Melbourne Victory had two men sent off and lost Besart Berisha to injury during their dramatic 4-2 FFA Cup quarter-final loss to Perth Glory on Wednesday night.
Former Socceroo Archie Thompson was forced to withdraw before the match due to sickness, and Victory were dealt another blow when Berisha limped off with a groin injury in the 43rd minute.
Their setbacks added further drama to a heated contest that featured numerous twists and turns. Glory were just minutes away from securing the win in regulation time after an Andy Keogh double trumped an early 25-metre strike from Victory’s Fahid Ben Khalfallah. But a long-range curling free kick from Guilherme Finkler in the 92nd minute sent the game into extra-time.
Victory were reduced to 10 men in the 98th minute when defender Daniel Georgievski was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence. Just five minutes later, Glory’s talented 17-year-old Danny de Silva made a hero of himself when he latched on to a fast break and grabbed the lead with a sharp finish. The icing on the cake was complete in the 111th minute when midfielder Nebojsa Marinkovic scored. Victory defender Adrian Leijer was shown a red card for dissent just moments after the goal, reducing the visitors to nine men.
Earlier in the night, Victorian NPL club Bentleigh Greens came from behind to beat Adelaide City 2-1 in extra time to become the only non A-League side to reach the semi-finals. A Jamie De Abreu winner got the Melbourne side over the line 2-1 after they’d been staring down the barrel of elimination in their quarter-final.
Alex Rideout’s strike for Adelaide City in the 48th minute looked set to continue the cup ambitions of the club that had been shock winners over Asian Champions League finalists Western Sydney Wanderers earlier in the competition. Glory and Bentleigh Greens join Central Coast and Adelaide United in the semi-finals.
Victory coach Kevin Muscat said the extent of Berisha’s injury was yet to be determined ahead of Monday’s clash with Wellington in Melbourne.
“It hasn’t been a good night,” Muscat said. “I can’t recall a night like that with injuries, red cards. Not too much went our way tonight, but we’ve got to pick up the pieces from that.”
Glory coach Kenny Lowe was proud of his team’s efforts, and praised Keogh for another strong effort. “Andy’s got to stop doing that. Just calm down a little bit, maybe just get one a game instead of two or three,” Lowe joked.
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