Macarthur FC notched a comfortable 4-0 win over Perth Glory in Darwin to advance from an Australia Cup playoff to the Round of 32 of the domestic cup competition.
Goals to Lachlan Rose, Jake Hollman and Jed Drew added to Oli Sail’s second-minute own goal for Perth as the Bulls cruised to a comfortable victory that sent them through to the knockout phase.
Disaster struck early for Perth, as Rose’s deflected shot struck the body of Sail and looped into the back of Glory’s net. It was just Sail’s second start in Perth colours since his off-season switch from Wellington Phoenix.
The 2022 Australia Cup champions arrived in Darwin with the prospect of a premature exit from the 2023 edition of the tournament – but by the 18-minute mark had put themselves in prime position to progress to the Round of 32 when Rose got in behind Glory’s defence to slip a shot past Sail and make it 2-0.
Rose then turned provider to Hollman who bent a low shot into the bottom-right corner just beyond the half-hour mark.
Glory grew into the contest, but Luke Ivanovic’s wayward finishing prevented the Western Australian side from finding a way back. Then. disaster struck, as a clumsy Sail back-pass was pounded upon by Drew for the simplest of tap-ins to make it 4-0.
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The Round of 32 will take place in early to mid-August, with the Round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals scheduled through August and September. Following the semi-finals, FA will confirm the host city and venue of the final set to kick off on October 7.
In a show of respect to the FIFA Women’s World Cup taking place between July and August and hosted in Australia and New Zealand, FA has committed to staging any Australia Cup fixtures on the World Cup’s rest days to ensure no clashes between the two tournaments.
The Round of 32 Live Draw will take place on Wednesday, June 28. The draw will be broadcast live on 10 Play, Australia Cup Facebook & Football Australia YouTube at 7pm AEST.
Australia Cup 2023 Final Rounds Draw Principles
Details supplied by Football Australia
- Each Australia Cup 2023 Final Rounds entrant will be placed in the ball pot.
- In accordance with the Competition Regulations for Australia Cup Final Rounds matches other than the Australia Cup Final, the home club for each Australia Cup match will be determined as follows:
- Where Australia Cup matches involve only Member Federation clubs, the first drawn Club will be the home club;
- Where Australia Cup matches involve a Member Federation club and an Isuzu UTE A-League Men club, the Member Federation Club will be home club; and
- Where Australia Cup Matches involve only Isuzu UTE A-League Men Clubs, the first drawn club will be the home club.
- In all instances, Wellington Phoenix FC will be deemed the away club, irrespective of whether it is the first drawn club.
As in 2022, the draw will be entirely open throughout the Australia Cup 2023 final rounds.
