Nunawading City makes Australia Cup history in the Northern Territory

Move over Sydney FC, Nunawading City is breaking records. The Australia Cup’s lowest ranked club smashed its way into the history books on Tuesday night.

Nunawading City celebrates its Australia Cup win.

Move over Sydney FC, Nunawading City is here.

The Victorian minnow, the Australia Cup’s lowest ranked club, smashed its way into the competition’s history books on Tuesday night.

A thumping 9-0 win over Darwin Olympic at Larrakia Park is the cup’s highest score and biggest winning margin over.

Stuart Edgar scored a brilliant hat-trick, while Alex Kubenko added a brace and Denis Daluri, Taira Yoshimura, Carlos Abboud and Haris Hodzic all found the back of the net.

Darwin played the majority of the match with 10 men after Abhishek Rijal was shown a straight red card in the 28th minute for an ugly elbow on Andrew Visciglio.

Nunawading City players celebrate a goal.

It a whirlwind 24 hours that saw the VPL2 club travel to Darwin on Monday afternoon and return at 2am after the match, coach Steve Voursoukis said the script couldn’t have been written better.

“We didn't anticipate that but I think the red card definitely helped,” Voursoukis said.

“The early goals too set us up, deflated the opposition a little bit and kept the crowd quiet, you couldn’t have asked for a better start.

“We knew we couldn’t let them settle being at home and in those conditions, the crowd behind the goals was a bit vocal.

“Someone mentioned it after the game, record-breaking, so it’s a great achievement for the club and the playing group.”

Edgar got the party started in just the third minute of the match, snapping across his body and finding the back of the net off the post.

Strikes either side of half-time completed the hat-trick.

He also scored a brace in the historic 4-0 win over Hume City that secured the club passage to the Australia Cup national stage.

Voursoukis said the striker had been at the heart of Nunawading’s Cinderella cup run.

“It’s reward for effort for Stuart,” he said.

“He had a slow start to the season, he didn’t come into pre-season in great shape, and it’s taken time but he’s persisted and worked his backside off.

“He’s had a reasonable couple of months and he was pivotal to getting us going mid-season.”

The match was also marked the return of Daluri and Yoshimura to the starting line-up.

The pair had been out since early April with knee and ankle injuries respectively and showed their class and importance to City’s ambitions.

“They were both ruled out for the year at one point and we hadn’t seen them for two-and-a-half months,” Voursoukis said.

“They miraculously got themselves back in playing condition and we’ve used them off the bench but we thought this would be a good test to start and see how they pull up.

“It’s given us some hope moving forward because we’ve definitely missed them.

“Denis broke his patella and had ligament damage and Yoshi ruptured his ankle and was in a pretty bad way, both in the first cup game against St Kilda.”

Nunawading City’s cup run has somewhat mirrored club inspiration Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League success at Tottenham.

City has been struggling in the VPL2, sitting 10th but outside the relegation zone on goal difference only.

It must now recover for a difficult trip down to Geelong to face league-leader North Geelong on Saturday.

With four league games to go, Voursoukis is hopeful the cup success can keep the club safe from relegation.

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“Now we’ve got to turn our attention to the league because we do (need a win), it’s getting tight down there,” he said.

“It’s been a strange year and strange league to be honest, it’s not going to be an easy month for us.

“We’ve got to try and get back on the winners’ list and I’m hoping that has given us a little bit of confidence going into the best team in the league, travelling down to Geelong.”

Nunawading City will be joined in the Round of 16 by fellow Victorians Avondale after an impressive 5-1 win over Western Australia’s Stirling Macedonia.

THE NUNAWADING WAY: ANGE INSPIRATION BEHIND CINDERELLA RUN

Rivals ridiculed Nunawading City for putting up an Ange Postecoglou mural … but if you look deeper.

Australia’s greatest football coach helped put the club on its current path to success.

It’s a success built on a foundation of junior development, with Jake Brimmer, Josh Varga and Pierce Waring representing Australia at underage levels.

When City runs out for its Dockerty Cup semi-final against Heidelberg United on Saturday it will have as many as seven junior players in the senior team.

The match is new ground for the 54-year-old VPL2 club and it will reach unparalleled heights again last this month.

Luca Slavica scores a goal for Nunawading City. Picture: Smile for Peter

A thumping 4-0 win over Hume City last month secured it a shot at the Dockerty Cup final and put it on the national stage, qualifying for the Australia Cup Round of 32.

Nunawading City general manager Nick Dimitrakis reveals it all started 17 years ago with some advice from Postecoglou.

“We engaged the knowledge of Ange and our technical director Greg Mangonis and a couple of other coaches.

“Ange gave us a bit of advice, he doesn’t give you all the answers, but we’ve had three boys represent Australia in the last seven years.

“Jake Brimmer went to Liverpool and went on to win Player of the Year in the A-League.

“In the cup games to date, we’ve averaged seven players that have come through our development program from the age of 11 and are now playing seniors.

“It’s a big achievement, pure bred local talent, so it’s got a bit more meaning.

“We’re probably the only club that has such a big representation of juniors into seniors, it’s one of our biggest achievements and we hope to increase senior representation moving forward.”

Nunawading City junior Jake Brimmer after signing with Liverpool.

Jake Brimmer celebrates a goal for Auckland FC.

Despite on-field struggles, City’s elite junior pathway secured it entry to the newly formed NPL2 in 2014.

There were hard times for the club as it struggled to adjust to the higher level but it did not step away from its goals.

Relegation back to State League 1 came in 2018 but, under the leadership of former A-League star Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Nunawading bounced straight back.

It claimed the State League 1 South-East premiership, its first silverware since 1979, and has cemented itself in NPL3/VPL2 since.

“We have a distinctive philosophy, a possession-based philosophy, which encourages a lot of touches at junior level,” Dimitrakis said.

“You can see from the under-11s through to seniors, it’s very consistent, and another difference between us and a lot of other clubs.

“When they say the Nunawading way, it’s a very distinctive brand of football we play.

“We’ve always had a primary focus of promoting our development players but at the same time, VPL1 or NPL is our goal in the coming years.

“It hasn’t been done for a long time, a long time ago clubs used to promote through their youth systems but you don’t see that as much any more.”

Nunawading City travels to Heidelberg United, the NPL ladder-leader and premiership favourite, looking to repeat its stunning upset of Hume City.

It will then travel to Darwin for a historic Australia Cup clash against Darwin Olympic on July 22.

City produced a Cinderella cup run to reach the national stage.

It stunned high-flying VPL1 club North Sunshine Eagles 4-1 on the road before returning home to Mahoneys Reserve to cupset Hume 4-0.

Christian Cavallo and Alex Dimitriou both scored doubles in a 7-1 win over Whittlesea Ranges, while Cavallo bagged another against Hume and Stuart Edgar scored a brace.

The team will have its hands full against a Heidelberg outfit featuring the likes of Bul Juach, Jamal Ali and Ben Collins.

Dimitrakis said everyone likes to see an underdog succeed.

“As an underdog as well, to be where we’re at is exciting,” he said.

“Not many clubs at our level get to participate in semi-finals in the Dockerty Cup and in the last 32 of the Australia Cup.

“It was one of our most memorable moments, a lot of our coaches have been here 17 years, and to see some reward with players we’ve developed – and to beat a powerhouse in Hume convincingly – it’s sort of put us on the map.

“The boys are very excited, they’re only one step away from playing in a grand final. That’s new territory for a lot of the boys.

“Hume is in the same league, not too far off Heidelberg, so we’re expecting a similar game.

“When you’re one game away from a grand final, if you lose it’s as disappointing as it was great work to get to where we are and we definitely want to win our Darwin trip to get to the last 16.”

After a 2-1 loss to Altona City, Nunawading City is currently ninth in VPL2 just three points clear of the bottom three and relegation.

The club’s league struggles have cup success has mirrored Postecoglou’s season at Tottenham Hotspur.

The irony isn’t lost on Dimitrakis.

“It could be symbolic and an omen,” he said.

“In the first eight rounds we had two points but we’ve managed to get out of that.

“The boys are all really excited (to draw Darwin Olympic), if they had one trip to chose that was probably the one.

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“Again, maybe the gods are looking after us, so the boys are really looking forward to a couple of days away in Darwin.

“They feel like professional footballers and if they can get the result there will be a lot of acknowledgment come with it.”

In a difficult run, Nunawading City faces Heidelberg United at Olympic Village on Saturday then VPL2 premiership contender Eltham Redbacks the following Friday.

It will then have a three-day break before travelling to Darwin.

Originally published as Nunawading City makes Australia Cup history in the Northern Territory