Magic of the Cup! History-making night sees Glory and Jets both savaged by Lions

[p]What a wonderful evening it was to be a Lions fan of any kind as NPL Victoria's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/preston-lions/Wz3kQlpC/"]Preston Lions[/a] and NPL [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/queensland-lions/rZJ589gJ/"]Queensland[/a]'s Lions FC added themselves to the honour roll of FFA Cup/Australia Cup 'cupsets' and qualified for the Round of 16. [/p][p]A 'cupset' is officially classified as any FFA Cup or Australia Cup game in which an A-League club is eliminated by any side from the second tier or below and has now occurred 24 times in 13 seasons, starting in the inaugural edition when Adelaide City knocked out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/western-sydney-wanderers/l00pXxBN/"]Western Sydney Wanderers[/a]. [/p][p]Preston Lions overcame a two-goal deficit to dump the defending champions out of the 2026 tournament in their Round of 32 debut, whilst Queensland's Round of 32 regulars registered their fifth ever Round of 16 appearance and their first since 2024 on penalties. [/p][p]New mid-season Argentinian recruit [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bonada-nahuel/lGjy9EGk/"]Nahuel Bonada[/a], who we had identified in our pre-tournament guide as Preston's 'player to watch', scored his second and third goals in the red and gold to establish himself as one of the great transfer pick-ups of 2026. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/newcastle-jets/EaZ5xZo0/"]Newcastle[/a] established and then doubled their lead before half-time through 18-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dobson-will/IgtWVtI0/"]Will Dobson[/a] and ex-Victory striker [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vergos-nikos/tzwUBLQF/"]Nikos Vergos[/a] in what was a much more evenly matched first half than the score would otherwise have suggested, with Preston getting away three shots on target of their own that just lacked the clinical finishing of their visitors.[/p][p]Lifted by an always noisy and passionate crowd at BT Connor Reserve in Reservoir, Preston struck back twice in seven minutes through Bonada as he twice demonstrated excellent reflexes to score right in the depths of the goalmouth, with Newcastle's defending leaving a lot to be desired on both occasions. [/p][p]The same could be said about the eventual match-winner scored in second half stoppage time, when Leighton Brooks received the ball in Newcastle's own half with acres of space around him. [/p][p]Brooks' cross into the box had 20-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lazarevski-daniel/IXl14NyI/"]Daniel Lazarevski[/a] almost unchallenged for the game-winning header as he managed to find his way inbetween two defenders before coming up with a header that gave Newcastle keeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/delianov-james/Wt1TGJPH/"]James Delianov[/a] no chance at close range.[/p][p]Bonada was our Player of the Match, rating 8.2 out of 10 with four shots on target. [/p][image alt="Nahuel Bonada Stats" id="0ec5d20d-aa78-44aa-84d9-db262923b746" credit-line="Flashscore / Getty Images via AFP" guid="7430af41-a03b-4c5e-a5d8-e6fe4419287d" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][embed guid="223c7a37-a4a1-4a0e-82a0-1fb5593a5e97" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zatqkq1DnMQ" social-type="youtube" /][p]Spencer Park witnessed a dramatic penalty shootout late into the evening as Lions FC prevailed in a match that needed 95 minutes for the ball to break into the back of the net, despite the teams combining for nine shots on target in regulation time.[/p][p]The Lions dominated proceedings in the first half with five of the six shots on target, with Lions goalkeeper Jackson Riley beginning his heroic evening by denying Glory captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/taggart-adam/lju8c2nj/"]Adam Taggart[/a] in just the sixth minute of the game. [/p][p]Lions FC struggled to trouble Glory goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sutton-matthew/jeawXez4/"]Matt Sutton[/a] despite their attempts, but the home side put  all four of their penalty kicks past Perth and back-to-back saves from Jackson Riley against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/despotovski-sebastian/86Xo8ddJ/"]Sebastian Despotovski[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sulemani-arion/p2Dugz1C/"]Arion Sulemani[/a] sent the Lions through to the Round of 16 for the fifth time. [/p][p]Lions centre back [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/deng-cher/tzbovFPt/"]Cher Deng[/a], who came out of the Central Coast Mariners academy before a stint in Singapore's Premier League in 2024/25, was our Player of the Match with an 8.2 rating of his own. [/p][image alt="Cher Deng Stats" id="ec5b6d8f-182e-4b39-8cb9-e3f8d5d9d1e1" credit-line="Flashscore / Getty Images via AFP" guid="1a62e889-f6ef-4b28-8320-7e206bb54115" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][embed guid="0ed0b94d-0496-45e2-bf04-f9a2fa7a74c7" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt0VmZ2o-Wc" social-type="youtube" /][h2]Full list of Australia Cup 'cupsets'[/h2][p]1. 2014 Round of 32: Adelaide City 1-0 Western Sydney Wanderers[/p][p]2. 2016 Round of 32: Green Gully 2-1 Central Coast Mariners[/p][p]3. 2016 Round of 32: Redlands United 2-1 Adelaide United[/p][p]4. 2017 Round of 32: Heidelberg United 1-0 Perth Glory[/p][p]5. 2017 Round of 32: Blacktown City 3-2 Central Coast Mariners[/p][p]6. 2018 Round of 32: Bentleigh Greens 1-0 Wellington Phoenix[/p][p]7. 2018 Round of 16: APIA Leichhardt 3-2 Melbourne Victory[/p][p]8. 2019 Round of 32: Brisbane Strikers 2-2(4-2p) Wellington Phoenix[/p][p]9. 2021 Round of 16: APIA Leichhardt 2-1 Western Sydney Wanderers[/p][p]10. 2022 Round of 16: Sydney United 1-1(4-3p) Western United[/p][p]11. 2022 Quarter-Finals: Oakleigh Cannons 2-1 Sydney FC[/p][p]12. 2022 Semi-Finals: Sydney United 3-2 Brisbane Roar[/p][p]13. 2023 Round of 32: Campbelltown City 2-1 Macarthur FC[/p][p]14. 2024 Round of 32: Oakleigh Cannons 3-1 Sydney FC[/p][p]15. 2024 Round of 32: South Melbourne 1-0 Wellington Phoenix[/p][p]16. 2024 Round of 32: Heidelberg United 3-1 Central Coast Mariners[/p][p]17. 2024 Round of 16: Moreton City Excelsior 3-2 Perth Glory[/p][p]18. 2025 Round of 32: Olympic Kingsway 3-2 Melbourne Victory[/p][p]19. 2025 Round of 32: APIA Leichhardt 2-0 Melbourne City[/p][p]20. 2025 Round of 16: Heidelberg United 3-0 Western Sydney Wanderers[/p][p]21. 2025 Quarter-Finals: Heidelberg United 4-0 Wellington Phoenix[/p][p]22. 2025 Semi-Finals: Heidelberg United 2-0 Sydney FC[/p][p]23. 2026 Round of 32: Preston Lions 3-2 Newcastle Jets[/p][p]24. 2026 Round of 32: Queensland Lions 1-1(4-2p) Perth Glory[/p][h2]Most 'cupsets' by an NPL club:[/h2][p]5: Heidelberg United (2017, 2024, 2025 x3)[/p][p]3: APIA Leichhardt (2018, 2021, 2025)[/p][p]2: Oakleigh Cannons (2022, 2024), Sydney United (2022 x2)[/p][p]1: Adelaide City (2014), Bentleigh Greens (2018), Blacktown City (2017), Brisbane Strikers (2019), Campbelltown City (2023), Green Gully (2016), Moreton City Excelsior (2024), Olympic Kingsway (2025), Preston Lions (2026), Queensland Lions (2026), Redlands United (2016), South Melbourne (2024)[/p][h2]Most 'cupsets' suffered by an A-League club:[/h2][p]4: Wellington Phoenix (2018, 2019, 2024, 2025[/p][p]3: Central Coast Mariners (2016, 2017, 2024), Perth Glory (2017, 2024, 2026), Sydney FC (2022, 2024, 2025), Western Sydney Wanderers (2014, 2021, 2025)[/p][p]2: Melbourne Victory (2018, 2025)[/p][p]1: Adelaide United (2016), Brisbane Roar (2022), Macarthur FC (2023), Melbourne City (2025), Newcastle Jets (2026), Western United (2022)[/p][infobox id="d39bc573-b9dd-4b87-acb9-2de1f22d36c7" /]