Al Hassan Toure was the revelation of the FFA Cup 2019 having scored four goals in the knockout stages leading up to the final.
So it was only befitting that he would grab all the headlines in the decider against Melbourne City following a stellar display.
The 19-year-old opened the scoring with an opportunistic angled strike, catching Dean Bouzanis off guard at his near post.
But before his goal, Toure has vivid memories of the occasion itself.
“It was unreal, I saw friends and family in the corner and I think that hyped me up a bit, seeing everyone there,” he said.
“It was a good day, a lot of people came and just hearing the noise of the drums and the fans was amazing.”
As alluded to, Toure later explained how he noticed Bouzanis’ tendency to anticipate crosses and creep away from his line – leaving a gap at his near post – when he was on the bench in a league meeting against City just a few days earlier.
“The game before when we were playing them I was on the bench and I saw that their ‘keeper moves before the player kicks the ball,” a discerning Toure said.
“And I told someone on the bench if I get an opportunity I’ll shoot from there and that’s what happened, I went for it.
“When it went in I couldn’t believe it, so just celebrating when I looked up all the fans were off their seats and it made me feel good.”
Toure was not finished there. In the second-half he shrugged off the attentions of Harrison Delbridge on the half-way line to orchestrate a counter-attack which made it 2-0 when Riley McGree squared his pass to Ben Halloran to make it 2-0.
The forward was overcome by emotion in the ensuing celebrations – realising the magnitude of the moment.
“I think that was my favourite part of the game,” he said about creating the second goal.
“When I took on Harrison Delbridge and passed it to Riley (McGree) and Riley cut it back to Ben (Halloran), the feeling of finally winning a final came to mind.
“Because in the junior years I always used to lose, so when we scored the second goal I was very happy.
“And that’s when the emotions came out and I got help from (Michael) Jakobsen and Michaël Maria they told me to hold my emotions and it was an unreal day.”
He left the field to a standing ovation and in the post-match ceremony was awarded the Mark Viduka Medal for his inspired performance.
“When I heard my name and I won the Mark Viduka Medal it was a great honour,” he said.
“In the game there was a lot of great players from our team and winning that on a special night like that was amazing – in front of the fans and family.
“I think they really helped me throughout my FFA Cup debut and throughout the competition.”
