Belconnen United coach Dean Ugrinic is disappointed his side's Federation Cup victory doesn't earn it passage to the prestigious FFA Cup, but hopes it spurs the Blue Devils on to success in the National Premier League.
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The Blue Devils scored three goals in the opening half-hour before holding off a fast finishing Canberra FC 3-2 at the Hawker Football Centre on Thursday night.
Despite lifting the trophy for the first time in 16 years, the Blue Devils have been left in limbo after being caught in the middle of a strange qualifying bungle.
Capital Football originally decided that the winners of this year's pre-season competition would qualify for the inaugural FFA Cup, the Australian version of the FA Cup pitting amateur and semi-professional clubs from across the country against A-League opposition.
However, Tuggeranong United, as the winners of last year's Federation Cup, successfully appealed the ruling on the grounds it deserved inclusion as the current champions of the ACT's own knockout tournament.
It leaves the Blue Devils stranded and with every right to feel aggrieved as future winners of the Federation Cup will progress to the FFA Cup.
"It is disappointing. The goalposts just seem to be moving all the time,'' Ugrinic said.
"We don't begrudge Tuggeranong United because they deserve to be there, it's just strange the rules don't apply to us as well."
Canberra FC requested to play the final on grass at either Deakin Stadium or McKellar Park instead of the harder, synthetic surface at Hawker, knowing it had a crucial National Premier League match with the Cooma Tigers on Sunday.
The Blue Devils were in a similar situation during the final of the pre-season competition earlier this year, when they fielded an understrength side ahead of their NPL season opener just three days later.
Canberra FC coach Ray Junna admitted the timing of the final wasn't ideal as he had one eye on the clash with the Tigers.
"Taking nothing away from Belconnen, because they deserved to win, but we didn't risk Daniel Bennett and had a couple of others on the bench,'' Junna said.
"We tried to have the match played on grass to make it easier on the players to recover.
"We'll take a lot of confidence out of how we finished the match, but we know it's going to be tough against Cooma, who have won seven or eight games in a row.''
In the only match on Saturday, Canberra Olympic will look to stay in touch with the top three when it takes on the Monaro Panthers at Hawker.
CANBERRA NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUE: Saturday: Monaro Panthers v Canberra Olympic at Hawker, 3pm. Sunday: Canberra FC v Cooma Tigers at Deakin Stadium, 3pm.
