Tara Murray
The magic of the cup is back with the fixture for first round of the Victorian stage of the Australian Cup revealed.
With more teams joining the competition, there’s 133 teams in the preliminary round one draw.
Teams from state league 3, 4 and 5 are joined in this round by regional sides and some metropolitan teams.
With so many teams, 19 teams were given byes in the first round, including the Westside Strikers and Western Eagles.
State league 4 west side Spring Hills is in action in round one, hosting Old Trinity Grammarians. The Stallions had a tough 2022 season, finishing on the bottom of state league 4 west.
St Albans Gospic Bears will play host to Noble Hurricanes and Tullamarine is set to travel to Mount Martha.
Keilor Wolves, which made it through to the last 20 Victorian teams last year, has been drawn to play Aspendale.
In other matches, Sunbury United will host the Falcons 2000, Greenvale United will play Gold Plains and Gisborne will play Knox United.
West Point, which knocked off a state league 1 side on the way to the fourth round, will face the Waverley Wanderers.
Meadow Park will face the Sebastopol Vikings, while Craigieburn City will play state league side, Melbourne City.
State league team Williamstown will play Balmoral, Roxburgh Park United will travel to play the Rowville Eagles.
La Trobe University will host Seaford United, while Plenty Valley Lions face Deakin University and Point Cook will play Bentleigh.
Mitchell Ranges will host Melton Phoenix and Tarneit United state league 5 side will play its first official match against Doreen United.
Bundoora United will play the Bayside Argonauts, Wyndham will play the Glenroy Lions and the Maribyrnong Greens will play Monash University.
The Truganina Hornets will play Boronia, while Maidstone United will travel to the Surf Coast, Laverton will play Ballarat and Uni Hill Eagles will play Barton United.
Matches are set to be played this weekend.
