Quinn MacNicol became the youngest ever goalscorer in the history of the Australia Cup national stages after bagging Brisbane Roar’s fifth in their 5-0 victory over Sydney United 58.
MacNicol came off the bench late in their Round-of-16 win on Saturday afternoon and the 15-year-old celebrated a history-making goal – becoming not only the club’s youngest goalscorer, but in the entirety of the Australia Cup’s final stages.
He made history earlier this month against Newcastle Jets in the Round of 32, when he became Brisbane’s youngest ever player but added another impressive feat to his resume with a goal in the dying embers of their resounding win.
MacNicol was joined by fellow teenager Thomas Waddingham on the scoresheet after the latter also opened his account for the Roar, making the most of his opportunity in the starting XI.
“It’s brilliant,” Waddingham told Network 10 about MacNicol’s goal.
“We room together so we’re great mates off the field and on the field, we work well and yeah, great for him to get his first goal at the age of 15.
“It’s crazy how how young he is and there’s plenty more to come from him.”
MacNicol’s goal helped Brisbane exact an element of revenge over Sydney United, having lost to them in the semi-finals last year at the same venue.
Henry Hore opened the scoring for Ross Aloisi’s side, before fellow teenager Waddingham added a debut goal to give Brisbane a two-goal lead at the break.
“I almost had one before, but I knew I’d get another chance because of the service from these boys and I’m buzzing to get the goal,” he said.
ULTIMATE GUIDE: What you need to know about Australia Cup Round of 16
Brisbane ran away with the win after half-time, thanks to goals from Nikola Mileusnic, Jay O’Shea and MacNicol.
Waddingham and MacNicol are just a couple of the young Roar players who have been handed opportunities by Aloisi during the Cup so far, including James Nikolovski – who also came on as a substitute.
“We just work towards his (Aloisi) structures, I guess,” Waddingham added
“And if you if you play to his structures and you do what he says… and you’re very coachable then he’ll give you an opportunity.
“We’re young, we’ve got not too many old ones on top. So yeah, we have all the opportunities to go up front and score our goals.”
Roar will find out their quarter-final opponents on Wednesday night’s draw as they continue their perfect start under new boss Aloisi, who is preparing for his first Isuzu UTE A-League season with the club.
Meanwhile, United’s Cup run comes to an end in the Round of 16, falling short of last year’s incredible route to the final and will now gear up for their final game of 2023 in the Waratah Cup against APIA Leichhardt.
Listen to the latest episode of Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast with KEEPUP’s James Dodd and David Davutovic as they unpack the release of the A-Leagues fixtures.
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