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Sydney FC, Macarthur FC advance to quarter-final of Australia Cup

Macarthur's Kearyn Baccus wins possession from Modbury's Liam McCabe in their Australia Cup tie.

Macarthur's Kearyn Baccus wins possession from Modbury's Liam McCabe in their Australia Cup tie. Photo: AAP

Macarthur Bulls are through to the quarter-finals of the Australia Cup, continuing Dwight Yorke’s electric start to life as a coach down under.

After thrashing the Magpies Crusaders 6-0 to begin his coaching stint in Australia with a bang, the Bulls comprehensively beat Modbury Jets 4-0 in their last-16 clash in South Australia on Wednesday.

Joining the Bulls in the last eight of the competition is Sydney FC, the club Yorke starred for as a player during his A-League stint.

The Sky Blues secured their spot with a 2-1 win over Bentleigh Greens, thanks to goals from youngsters Adrian Segecic (48th minute) and Aaron Gurd (67th minute).

Steve Corica’s men, however, didn’t have it all their own way with Ajak Riak firing past Socceroos custodian Andrew Redmayne in the 86th minute to ensure a tense conclusion to the tie.

“I am really proud of a couple of our young players,” Corica said.

“Aaron Gurd, that was his first start, and (Adrian) Segecic, they both scored crucial goals for us.

“(The Australia Cup) is giving a lot of these young boys an opportunity to play and to progress. We will get some new recruits in for the next game, a bit more experience as well. The Cup is very important for us and we want to go all the way.”

At ServiceFM Stadium in South Australia, Macarthur went through courtesy of goals from Al Hassan Toure, Charles M’Mombwa and a double from Lachlan Rose.

Reflecting on his side’s victory, Yorke said: “I thought we were a bit lucky in the first half. We didn’t play particularly great.

“We changed the shape a little bit for this game and maybe we confused the players a little bit. But nevertheless, Modbury were outstanding first half and we needed to get a grip of the game.

“We are still very early in the process of the team in terms of getting to know the personnel, so this was a bit of a learning curve for us, but nevertheless we got through to the next round which was our main aim.”

The round-of-16 action continues on Sunday with Sydney United 58 hosting reigning A-League champions Western United FC at Sydney United Sports Centre, and Peninsula Power (Qld) and Green Gully (Vic) doing battle at AJ Kelly Park in the Sunshine State.

Like last year the Australia Cup winner will be granted one of Australia’s slots in the group stage of the AFC Cup which is one tier below the AFC Champions League.

The final will take place on October 1, a few days before the A-League Men’s campaign gets under way.

-AAP

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