Is it Hume City or Humedini? That’s the question being asked about Hume City after yet another late escape in the nationwide FFA Cup.
After twice narrowly surviving defeat with late goals last year, Hume City came from a goal down with only minutes remaining to beat Sydney’s Marconi Stallions at ABD Stadium last week.
The match ended at 1-1 after extra time before Hume won 4-2 on penalties.
City skipper Nick Hegarty said the club had a neversaydie attitude.
“We had control for most of the game,” he said.
“The big factor was fitness and the longer the game went the better we were. But it got more tense and we got worried about that.
“We have a never-say-die attitude and we’ve been behind a few times this season.
“Getting an equaliser in the final minutes wasn’t a complete surprise . . . we were always confident.”
City dominated for most of the match but couldn’t score in normal time despite having almost three times the number of shots on goal.
With scores locked at 0-0 extra time was needed, and Marconi scored after 93 minutes then held that lead until four minutes from the end.
A Kym Harris header in the 116th minute levelled the scores and it stayed that way until the final whistle.
In the shootout, the Stallions missed their opening penalty and City’s Tim Cahill then put Hume ahead.
The second and third kickers from each teams scored before more magic from Hume goalkeeper Chris Oldfield denied the Stallions for a second time.
Shane Rexhepi then stepped up to score the sealer for City.
Hegarty said seeing the reaction of the fans on the night and on social media made it all worthwhile.
“There were maybe 7080 kids in the rooms, along with members,” he said.
“They were delirious. These matches inspire kids and it’s the reason we do this.
“We were able to produce another good night.”
The draw for the next round of the cup is still a few weeks away, with many of the round-of-32 matches yet to be played.
Hegarty said he and his Hume teammates had one wish for the next round.
“For the fans and possibly the players, another home game would be great,” he said.
“I think other sides would be worried coming here.”
