Hume City goalkeeper Chris Oldfield defied all expectations in Friday night’s penalty shoot-out against Melbourne Knights in its NPL qualifying final.
Penalty shots normally go in favour of the kicker yet Oldfield saved four straight Knights penalties to send his team into the semi-finals where City will play Bentleigh Greens on Friday night.
City coach Louie Acevski said he was confident Oldfield could do the job but didn’t expect what unfolded.
Oldfield saved all four Knights penalty attempts, while Jai Ingham and Shane Rexhepi put their shots in the back of the net for City.
“You normally back the kicker to score 80 per cent of the time and the keeper to save 20 per cent,” Acevski said.
“I’ve never seen a goalkeeper save four penalties in a row. After the first two, you could see the third player was nervous. Chris had them on the back foot and I knew he was going to save the fourth shot.”
Scores had been 2-2 after normal time with Marcus Schroen and Ingham the scorers for City.
“It was a pretty even first half,” Acevski said. “In the second half we created a lot of opportunities, but we didn’t take them.
“We could have been three, four even five up. But credit to the Knights – they scored an equaliser. In extra time they sat back deep and defended.”
It’s the second time in big matches this winter that City has been able to run out 120 minutes of football and get the win.
The side won through to the FFA Cup round of 16 with the final play of extra time against Brisbane Strikers.
“The boys are super-fit,” Acevski said. “It doesn’t scare … having to play extra time knowing they have a really good fitness base.”
City was to play Sydney Olympic on Tuesday night in the FFA Cup round of 16.
“We set goals at the start of the year and we’ve achieved all of them,” Acevski said. “We need to enjoy the journey and hopefully we can snare a trophy along the way. You need a little bit of luck.”
Petar Franjic is the only injury concern going into the game after he copped a knock against the Knights.
In NPL 1, Whittlesea Ranges had a 4-0 win over Springvale Eagles on Saturday at Epping Stadium. The win was the Ranges’ first win in seven games.
