Wanderers Out Of FFA Cup In Shootout

The Western Sydney Wanderers have been knocked out of the FFA Cup in a penalty shootout with Perth Glory when their quarter final tie ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Despite the Wanderers looking the better of the two sides and having taken the lead through Dimas Delgado, Perth stayed in the match throughout the contest, equalised in controversial fashion through Marinkovic before the Wanderers penalty problems reared their ugly heads as Scott Jamieson & Federico Piovaccari both failed to hit the target with Perth not missing one.

The match took a quarter hour for the first real strike in anger, as Mitch Nichols hit a sidefooted volley that just missed the goal of ex-Wanderers Ante Covic. Marinkovic fired the first shot for Perth not long after, and the game ebbed and flowed from then on. The Wanderers arguably having the best of the contest, but with little result on the pitch. 5 minutes before the break Marinkovic tried an audacious over the shoulder volley but his shot was neither powerful or directed well enough.

Right before the break the Wanderers finally took advantage of their dominance, with attacking weapon Mitch Nichols creating merry hell down the right flank and byline before cutting across to the run of Dimas Delgado. The deep lying midfielder had made a superb late run from deep and he turned in the ball from point blank range to open the scoring.

With the hosts going behind, Perth came out with more verve as they looked to find an equaliser. Ebb and flow resulted, with neither team being able to hold possession for long periods of time, Dino Djulbic going into the book for a scything challenge on Scott Jamieson as he was running through on goal.

10 minutes into the second half Nichols weaved his magic again on the right flank, surging into the box before sliding a ball across the face of goal, with Federico Piovaccari just inches away from a tap-in. Ante Covic showed his class despite his 40 years of age with an outstanding double save not long after.

Perth had the equaliser through Marinkovic, with a little help from the referee, who over-ruled a flag for offside after several minutes of consultation with the assistant. With the match closing in on fulltime, a hectic pace developed with both sides launching repeated quick attacks and counter-attacks, but with no further goals the game headed to extra-time.

The first half of extra time saw the game keep it's shape, as both sides probed and prodded, the Wanderers looking more dangerous with a composed build up, against Perth who preferred to quickly counter at pace, Piovaccari having the best chance late in the half from a Neville cross but the striker couldn't direct his effort on goal. The half ended with a set-to between the sides after Sotirio was hammered by an aerial challenge.

Dario Vidosic made his debut for the Wanderers at the resumption of extra-time, a surprise inclusion as a result of Brendon Santalab being hurt during the warm-up. Mitch Nichols had a shot on the turn at the corner of the 18 yard box but his attempt sailed into the construction site behind the goals. 115 minutes in Antony Golec nearly sent Perth to the semi-final, a corner whipped in to the back post, the first header skied into the air, Golec acrobatically making contact with a volley but the ball flew over the bar.

With neither side able to break the deadlock the quarter final headed to the dreaded penalty shootout. First up was Dario Vidosic who scored despite Ante Covic getting hands to it. Marinkovic blasted past Redmayne to even the scores. Piovaccari stuttered his run-up and tried a sidefooted penalty that had no chance of being on target. Golec beat Redmayne with his left peg to put Glory 2-1 up. Substitute Andreu looked to even the score, and made no mistake shooting down the middle. Sidnei took a long run up for the 3rd penalty and sent Redmayne the wrong way to make it 3-2 after 3 each.

Former Perth Glory player Scott Jamieson stepped up with the pressure rapidly increasing and blazed it over the bar. It gave Richard Garcia the chance to send Perth through to the semi-final and he sent Redmayne the wrong way to end the match and knock the Wanderers out of the FFA Cup.