Coach Joel Griffiths believes Newcastle Olympic's strong performance against A-League premiers Melbourne City at No.2 Sportsground on Tuesday night shows they are a group capable of success at local level as well as beyond.
Olympic lost the Australia Cup round of 32 match 1-0 but sent a scare through their opponents with a stellar second-half effort.
City, who fielded six starters from May's A-League grand final-losing side, led the contest in the 41st minute when 19-year-old scholarship player Luke Oresti tapped in from close range.
Olympic had scrambled well in defence in the opening 40 minutes but a poor pass at the back gave City the opportunity. Florin Berenguer fired a ball in that keeper Adam Pearce couldn't handle and Oresti was there to finish on debut.
Down 1-0 at the break, Olympic came out firing in the second half and had a great chance in the 50th minute.
American Malik Thom, Olympic's biggest threat in attack, found space down the left side and crossed for Kent Harrison, whose header was tipped wide by Tom Glover.
Jared Muller had a shot deflected in the 58th and only the woodwork denied Olympic an equaliser in the 82nd minute.
"We played well," Griffiths told the Newcastle Herald on Wednesday. "First half we just tried to survive against a really good team. Second half we changed it up a little bit and went at them and I honestly thought we were the better team in the second half.
"We've got a very young team so after the game I was just trying to tell the boys how proud I was of them, and how much more growth we've got going forward, and it's important that we all stick together because I honestly believe that we've got a group that can not only do something in the local league but can go on a run and have a run for a couple of years."
Olympic made their first round of 32 cup appearance last year when they hosted A-League side Macarthur and lost 3-0 after a COVID-marred preparation.
The NPL Northern NSW club must now turn their focus quickly back to a competition match that Griffiths rates as their hardest as they pursue a top-five finals berth with four games left in the regular season.
Olympic were fifth with 27 points before midweek catch-up games on Wednesday night as they eyed last-placed Adamstown (two points) at Adamstown Oval on Saturday.
"It was an amazing opportunity for [our players] and they handled themselves well," Griffiths said.
"They didn't look out of place in a game like that and hopefully they can learn from it. It was a good occasion for the whole club but now we have reset and refocus on what we have. We've got four games left and we just have to keep rolling on.
"We've got a game against Adamstown on the weekend who I'm sure everyone expects us to win, but in my opinion that's probably the hardest game we have in the run in because I know sometimes they can be a little bit tricky."
