By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WERRIBEE City is through to the last 16 in the Men’s State Knockout Cup after managing to outlast Southern Stars at Galvin Park on Saturday.
The Bees went into the clash underdogs against the Victorian Premier League club but managed to withstand any challenge thrown at them throughout the day.
City went on to win the penalty shootout 9-8 after the regular 90 minutes and 30 minutes of added time failed to split the two clubs.
“The game just swayed back and forward, they had a couple of chances to win the game but so did we,” Werribee City coach Nino Ragusa said.
City’s Zois Galanopoulos opened the scoring in the 13th minute before the Stars equalised through Ali Hameed 12 minutes later.
The rest of the match then proved to be an arm wrestle, but the home team eventually prevailed after two hours of football.
Ragusa was buoyant about his side’s performance on the day.
“Considering they’re a premier league outfit I was actually very pleased with my boys,” he said.“It was a very even game in the end.”
Though some clubs will choose to rest their stars for Cup fixtures, Ragusa insists that as long as Werribee City remains in it, they’ll be there to win it.
“Our approach is to do as well as we possibly can in it, and our approach this year is to continually improve from where we left off last year,” Ragusa said.
“We were in the fourth round, we copped a premier league outfit, we beat them and we move into the last 16, so that’s already an improvement in itself.”
City will now return to State League One action this weekend at home to Fawkner Blues, before a tough fortnight pits it against Heidelberg United and Moreland Zebras.
Meanwhile VPL giants Melbourne Knights suffered a shock 1-0 loss at home to State League Two club Keilor Park on Friday night.
Green Gully however was much more impressive in their away fixture on Saturday, sending five goals past North Geelong Warriors for an emphatic 5-1 win.
Over at Paisley Park, Sunshine George Cross was too good for Altona Magic, winning 2-1.
