Adelaide City pulled off a major upset in the Westfield FFA Cup, winning 1-0 against 2013/14 Hyundai A-League runner-ups Western Sydney Wanderers at Marden Sports Complex.

Adelaide City, who won the 2014 Coca-Cola Federation Cup, became the first National Premier League side to eliminate an A-League club in the inaugural cup competition.

Teenager Thomas Love scored a superb solo effort to snatch a win for the former National Soccer League champions in front of 2701 spectators.

Adelaide City winger Alexander Rideout said his team treated their professional opponents like human beings.

“We said we’ve got nothing to lose, let’s go out and do our jobs and see what happens. We did that and we got the result,” he said.

The away side had the first chances of the match, with Mateo Poljak and Jaushua Sotirio resorting to long distance shooting in the opening 10 minutes, but both missed the target.

Adelaide City caused a scare in the 12th minute when Love slipped Anthony Costa through on goal, but former Adelaide United defender Antony Golec made a last-ditch tackle to deny the striker.

Tomi Juric had an opportunity to put the Wanderers ahead just before the half time break, but his header off a Jason Trifiro corner did not trouble Adelaide City goalkeeper Ryan Veitch.

Early in the second half, Rideout tested his luck with a drive from outside the penalty area, but he shot straight at Ante Covic.

Kwabena Appiah looked dangerous down the right flank for the Wanderers, whipping in crosses for Sotirio and Juric, but neither attacker was able to make good connection.

Appiah linked up with Juric again in the 70th minute, but Adelaide City’s defence was quick to regroup to block a Juric backheel.

Just when the Wanderers looked like they had taken full control of the match, Love sprinted half the pitch against the run of play, bursting through Western Sydney’s defence, before calmly slotting past Covic in the 75th minute.

Wanderers went searching for an equaliser in the remaining 15 minutes, but were unable to break down Adelaide City’s resolute defending, allowing the semi-professional side to clinch a momentous victory.

Adelaide City coach Damian Mori said his side played the way they had planned and it worked.

“I thought we worked hard on and off the ball and I thought we created more chances too. I thought we had the best chances on the day; we limited them to shots from outside the box,” Mori said.

“When we didn’t have the ball, we made it very difficult for them to play. We kept a high line and we pressed them in the middle of the park, which we wanted to do.”

Despite their outstanding cup form, Adelaide City sit in sixth position in the South Australia National Premier League.

“It’s funny because this competition has probably brought the best out of us, but in the league we’ve struggled and if we could bring this sort of form into the league, we’d be doing a lot better,” he said.

Wanderers coach Tony Popovic praised Adelaide City, saying they did themselves and their club proud.

“They had an opportunity and took it. For all our dominance of the ball, we probably didn’t create enough opportunities and it was their night tonight, so congratulations to them,” Popovic said.

“We had a lot of half opportunities, but for the amount of times that we got into wide areas and got past the last man, we didn’t really have enough clear-cut opportunities, so that’s something we have to have a look at.”

Adelaide City will play their Round of 16 match in September and they will discover their next opponent on August 21.