Round of 32 focus - Victoria

Over the next nine days leading up to the Round of 32 draw, get the lowdown on which clubs are in from each of the nine Member Federations. The first cab off the rank – Victoria.

Football Federation Victoria (FFV) was the first Member Federation to determine their Round of 32 entrants back on 24 May.

The four FFV clubs in this year’s Round of 32 represent a heavyweight quartet in the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria competition. All four have been in the Westfield FFA Cup Final Rounds before, two of whom have previously reached the semi finals, and all four will have big aspirations of making their mark on the national stage in 2017.

Here is who will be lining up from Football Federation Victoria…

Bentleigh Greens #BGR

League: PS4 NPL Victoria

Home Venue: Kingston Heath Soccer Complex (301 Centre Dandenong Road, Cheltenham)

Website: bentleighgreens.com.au

Twitter: @BentleighGreens

Facebook: facebook.com/BentleighGreens

Head Coach: John Anastasiadis

How they qualified

Round 4
Bentleigh Greens 2 (Brennan 101’, Fry 120+2’)
Dandenong Thunder 0
After extra time

Round 5
Richmond SC 0
Bentleigh Greens 6 (Jack Webster 40’, Andy Brennan 57’/77’, Matt Thurtell 70’/74’, Kieran Dover 87’)

Round 6
Bentleigh Greens 6 (Ross Archibald 2’, Matt Thurtell 12’/36’, Andy Brennan 30’/41’, Trent Clulow 70’)
Morwell Pegasus 0

Round 7
Bentleigh Greens 3 (Troy Ruthven 34’, Matt Thurtell 71’, Andy Brennan 72’)
Green Gully 2

Westfield FFA Cup history

2014 - Knocked out in Semi Finals by Perth Glory 3-0 at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, Cheltenham

2015 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32

2016 - Knocked out in Quarter Finals by Melbourne Victory 2-0 at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, Cheltenham

Lowdown

Bentleigh Greens find themselves in the Round of 32 for the third time in four years. Two 6-0 results in this year’s Preliminary Rounds were bookended by a couple of closer tussles as they needed extra time to get past Dandenong Thunder and were pushed by Green Gully before eventually prevailing 3-2 to reach the last 32. Matt Thurtell and Andy Brennan were the chief destroyers in the Prelim Rounds, the duo scoring 10 of Bentleigh’s 13 goals.

The team from Melbourne’s south became the first Member Federation club to reach the Westfield FFA Cup Semi Finals in the competition’s inaugural year in 2014 where they succumbed at home to Perth Glory. At the time of writing they were sitting third on the PS4 NPL Victoria ladder behind fellow Round of 32 entrants South Melbourne FC and Heidelberg United.

 

Heidelberg United #HFC

League: PS4 NPL Victoria

Home Venue: Olympic Village, Heidelberg West

Website: hufc.com.au

Twitter: @HUFCWARRIOR

Facebook: facebook.com/hufc58

Head Coach: George Katsakis

How they qualified

Round 4
Heidelberg United 4 (Jordan Wilkes 19’, Kenny Athiu 31’/83’, Sean Ellis 81’)
Moreland Zebras 0

Round 5
Heidelberg United 6 (Kosta Kanakaris 21’/68’, Kenny Athiu 29’/62’, Jordan Wilkes 59’, Phil Petreski 83’)
Knox City 1

Round 6
Heidelberg United 3 (Sean Ellis 66’, Kenny Athiu 74’/76’ (pen))
Kingston City 1

Round 7
Northcote City 0
Heidelberg United 2 (Reuben Way 15’, Kenny Athiu 40’)

Westfield FFA Cup history

2014 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32

2015 - Knocked out in Quarter Finals by Melbourne City FC 5-0 at Olympic Village, Heidelberg West

2016 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32

Lowdown

It’s a second appearance in the Round of 32 for Heidelberg United after their previous venture into the Final Rounds ended at the hands of Melbourne City FC in the 2015 Quarter Finals at a packed Olympic Village, the huge crowd due in part to the hosts fielding Greece international Kostas Katsouranis as a guest player for the match.

The Burgers enjoyed a relatively smooth ride to the Round of 32, comprehensive wins over Moreland Zebras and Knox City was followed by a 3-1 win at home over Kingston City before a peach of a strike from Reuben Way and a Kenny Athiu header saw off rivals Northcote City to secure their passage.

Now back on the national stage, Heidelberg United will surely will be relishing another crack at a Hyundai A-League club. Their Westfield FFA Cup Final Rounds scalps to date include Broadmeadow Magic from Northern NSW and Sydney United 58 FC.

 

Hume City #HCI

League: PS4 NPL Victoria

Home Venue: ABD Stadium, Broadmeadows Valley Park

Website: humecityfc.com

Twitter: @FCHumeCity

Facebook: facebook.com/fchumecity

Head Coach: Ufuk Kubilayhan

How they qualified

Round 4
Langwarrin SC 0
Hume City 8 (Nick Hegarty 15’/65’/86’, own goal 34’, Anthony Bran 40’, Atilla Ofli 53’/90+2’, Liam Boland 76’)

Round 5
Hume City 3 (Wayne Wallace 15’, Atilla Ofli 22’, Theo Markelis 77’)
Nunawading City 0

Round 6
North Sunshine Eagles 0
Hume City 5 (Anthony Bran 17’, Nick Hegarty 39’, Jayden Prasad 52’, Theo Markelis 86’)

Round 7
Hume City 4 (Liam Boland 40’, Nick Hegarty 52’/90+1’, Nicholas Panetta 62’)
Moreland City 0

Westfield FFA Cup history

2014 - Did not qualify for Round of 32

2015 - Knocked out in Semi Finals by Melbourne Victory 3-0 at AAMI Park, Melbourne

2016 - Knocked out in Round of 16 by Melbourne Victory 1-0 at ABD Stadium, Broadmeadows

Lowdown

Hume City have made it a third consecutive Round of 32 qualification after featuring in the Final Rounds in 2015 and 2016. And they’ve done it easy so far in 2017 with big wins over Langwarrin, Nunawading City, North Sunshine Eagles and Moreland City. 20 goals scored, none conceded in their four Prelim Round matches to date.

Remarkably, in all six of Hume City’s previous matches in the Westfield FFA Cup Final Rounds they have been drawn at home. Only once in those six occasions have they not played at their ABD Stadium ground, that instance coming in 2015 when they hosted their semi final against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.

Last year Hume City’s campaign was again ended by Melbourne Victory, a Besart Berisha penalty the only thing separating the teams as they bowed out in the Round of 16. Now, with veteran captain Nick Hegarty again leading the charge and under the guidance of recently appointed head coach Ufuk Kubilayhan, Hume City will have their sights on another long Cup run.

 

South Melbourne FC #SOM

League: PS4 NPL Victoria

Home Venue: Lakeside Stadium

Website: smfc.com.au

Twitter: @smfc

Facebook: facebook.com/smfc59

Head Coach: Chris Taylor

How they qualified

Round 4
South Melbourne 2 (Allebi 57’ (og), Milos Lujic 52’)
Eastern Lions 0

Round 5
Monbulk Rangers 0
South Melbourne 4 (Jesse Daley 17’/58’, Milos Lujic 66’, Andrija Kecojevic 90+3’)

Round 6
South Melbourne 2 (Nick Epifano 26’, Marcus Schroen 68’)
Box Hill United 1

Round 7
South Melbourne 5 (Nick Epifano 2’, Milos Lujic 83’/87’/90+5’, Jesse Daley 90+2’)
Dandenong City 4

Westfield FFA Cup history

2014 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32

2015 - Knocked out in Round of 32 by Palm Beach Sharks (Gold Coast City FC) 1-1 (8-7 on penalties) at Cbus Stadium, Robina

2016 - Did not qualify for the Round of 32

Lowdown

A proud club with a proud history, South Melbourne produced a comeback that will go down as one of the Westfield FFA Cup matches of all time, let alone the year, to reach this year’s Round of 32.

Staring at a 4-1 deficit against Dandenong City time running out, South Melbourne struck four times to prevail 5-4, Milos Lujic’s winner, which also capped off his hat-trick, coming in the final minute of stoppage time.

That win looks to have also triggered an impressive run of form in the league as at the time of writing South Melbourne sit on top of the PS4 NPL Victoria table after being in the relegation zone earlier in the season.

South Melbourne’s only previous match in the Westfield FFA Cup Final Rounds ended in heartbreak when they were bundled out by Palm Beach SC (now Gold Coast City) 8-7 on penalties in the Round of 32 in 2015.