SYDNEY (AP) - Terry Antonis led Melbourne Victory into the A-League grand final by scoring an extra-time winner to defeat defending champions Sydney FC 3-2.
The former Sydney player was close to tears when, with Victory up 2-1 and 13 seconds away from booking a spot in the decider against the Newcastle Jets, he netted a 95th-minute own-goal to gift his former team the 2-2 equalizer Saturday.
But in the 117th minute, Antonis pounced on a turnover and blazed forward from halfway to fire the ultimate winner past Andrew Redmayne.
His winning strike triggered farcical scenes when Victory assistant coach Jean-Paul de Marigny and goalkeeping coach Dean Anastasiadis were both shown red cards for celebrating Antonis’ goal in the face of their Sydney rivals. They face possible league sanctions.
Sydney FC led through an early own goal by Stefan Nigro until Kevin Muscat’s took a 2-1 lead through goals by Kosta Barbarouses and James Troisi.
On Friday, Newcastle beat Melbourne City 2-1 to advance the championship match a year after finishing in last place. It has been 10 years since the Jets’ last grand final appearance - in their championship season of 2007-08.
Newcastle forward Riley McGree’s equalizer came on what commentators called the A-League’s goal of the season, a scorpion kick .
The scorpion-kick goal - recently made famous by players like Olivier Giroud and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the English Premier League - involves a player clipping the ball with an outstretched leg from behind their body, with the leg making the shape of a scorpion’s tail.
The 19-year-old McGree is on loan from Belgium’s Club Brugge.
“I think I did get a bit lucky but I had the momentum going forward. I’m pretty happy,” McGree said.
FIFA later tweeted a video of McGree’s goal, indicating it could be considered for the Puskas Award, FIFA’s goal of the year.
Jason Hoffman scored the winner for Newcastle after Bruno Fornaroli had given City a 1-0 lead. McGree’s equalizing goal came in the 57th minute.
The grand final is on May 5 at Newcastle.
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