Noah Botic became the youngest hat-trick scorer in Isuzu UTE A-League finals history to lead Western United past Adelaide United 3-2 and through to the Semi-Finals.
With Subway Socceroos assistant Hayden Foxe watching from the stands, Botic etched his name in the history books with his first senior career treble on an historic night in Tarneit, where Western United played their first Isuzu UTE A-League finals fixture at Ironbark Fields.
The 23-year-old star joined Archie Thompson (2007), Jason Cummings (2023), Romeo Castelen (2016) and Shane Smeltz (2012) as hat-trick scorers in Finals Series matches over the course of the competition’s 20-year history.
Botic, who was overlooked for March’s international window, took his season tally to 15 goals after Western came from behind in the Elimination Final – Luka Jovanovic stunned the crowd in the third minute.
But in their first finals match since winning the Championship in 2022, Western took control thanks to Botic as the Green and Black ended Carl Veart’s coaching tenure with the Reds and setup a two-legged Semi-Final date with rivals Melbourne City.
It get off to a rocky start, however, on a glorious night under the Tarneit lights in Melbourne’s west, where Adelaide’s technical director Ernest Faber was in the stands along with Reds great Richie Elagich – the father of Ethan.
While the home crowd fell silent, there was a jubilant pocket off travelling Adelaide fans tucked into a corner after Jovanovic broke the deadlock in the third minute. In for injured Golden Boot winner Archie Goodwin, the Reds forward got on the end of an inch-perfect cross from Javi Lopez.
That moment spurred Western United in action.
The first sign was three minutes later when Michael Ruhs bullied Javi Lopez off the ball and moved through on goal, but he was kept out by goalkeeper Max Vartuli before Matt Grimaldi had a goal ruled out for offside.
There was also a close-range header from Ruhs that was straight at Vartuli, while Adelaide somehow survived a goal-mouth scramble.
Western did get their goal in the 20th minute. Botic curled the ball beyond the Reds goalkeeper, with the help of a deflection.
Eleven minutes later and the Green and Black took the lead. This time it was a Botic goal as he was played in by Riku Danzaki before finishing emphatically into the back of the net. It was a moment Western United’s active supporters revelled in.
Western goalkeeper Matt Sutton was called into action four minutes into the second half, keeping out a Bart Vriends header as a collective gasp rang out around the ground.
Botic put the result almost beyond doubt in the 62nd minute to complete his hat-trick – the young gun sweeping home his and Western’s third before celebrating in front of the Adelaide fans. In the process, he became just the third men’s player in the club’s history to score three goals in a game.
Adelaide were not done yet, though, as Mauk struck 11 minutes from the end to set up a grandstand finish.
Hiroshi Ibusuki came off the bench and thought he had scored against his former side seven minutes from the end. However, the Japanese star’s strike was sensationally kept out by Vartuli as the ball bounced off the post and away from danger.
