Floreat Athena’s FFA Cup campaign is over after they fell 3-1 to Adelaide United, but not before they gave the A-League side a scare at E&D Litis Stadium.

Adelaide had looked comfortable and led at half time thanks to Louis D’Arrigo’s header, but a fine Chris Saladaris strike early in the second half ensured the NPL side took the match to extra time.

However, United’s quality came to the fore in extra time as a George Blackwood penalty and a Yaya Dukuly finish sent the Reds through to the Round of 16.

In their first hit-out of the season, an Adelaide side short of match fitness often looked to hit Floreat on the break, aiming to utilise the pace of Mohamed Toure and Ryan Kitto.

The breakthrough came just shy of the 20 minute mark, when Joshua Cavallo’s cross was met by D’Arrigo, who powered a header past Thomas Chudy in goal after his run into the box went unchecked.

It was almost 2-0 a few minutes later when the ball fell to Bernardo on the edge of the box, but Chudy did well to push his curling effort past the post.

Controversy ensued midway through the half when Floreat’s Rob Harding was hauled down by George Timotheou after beating the offside trap, but referee Adam Fielding opted to only issue a yellow card instead of a red, much to the chagrin of the Floreat players.

The fans had barely taken their seats for the second half when Adelaide goalkeeper James Delianov gifted Floreat a chance to draw level after he shanked a clearance, but Nicholas Ambrogio’s deflected shot rolled into the side-netting.

But the hosts did equalise when Chris Saladaris showed some some nice footwork to evade a tackle outside the box, before firing beyond a sprawling Delianov into the corner of the net.

Toure almost put Adelaide back in front moments later when he rose to meet Cavallo’s inviting cross, but the crossbar came to Athena’s rescue.

Ambrogio almost won at the end of regulation time for Floreat when Ben Steele’s cross was not cleared, and ex-Perth Glory defender Jacob Tratt’s clearance ricocheted off the striker and just wide of the goal.

It took Adelaide just two minutes of extra time to retake the lead after Dennis Galan felled Halloran in the box and Blackwood duly dispatched the penalty.

Phil Arnold came closest to an equaliser for the underdogs when he fired just wide, and United made him pay a few minutes later when Toure caused chaos in the penalty box and the ball fell to Yaya Dukuly to slam home and seal the win.