Bulli FC became the first Football NSW club to advance to the next round of this season’s Westfield FFA Cup when they ran out 4-0 victors over Southern District Association side Liverpool SC at Balls Paddock on Wednesday night. First half goals from Julian Minutillo, Dylan Lewis, Corey Horner and Ben McDonald were enough to see the Illawarra Premier League side through, and set up a tasty tie against NPL 2 outfit Spirit FC in the next round of this Australia-wide competition.

The visitors to the Illawarra rarely threatened the Bulli goal, though their performance improved in the second half on a rain-sodden pitch and with Bulli’s players sitting back on their four goal cushion.

For Bulli coach Ben Smith this was ‘a good workout in the first 45 minutes, but the game lasts for 90!’. Still, it gave his side an opportunity to gel ahead of the new Premier League season, which starts on Thursday 24 March with a big clash between Bulli and Kemblawarra Fury. ‘It’ll be a tough game, but we’re looking forward to it,’ said Smith after tonight’s match.

Bulli looked comfortable from the start in this Cup tie against unfamiliar opponents from Sydney’s south west. Lewis looked dangerous down the right, though nobody was there to put a final touch on his perfectly-placed cross eight minutes in.

But it didn’t take long for Bulli to score. McDonald forced a brave save from Nikola Maricic in the Liverpool goal, before Minutillo stepped up from the resulting corner and steered his header through a crowded area into the back of the net. And Minutillo almost doubled the lead a minute later when he broke clear, but skied his shot well over the crossbar.

Bulli’s second was not long in coming, though. In the 17^th minute, Maricic could only parry Tobin Zoomers’ piledriver into the path of Lewis, who made no mistake with his right foot shot for 2-0.

With Bulli cruising now, the two scorers almost teamed up for a third, Minutillo’s fierce cross just too quick for Lewis who only needed to get a toe on it to score again.

Just before the half hour, Horner stepped up to make it 3-0. Guy Knight’s corner to the far post found McDonald, who pulled the ball back sharply for Horner to tap it in with the Liverpool defence in disarray.

For the visitors, Milenko Divloanovic was often a lone figure up front easily dealt with by Bulli’s back four. But shortly after Bulli’s third, Divloanovic managed to reach the byline and pulled the ball back for Ilhay Gurbuz, but the Liverpool midfielder waited too long before attempting to shoot and the attack broke down.

Back at the other end, Bulli were getting some shooting practice in. First Zoomers laid the ball off to Lewis whose shot was kept out by Maricic’s diving save. Then Zoomers himself fired a left foot shot which crashed against the bar. And then McDonald and Lewis, linking up well throughout the first half, almost worked their way through the Liverpool defence again, only for Liverpool’s star player for the first 45, Ghanian Yow Oppong, to block Lewis’s attempt.

With a minute to go before the half time whistle, it was Lewis, though, who set up McDonald for another simple tap-in to make it 4-0 at the break.

The second half was a pale reflection of the first. When substitute Jared Fish pulled the ball in from the byline ten minutes in, McDonald swung a left foot shot well over the bar, but this was one of Bulli’s rare attempts on goal through the second stanza.

And it was the turn of Yuya Kuwata in the Bulli goal to see a bit of the action. First he smothered the ball at the feet of Divloanovic, as the Liverpool striker bore down on goal. And then Divloanovic again, running onto a long ball from substitute Marko Stankovic, forced a save down low from Kuwata.

But that was the best of Liverpool’s chances. As the pitch became sodden, tackles were mistimed and frustrations began to surface. Four Liverpool players received yellow cards, and more worryingly for Bulli, defender Horner was taken off with a suspected ankle injury from one challenge.

As Bulli pressed for a fifth, there was a moment of farce as Maricic came out too far and casually picked the ball up outside the box. He received a yellow card for that and was immediately substituted, but the free kick came to nothing.

Lewis came closest, forcing a fingertip save out of substitute keeper Milos Djokic, but in the 87^th minute, the game was brought to a halt when the unlucky Djokic clashed heads with a Bulli forward as a cross flew in at the far post. With the keeper needing more than five minutes’ treatment, and blood streaming from his nose, the referee called a halt to proceedings, leaving Bulli worthy winners at 4-0.

Bulli FC – 4 (Minutillo 11’, Lewis 17’, Horner 27’, McDonald 44’)

Liverpool SC – 0

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Balls Paddock

Bulli FC: Kuwata, Naylor, Best, Horner (Jackson), Burleigh, Kerr, Zoomers, Lewis, Knight, McDonald (Clements), Minutillo (Fish) (sub not used: Oliveira)

Liverpool SC: Maricic (Djokic), Miricovic, Subotic, Divloanovic, Kozul, Drca, Boateng, Marsic, Gurbuz/ I (Boriak), Oppong (Stankovic/ M), Gurbuz/ F (Stankovic / D)

Referee: Adam Naylor
Assistants: Mat Theobald and Lottie Cabbassi-Power

Report by Simon Duffin
Archive Photo: Pedro Garcia