By JARROD POTTER
FFA CUP – Round 3
A FAIRYTALE revival from last year’s FFA Cup fairytale side, South Springvale rallied after going a goal-down to force extra time and take a 3-2 Round-3 win over Western Suburbs.
Starting its FFA Cup campaign for 2015 – still buzzing after making last year’s FFA Cup round of 16 – Aris will need to work on its finishing after squandering countless chances in front of goals through the second half.
Western took the lead twice, but to Aris’ credit, the home side fought back to force the match into extra time before sealing the deal with a super-strike from Konstantinos Stratomitros. South Springvale earned the equaliser just before half-time as Nassim Courail found his way through the Western front to put in Aris’ first goal of the new season.
The State League-1 side had all of the play against a flat-lining Western Suburbs in the last 25 minutes, but could not fire the match-winner in regulation.
Horror misses from Dean Panagopoulos and a goal-line sitter squandered by Perry Lambropoulos left the scores unnecessarily levelled.
Careless defending allowed Western’s William Teixiera to get through and take the lead for the visitors, to the shock of all and sundry at Warner Reserve.
From there Aris had to scramble to keep their Cup hopes alive.
A frenzy on the goal-mouth led to scores levelling in the dying seconds of regulation time as Lambropoulos made amends for his earlier error – getting on the end of a headed deflection from Zois Galanopoulos to leave scores 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes.
Extra time was all one-way traffic though as South Springvale smashed through via Stratomitros in the 93rd minute to ice the game and put Aris through to the fourth round.
“Doing it the hard way – this year we’ve had to recruit some new boys in the squad and let some of the older ones go,” South Springvale coach Bill Lambropoulos said.
“I think the talent is there this time… last year we had more of a team effort, but I believe given games – as we’ve only had two together – I think this team will gel.
“Last year we didn’t have the pressure, but this year we have it as we’ve got a little bit to show that we deserve to be there.”
Lambropoulos praised his recruits Dionysios Liosatos and Kostantinos Daskalakis – who have only been in the country a little over a week – and thinks they’ll offer Aris a lot up forward and through the centre.
In other local FFA Cup results, Langwarrin easily dispatched a gallant Noble Park United 2-0, Casey Comets flew past Heidelberg Stars 2-0, while Berwick City matched Aris’ margin with a 3-2 win over Altona Magic. Hampton Park Sparrows succumbed to Westgate 1-5 in the region’s only loss.
The NPL sides enter the equation next round, with Dandenong Thunder taking on Kingston City while NPL1 teams Dandenong City and Springvale White Eagles will also join the pursuit for Cup glory.
FFA CUP – VICTORIAN PRELIMINARIESROUND 4 FIXTURE
Kingston City v Dandenong Thunder
Casey Comets v South Springvale
Werribee City v Springvale White Eagles
Langwarrin v Berwick City
Brunswick City v Dandenong City
