Two matches of Round 5 in South Australia's Preliminary Rounds produced thrilling finishes as MetroStars and Adelaide Comets kept their Cup dreams alive.
It took a contentious, heart breaking 90 th minute penalty and a stoppage time strike from club hero Travis Dodd for MetroStars to defeat a courageous Western Strikers 2-1 in Round 5 of the Westfield FFA Cup Preliminary Rounds in South Australia.
The match opened to script, as Metro dictated the early proceedings, mounting numerous attacks on goal. They nearly had the opening score, when a neat flick from Dodd into the path of Stefan Simic saw the fleet footed winger run round the keeper, but he let himself down by spraying his shot wide.
Dodd was instrumental in bringing his teammates into the play with some neat sublime passes which threatened to break open the Strikers defence -while Fabian Barbiero was at his hard running best in the midfield.
Strikers were doing their best to stay in the game; Michele Lastella was leading the way in defence with good support from Joseph Tripodi, Tariq Eltahir and the young sixteen-year-old left back Alphonso Sayee who had a great duel with Simic.
The battle of the midfield was a tight contest; the young Western Strikers trio Jacob Atkinson, Jordan Spadavecchia and Michael Russo were holding their own against the more experienced Metro midfielders.
The match was turned on its head in the 20 th minute when against the run of play, a deflection from a Spadavecchia shot on goal fell to Lastella who blasted the ball past a diving Callum Piantadosi in the Metro goals to give the Strikers the unthinkable lead in the game.
The goal bought the cup tie to life as Metro started to get into gear. The visitors nearly got parity when Dodd found Bailey Truscott on the move with a neat touch, but Truscott’s shot hit the upright.
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Meanwhile Adelaide Comets progressed to the penultimate stage of the Westfield FFA Cup Preliminary Rounds in dramatic fashion with a 1-0 win over Adelaide Blue Eagles.
The contest looked to be heading to extra time but Andreas Weins popped up in the last minute of second half stoppage time to send the home side into hysterics.
It proved to be a game off two halves, as both sides had periods of dominance but failed to capitalize in front of goal.
The home side started the brighter of the two as Weins and Captain Evan Kostopoulos linked up well early on, creating plenty of danger.
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