Cup semi-finals in 2015.
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But his former players continued their trend of late wins in Australia's national knockout competition on Wednesday, and Rexhepi argued the victory was in honour of Acevski's work.
"It's been heartbreaking, to be perfectly honest. The last week's been a rollercoaster, you know," Rexhepi told Fox Sports.
"We'd been doing really well, we lost a couple of games, our coach decided to part ways with the club, but that was for you - Louie and 'Zoki' [assistant coach Zoran Markovski] and everyone who's part of the club.
"We love them, they love us and I know they're watching at home and they'll be rapt for us."
After a goalless 90 minutes, Marconi hit the front through Mirjan Pavlovic's fine strike before Kym Harris' 117th-minute header ensured a shootout in Melbourne's north.
Rexhepi applauded Hume after they "dug deep" and joked that his team-mates "like to entertain" as they again left it late in the FFA Cup.
Hume needed extra-time in both the Round of 32 and quarter-finals last year on their way to the semi-finals.
