Hume City will use last year’s FFA Cup disappointment as motivation in its drive to make the nationwide round of 32 of this year’s competition.
City is through to the seventh and final stage of the Victorian qualifying stages and another victory will take the side a step further then last year when it was knocked out of the tournament by South Springvale.
City coach Louie Acevski said the players didn’t realise what they would be missing out on until after they were eliminated.
“You don’t know what you’ve lost until you have lost it,” he said.
“The boys didn’t realise the opportunities and publicity that came with getting to the next stage. Once that happened, we said if we had the opportunity again we’d take it.”
City won through to the seventh round with a 2-1 victory over Ballarat Reds on Saturday.
“It was a very tough game and it was a tough week with three games in seven days,” Acevski said. “The boys were fantastic. We scored first and they equalised just before half-time through an own goal.
“We didn’t play to the best of our ability in the first half; as a team we were making basic errors.”
City was a different team in the second half, grabbing the winning goal in the 66th minute.
“Wins in this competition don’t come on a platter,” Acevski said.
“I thought we were the better team in the second half … we didn’t take our chances to put the game away. The last five minutes they were pressing, but we held strong.”
City drew its midweek National Premier League catch-up game with Oakleigh 1-1.
“It was a game of two halves,” Acevski said. “We were better in the first but could only get one goal, which we knew wouldn’t be enough.
“They were better in the second half and we fell asleep for 10 to 15 seconds when they scored with a long bomb late in the game.
“Three points away from home would have been massive.”
City is fifth on the ladder.
In NPL 1, Whittlesea Ranges’ hot form continued with a 4-0 win over Sunshine George Cross.
The Ranges led 2-0 at half-time and doubled that lead in the second half.
The Ranges are fourth on the NPL 1 west ladder, five points behind leaders Moreland Zebras.
