As it happened: South Melbourne make history with epic Australia Cup final win

South Melbourne 1-1 Melbourne Victory (4-3p)

10:55pm AEDT: South Melbourne players are minutes away from lifting the trophy and beginning a party that will no doubt still be continuing when the rest of us wake up tomorrow. They thoroughly deserve every minute of joy after matching it with a formidable top-flight outfit. 

It’s also a dream way for Sinisa Cohadzic to bow out as Souths head coach. He came to the club two seasons ago when they were in the relegation zone and has steered them to an Australian Championship, an OFC Pro League final and now an Australia Cup. 

Now the campaign for South Melbourne in the A-League is going to be full steam ahead and the APL are quickly running out of excuses to continue locking them out!

10:50pm AEDT: It was a story of two very different tales for the captains of both sides in the end. Marko Jankovic and Jason Davidson both had outstanding games in the 120 minutes, but it was Jankovic who set the tone for the penalty shootout by putting away the first kick of the shootout, before Davidson’s dreadful miss sealed the result.

10:45pm AEDT: It was only fitting that South Melbourne had to win this way. They had their backs up against the wall in four victories on the way to the final today, coming from behind three times and having to hold their nerve after blowing a 2-0 lead against WA NPL side Fremantle City at home. 

Even the pressure of a multiple-time A-League championship winning outfit was not too much for them to overcome. They had match fitness on their side, having just recently concluded their NPL Victoria finals campaign, and that showed with the players staying energetic and determined all the way through a nailbiting 120 minutes. 

10:38pm AEDT: Almost three hours after a ball was first kicked in front of 29,911 spectators at AAMI Park, South Melbourne have become the first ever NPL club to win the Australia Cup in its 13 editions.

Melbourne Victory captain Jason Davidson sprayed their fifth penalty kick a long way over the crossbar, three kicks after new recruit Harry Sawyer had his shot kept out by the heroic Javier Lopez, who should in all honesty be the Player of the Match tonight for his seven saves (including the one in the shootout). 

South’s four penalty takers, including last gasp equaliser Max Mikkola, were all ice cool in slotting their spot kicks. 

Let this be the day that South Melbourne breaks the glass ceiling and force their way into Australia’s top-flight. Who in all honesty thought for more than 20 years that Australian football did not want football like this??!

A double save from South Melbourne goalkeeper Javier Lopez after a retake of Victory’s second penalty kick was ordered by the referee!

Lopez almost saved Victory’s third but it just squeezed underneath him after he went the right way.

FULL-TIME: The Australia Cup final is going to penalties!

117′: HELLAS HAVE DONE IT! THE AUSTRALIA CUP FINAL IS LEVEL! Max Mikkola bursts a shot through the defences of Jack Duncan into the top of the net!

I’ve covered literally hundreds of sporting events here at AAMI Park and that noise from the South Melbourne fans could well be the loudest I’ve ever heard. 

116′: South Melbourne just had their biggest chance and they blew it! Jack Duncan was coming in comfortably to intercept a cross but he spilled the ball to his feet. It ended up at the feet of Bul Juach, who was off-balance and facing away from the goal at the time, and his attempt to hook the ball across his body couldn’t come good.

114′: Victory are still in front at AAMI Park and we’re not seeing South throw more and more bodies forward in attack. 

109‘: Guillermo May takes a very slow corner after getting the hurry-up from the referee and the South Melbourne fans, only for another tremendous save from the indefatigable Javier Lopez!

10:07pm AEDT: Melbourne Victory are 15 minutes away from joining Adelaide United on three Australia Cup titles. Based on what they’ve done so far tonight, it would be naive to rule out a South Melbourne equaliser. 

105′: Half-time of extra time has been called. Every time I suspect South Melbourne’s players are running out of gas, they prove me wrong. But they are making more mistakes than their A-League opponents in this crucial period.

101‘: BUL JUACH HITS THE CROSSBAR and the deflection goes in Melbourne Victory’s favour! That was rocketing towards the top of the net before it continued its trajectory and hit the wrong side of the woodwork. 

Make no mistake about it – South Melbourne are not done with yet. Let’s not forget they had to come from behind to win three of their four ties on the way to the final…

97′: Melbourne Victory lead in extra time through Denis Genreau after a lengthy VAR check!

Genreau lobbed a shot over the top of a desperately leaping Lopez, with the ball deflecting directly down off the underside of the crossbar. The ball looked at first to have landed on the goal line before spinning back out. The on-field officials awarded it as a goal and VAR confirmed, with replays clearly showing it bouncing inside the goal.

9:46pm AEDT: Here we go again! Extra time is underway. 

FULL TIME: For just the third time in 13 Australia Cup seasons, the final is going to extra time!

89′: Melbourne Victory defender Tom Lockyer had to hobble to the near post to defend a long throw-in after copping a heavy knock to what appears to be his right knee. 

He’s not moving freely as South go on the late attack with a 90th minute corner that was safely negotiated. 

86‘: We’re into the final five minutes before stoppage time and I’ll still backing myself in that this game is not going to extra time! It continues to open up further as the minutes tick on. Not sure anyone other than some tiring players want this gripping spectacle to end, though. 

81‘: The crowd of 29,911 is not only an Australia Cup record, but a new record for the largest sporting crowd at AAMI Park, which has a capacity of 30,050. 30k was never going to be possible, with the front 2-3 rows in front of both active ends tarped off – presumably for security reasons. 

78‘: GET JAVIER LOPEZ INTO THE A-LEAGUE NOW! South Melbourne’s goalkeeper has pulled off a tremendous diving save to deny Melbourne Victory a match-opener after the Victory found themselves in a two-on-one situation. Clarismario Santos had two-thirds of the goalmouth to aim at with his third shot on target but Lopez covered up enough to keep it out. 

75′: Flashscore player ratings are really starting to take shape and it’s painting a picture about just who has been the standout performers for both teams so far. The two captains – Jankovic and Davidson – have stood strong in defence, with Jankovic winning eight of his ten individual duels and Davidson eight of his 11. 

71′: Victory captain Jason Davidson gets booked for shutting down a promising Bul Juach run with a very physical challenge. South Melbourne get a free from about 30 metres out but it goes straight into the wall. 

67‘: The size of the grey bars after half-time tell you just how close the Victory were coming to scoring in the last 20 minutes before South Melbourne created some smaller opportunities of their own. This has been every bit of the nailbiting contest we were hoping for, and South Melbourne are very much holding their own against one of the A-League title favourites for the coming season.

63′: The Hellas fans are going berserk at their end after Yuki Uchida urged them on to lift the noise ahead of a corner. The second half has been just as neck and neck as the first, with neither team recording a big chance after nearly 20 minutes. 

At the risk of jinxing things, I’m certain this deadlock will be broken shortly – and that goal could be all that is needed to lift the trophy later tonight.

57′: A doubile change from Victory boss Savarese as Keegan Jelacic and Matthew Grimaldi are off for Guillermo May and Denis Genreau. Looking forward to seeing May’s first minutes for his new club. 

8:53pm AEST: The second half has kicked off at AAMI Park, with South Melbourne bringing Paulo Retre into the match for Jacob Eliopoulos. 

60 seconds into the half, Bul Juach was away to the races with the ball at his feet but his shot was not powerful enough to get past the reach of Victory goalkeeper Jack Duncan.

HT: That was an evenly contested first half at AAMI Park, with Melbourne Victory’s Keegan Jelacic and South Melbourne’s Thomas Giannokopoulos providing their team’s best scoring chances in the 25th and 36th minutes respectively.

Victory sat back and let their rivals dictate things in the first 15 minutes before quickly warming into their game and controlling the majority of proceedings since.

36′: ALMOST an opening goal for South Melbourne from a free kick! Giannokopoulos towered over his opponents and got head to ball but it went wide of the goals.

26′: A rare foray forward for the Victory almost resulted in the opening goal, with Souths keeper Javier Lopez tipping a Keegan Jelacic shot into the post.

Just seconds later, Uchida burnt off his defender on the counter attack and whipped a ball across goal that was just a tad too deep for Bul Juach to meet. Juach was in an excellent position to score but the pass lacked precision. 

23′: At the midway point of the first half, the momentum has almost been entirely with South Melbourne, who are right up for this contest.

16′: It’s all South Melbourne everywhere but the scoreboard in the first 15 minutes. They took the second corner of the match but it went beyond the pack of players in the box. Uchida has been the biggest handful so far for the Victory defence. 

14′: It was South Melbourne with the first dangerous opportunity of the match as a lively Yuki Uchida almost found Bul Juach with a low, centering bullet pass from inside the box! 0-0 after it missed the target.

6′: Souths left back Jordan Lampard whips in the first corner of the match and it wasn’t the easiest for the Victory defence to clear. 

4′: South Melbourne defender Thomas Giannokopoulos is the first man of the match booked for a very late challenge near midfield. Far from ideal for a centre back to need to be cautious for what could be another 116 minutes plus change.

7:45pm AEDT: The teams head out onto the pitch, led by captains Marko Jankovic and Jason Davidson, to line up for the national anthem and the presentation of the trophy. 

7:30pm AEDT: Football Australia listed a 7:35pm kick-off for this match, but the football doesn’t actually begin until closer to 7:50pm, with some pre-game entertainment still to come.

7:15pm AEDT: The atmosphere at AAMI Park is nothing short of electric as the players head out for their warm-ups, with both ends in full voice. South Melbourne’s end in particular – at the Yarra River end of the ground – is particularly noisy. 

I stepped out to the concourse for a quick breath of fresh air and, despite there barely being an empty green seat in the stadium, was greeted by huge lines still streaming through the gates.

6:55pm AEDT: You can catch up on each team’s path to the final with our popular Australia Cup guide. 

Melbourne Victory had to make three trips to Sydney and one to Hobart, whilst Souths did things the hard way, falling 1-0 behind in three of their matches and squandering a 2-0 lead to Fremantle City in the other. They could surely be described as “character-building wins”.

6:45pm AEDT: Here are the starting lineups for both teams. Most notably, South Melbourne have benched new signing Paulo Retre after he started in three of Hellas’ four wins on the way here. 

Melbourne Victory have also benched two of their big new recruits – former Macarthur striker Harry Sawyer and Auckland FC premiership and championship winner Guillermo May.

6:30pm AEDT: The footballing rivalry that never was for 22 years… finally is! 

Active supporters from both clubs are already in loud voice 60 minutes before kick-off as a sold-out AAMI Park in Melbourne begins to fill up for the final of the 13th edition of the Australia Cup.

South Melbourne are attempting to become the first NPL club to lift the trophy after Sydney United 58 (2022) and Heidelberg United (2025) both fell at the final hurdle. 

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