Two red cards and almost two hours of play was what it took to break the deadlock between Tigers FC and APIA Leichhardt, as they both clawed for a spot in the top 16.
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Queanbeyan's FFA Cup match on Thursday night ended 3-0 in APIA's favour, after they ran away with the game in the final five minutes of extra time.
Cooma's goalkeeper Jakob Cole kept his side in the running for 112 minutes, before APIA's two-player advantage got the best of the home-side.
Tigers' Nikola Popovich was the first to be sent, after receiving his second yellow card in the 78th minute. Before Juliano Borgna was given marching orders about 15 minutes later.
Tigers coach Ryan Grogan said everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
He also praised the class of Cole, alongside the character and depth of his side in the match.
"The side handled the scenario the same way they've handled every setback so far this season up until this point, with a plum," he said.
"Our success this year in the local competition was built on our defence and I think we displayed that throughout this whole performance, regardless of how many players we've got on the park - we're going to defend doggedly, we're never going to give up and you're going to earn your goal."
The Tigers held out for 20 minutes with nine men, until Leichhardt's Sean Symons broke the deadlock in the 112th minute and opened the floodgates.
Jason Romero was next for the visitors three minutes later, followed by Jack Armson to make it 3-0.
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The man who kept Cooma side in the match, Cole, praised his side's efforts and shared their disappointment in the result.
"It's always tough doing 120 minutes with 11 men, but going down to nine is something different. I've never experienced it before and I don't think anyone else has but the boys played extremely well," he said.
"It's weird, I've been here three times and this is probably the most emotional match I've been in in the FFA Cup."
APIA will progress to the round of 16 and will face A-League Men's side Western Sydney Wanderers next week.
Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
