By JARROD POTTER
NINE seconds separated South Springvale and another chance at penalty shootout glory.
The Football Federation Victoria (FFV) Dockerty Cup slipped just from Aris’ grasps 0-1 following a last-second Melbourne Knights’ goal.
South Springvale and Melbourne Knights could not be split after regulation time, with both sides faling to capitalise on a few decent attempts.
South Springvale played its strategy perfectly – pushing hard out of defence through the likes of Alex Florea, Dean Panagopoulos and Ali Hameed to stretch the Knights’ backs.
The pestering efforts of Florea running down the wings kept the Knights on their toes and he was able to create the first significant chance for South Springvale – with his 17th minute header forcing a strong save from Knights keeper Michael O’Farrell.
Aris had the crowd’s support with most fans flooding Lakeside Stadium barracking for the yellow and black.
The match went back and forth as Dowisha and Aris’ two central defenders – Courail Nassim and Ari Drakos – kept Melbourne off the scoreboard.
Bringing on star midfielder Ricky Diaco in the 54th minute – the former Victory champion started to create headaches for the Knights.
He started to push the tempo and generate more attack for the Aris boys and the match was poised to head towards extra time as shots on goal didn’t fall.
Dowisha’s best save of the night came in the 84th minute – as he ran off the line to block Stipo Andrijasevic’s one-on-one attempt to take the lead.
After regulation elapsed, South Springvale struggled to put a shot on target in extra time before Diaco’s spot kick cleared the Knights’ wall and skimmed the top of the crossbar.
In the second extra-time, legs started to wear out and the bench was called upon.
With 12 seconds remaining, Aris coach Bill Lambropoulos went to his bench for one last piece of coaching mastery – subbing on back-up goalkeeper Jordan Gifkins onto the field as a forward ahead of the upcoming shootout.
Alas the shootout would never eventuate as Dowisha’s defences were finally broken after two hours of fortress-like defending.
One last cross to the goal-line from the Knights led to a goalmouth scramble and Tomislav Uskok seized his place in Dockerty Cup history as he slotted the cup winner with less than 10 seconds remaining in extra time.
“Definitely a good job – Melbourne Knights they were a class above, there’s no doubt,” Lambropoulos said.
“Even if we lost on penalties, to lose in that dying moment – only one side was able to do that and that was us.
“We can’t take anything away from the boys, they’ve done a phenomenal effort to get us here and we’ve still got one more game in Surfers Paradise and we’re going to enjoy that.”
For his stellar match in front of goals, Dowisha was awarded the best-on-ground medal.
“A goalkeeper is a part of the team and we counted on him a lot this year,” Lambropoulos said of his keeper. “He’s been our big attribute and we know that.”
South Springvale takes to the road for its next major challenge – flying up to Queensland to face NPLQ team Palm Beach Sharks on 23 September in their FFA Cup Round of 16 clash.
“Even if we go up to Queensland and lose, we made the 16 in Australia, finalists here (Dockerty Cup), and the club’s been put on the map and it’s been a big year,” Lambropoulos said.
