Broadmeadow Magic and Newcastle Olympic will represent Northern NSW Football in the Australia Cup’s national round of 32 after winning their seventh preliminary round matches on Wednesday night.
At Cooks Square Park, Broadmeadow came from a goal down against Maitland FC in injury time to win 2-1 and eliminate the high-flying Magpies.
Olympic were much more comfortable, downing Cooks Hill United 3-0 at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field.
Magic and Olympic also reached the national round last season. Both were eliminated by A-League Men’s opposition in the round of 32, with Broadmeadow going down 3-0 to Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle Olympic beaten 3-0 by Macarthur FC.
It will be Olympic’s second visit to the national round, while it will be Broadmeadow’s sixth time on the national stage.
NNSWF General Manager Football Operations Liam Bentley congratulated Broadmeadow and Newcastle Olympic on qualifying and wished them well for the national round of 32.
“Our preliminary rounds this season were particularly strong with a lot of good football played and some great games,” Bentley said.
“Broadmeadow have obviously been there and done it a number of times before while Olympic have now qualified two years in a row.
“It is an exciting thing for those players and supporters to see their clubs on the national stage and we wish them all the very best.”
Magic trailed after just two minutes when Maitland’s star striker Braedyn Crowley produced a tidy finish after some quality build up from James Thompson.
Broadmeadow looked to be heading out of the competition as the match went into injury time, only for Maitland defender Adam Blunden to foul Magic substitute Damon Green in the penalty area.
Green took the resulting penalty, stroking it past Paul Bitz to level the scores.
But just when the match appeared to be heading to extra-time fellow Magic substitute Will Ingram got on the end of a hopeful Aaron Oppedisano cross to head home into the bottom corner and seal a miraculous result for Broadmeadow.
Olympic took the lead inside 10 minutes against Cooks Hill thanks to a Jared Muller header before the visitors doubled their advantage through Joey Langlois’ stunning long-range volley.
Muller sealed the result with his second goal with 20 minutes to play, with Olympic not conceding a goal on their road to the national round.
The Australia Cup national round of 32 draw will be conducted on Wednesday at 7.30pm. The draw will be broadcast live on 10 Play and streamed via the Australia Cup Facebook and My Football YouTube accounts.
Road to the 2022 Australia Cup national round of 32
Broadmeadow Magic
Fourth Preliminary Round – 17-0 v Mayfield United JSFC
Fifth Preliminary Round – 3-1 v Valentine FC
Sixth Preliminary Round – 3-1 v Coffs City United
Seventh Preliminary Round – 2-1 v Maitland FC
Newcastle Olympic
Fourth Preliminary Round – 13-0 v Cardiff City FC
Fifth Preliminary Round – 3-0 v Charlestown Azzurri
Sixth Preliminary Round – 2-0 v Lake Macquarie City
Seventh Preliminary Round – 3-0 v Cooks Hill United
