Nunawading City – from Victoria’s third tier – introduced themselves to the national stage with a bang, breaking the record for the largest winning margin in the competition with their 9-0 victory.
Elsewhere, Avondale FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers both advanced to the Round of 16 with comfortable victories.
Darwin Olympic 0-9 Nunawading City
Nunawading City eased into the Round of 16 with a record-breaking victory over Darwin Olympic.
Nunawading opened their account in the third minute through Stuart Edgar and never looked like relinquishing their lead. By midway through the half they led by three.
Darwin Olympic’s woes were exacerbated when Abdishek Rijal was shown a red card in the 29th minute.
It was six at half-time, with Stuart Edgar adding another, Alex Kubenko scoring two, and Taira Yoshimura and Denis Daluri getting in on the action.
Remarkably, Daluri assisted four of the six goals in the first half.
Edgar completed his hat-trick in the second half before goals to Carlos Abboud and centre-back Haris Hodzic helped Nunawading break the record for the largest winning margin in the Hahn Australia Cup.
It was a stunning introduction to the national stage for the first-timers from Melbourne’s East.
Peninsula Power 0-3 Western Sydney Wanderers
The Western Sydney Wanderers became the first A-League Men’s team to advance to the Round of 16 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Queensland NPL team Peninsula Power.
The Wanderers did the damage early, with Bozhidar Kraev scoring a brace and Kosta Barbarouses adding a third to be three goals to the good by the break.
The Power did ask some questions of Lawrence Thomas in the Wanderers’ goal in the second half, but Alen Stajcic’s side rarely left second gear in a controlled performance to start their season.
Western Sydney will be hoping to add their first Hahn Australia Cup to the trophy cabinet this season.
Tweet: https://twitter.com/AustraliaCup/status/1947601586311565559
Avondale FC 5-1 Stirling Macedonia
Stirling Macedonia held on for 54 minutes, but were ultimately unable to contain NPL Victoria’s Avondale FC, who scored a flurry of second-half goals to advance to the Round of 16 with a 5-1 victory.
Avondale had most of the opportunities but struggled to break down a determined Stirling Macedonia. Once Kristian Trajceski finally scored in the 54th minute, however, they were able to break the game open.
Yusuf Ahmed and Manyluak Aguek scored penalties, while a goal from Kur Gai Kur and a second for Aguek made it five.
Stirling Macedonia were able to give their fans watching back home in Perth something to cheer about late when Bayley Brown-Montgomery scored a consolation in stoppage time.
Avondale will relish the opportunity to advance into the latter stages of the Cup.
