South Melbourne fought back from a goal down to knock A-League club Adelaide United out of the Australia Cup on Thursday night.
The Reds took the lead in just the third minute of the round-of-32 clash at Lakeside Stadium through their veteran skipper Craig Goodwin.
However, the NPL Victoria club didn’t lose heart and found an equaliser in the 33rd minute through striker Bul Juach.
With momentum on their side, the hosts went ahead in the 68th minute with a goal from Japanese attacker Yuki Uchiuda.
Adelaide couldn’t respond and became the fourth A-League club in this year’s Cup competition to be sent packing by an NPL team.
South Melbourne coach Sinisa Cohadzic said it was a “magical night” for his club.
“Credit to the boys – I can put out a plan, but they’ve got to work hard,” Cohadzic told Paramount Plus.
“They worked their socks off. We played man-on-man football … (it was) brilliant.
“We were the team that was actually playing football, and I’m just delighted for the crowd and the players.
“Ultimately, we showed that we can play against the top teams.”
Cohadzic’s team will meet NPL Western Australia club Fremantle City in the round-of-16.
In Thursday night’s other round-of-32 clash, Brisbane Roar beat NPL NSW club Sydney Olympic 3-0 at Belmore Sports Ground.
The Roar dominated but took until the 63rd minute to take the lead with a goal from Justin Vidic.
New signing Sabit Ngor doubled Brisbane’s advantage a minute later, with another addition to the Roar squad, Jacob Nasso. sealing the visitors win in the 77th minute.
Brisbane will host Sydney FC in an all A-League round-of-16 clash.