Five NPL clubs have so far knocked out A-League opposition since the inaugural FFA Cup competition in 2014, with some believing it is time FFA looked into setting up a second division in Australia.  

However, Muscat – who spent time with NPLVIC club’s South Melbourne and Heidelberg United in the National Soccer League – said it was "important we get it right" before bringing in a second division.

“All the states are screaming out for a second division and all these teams, but all the state competitions are not sorted out themselves,” Muscat said.

“We as a club, along with Melbourne City, struggle to get teams into junior NPL competitions yet we want a second division. We’ve got to be making small steps before we make the big one.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of it…it’s easy to identify problems. Solutions are far harder to come across. Do we need more teams? Could we do with a second division? Of course we do.

“It’s got to be something sustainable and not as we’ve done in the past, jump into and see it fall away very soon after.”

Opinions have also been divided in Australian football after Blacktown City beat Central Coast 3-2 and Heidelberg United downed Perth Glory 1-0 last week in the Cup, where some NPL coaches felt the gap between the state leagues and A-League was closing.

The Melbourne Victory boss feels if A-League teams don’t respect NPL opposition on the day, then they could get found out.

“It’s a debate that can go on forever and it’s a debate where your opinion can change from game to game,” he said.

“I’m not naive, once a game kicks off it’s irrelevant. If there are two teams out there, the gap is zero. You have to get everything right, your attitude and you need to apply yourself correctly.

“Otherwise how do we determine if the gap is big or not? We’ve seen a couple in the past years and two this season.

“On any given night, the gap isn’t as big as you think. As certainly in a one-off anyway, over a period of time I think the gap is huge. But in a one-off, if you’re not right, the gap isn’t very big at all.”

Victory are in transit to Queensland to take on Brisbane Roar in the FFA Cup on Wednesday.

Victory’s only key out could be new signing Mark Milligan as the club is currently waiting for a clearance for him to play.

Milligan came on in the 57th minute in Victory’s friendly against Bentleigh Greens last week, but further paperwork needs to be done before he can feature in a competitive fixture.

“We place a high importance on the game, having said that we’ll work backwards in trying to win the game, then you work backwards from that and no risks will be taken with anybody,” he said.

“It’s a competition we want to stay in, it gives you some meaningful games throughout the pre-season.”

Main Photo: Milan Krmpotic