South Melbourne’s dream of an FFA Cup tie with an A-League opponent ended prematurely in a penalty shoot-out against the Palm Beach Sharks at Cbus stadium on the Gold Coast on Wednesday night.
The Sharks beat their more illustrious opponent 8-7 on penalties, after the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
Playing in front of a live national television audience and with FFA CEO David Gallop in attendance, Souths were determined to make the most of their moment back in the limelight. For large periods of the match they dominated possession against the Sharks, who favoured a more direct approach to goal.
Souths kept the passes ticking over in midfield but often found the Sharks central defensive pairing of Kristian Rees and Martin Vazquez in the way.
Souths’ left side pair of Nick Epifano and Brad Norton often threatened to find a way through the Shark defensive net throughout the game and it was one of their sorties that produced the opening goal of the match. Norton’s cross found South’s striker Milos Lujic at the back post, who headed home in the 34th minute.
All seemed to be going as planned for the Southeners, but when an overhit long ball, hit more in hope, found its way into the Palm Beach attack, South’s keeper Nikola Roganovic inexplicably bundled over Shark’s young forward Rees Duncan, conceding an unnecessary penalty. Sharks midfielder Florian Matk made no mistake from the spot kick to equalise for the home team.
Souths dominated the second half, with an excellent David Stirton strike forcing a fine save from Sharks’ keeper Shane Vitakangas. It was to prove a sign of things to come as the home team continued to frustrate Souths’ attacks, forcing the game into extra time and the dreaded penalty shootout even after going down to 10 men in extra time with the sending off of Eoghan Murphy.
After 14 penalty goals failed to separate the two sides, the Sharks scored to move ahead. South’s captain Michael Eager stepped up to take the spot kick, and hit it well, only to watch in despair as Vitakangas dived to his right, producing a stunning save to give victory to the Sharks.