Adelaide Comets Progressed to the Semi-Final of Westfield FFA Cup qualifying in dramatic fashion with a 1-0 win over Adelaide Blue Eagles on Saturday afternoon.

The contest looked to be heading to extra time but Andreas Weins popped up in the last minute of second half stoppage time to send the home side into hysterics.

Comets defender Allan Welsh was ecstatic to progress to the Semi-Final.

“[The win] means a lot for the club, we said at the start of the season that we wanted to win the Cup and we’re through to the Semi-Finals so hopefully we can keep going.”

Welsh was pleased with Comets’ defensive efforts after conceding four the week before, but admitted the home side should have been ahead a lot earlier in the game.

“I thought we played quite well, kept the ball better than in previous weeks, just lacked a bit of movement going forward and weren’t clinical enough with our final ball.

“We limited them to only one or two real chances and thought we definitely deserved the win.

“I didn’t think we had many clear cut chances but we should have been ahead earlier after dominating most of the game; we did a lot of work on our defensive structure last week so it was good to get a clean sheet.”

Blue Eagles’ Marco Balsamo labelled it as a “very disappointing result.”

“We made a slow start but once we settled into the game I thought it was a tight affair and could’ve gone either way.

“We didn’t get on top of them early as we would’ve liked to and it became a bit of a scrappy affair, but it was a lapse in concentration late on which proved costly in the end.

“The late goal definitely made the result more painful because the game looked set to head to extra time. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and our Cup dream is over.”

It proved to be a game off two halves, as both sides had periods of dominance but failed to capitalize in front of goal.

The home side started the brighter of the two as Weins and Captain Evan Kostopoulos linked up well early on, creating plenty of danger.

The opener failed to materialize as wayward shooting and a rock solid Pedram Sourjani in net for Blue Eagles thwarted comets attacks.

The visitors worked their way back into the contest towards the end of the opening 45, but it was a similar story as they scuffed their chances in front of goal.

Allan Welsh almost broke the dead lock early in the second half as he rattled his powerful header against the crossbar.

Blue Eagles enjoyed the majority of possession for a good period of the second half, but it was a similar story to Comets in the first half where they couldn’t capitalize.

Comets sensed extra time was looming and threw everything they had at Blue Eagles in an attempt to get the all-important goal.

A Hail Mary pass was launched from the halfway line in a last gasp attempt by Comets, as Weins made a clever run into the back and rose highest to beat the onrushing Sourjani, his looping header sparking rampant celebrations from the home crowd.

Written by Brendan Simpkins