But it's a moot point whether any of their giant-slaying exploits were, in terms of the gulf between them and their opponents, greater than that achieved by Knox City at the weekend, when they eliminated high-flying NPL club Pascoe Vale 1-0.

The club from Melbourne's outer east now finds itself in Tuesday's draw for the fifth preliminary round of the nationwide cup competition after beating a team playing four divisions above its level in a tense and competitive game on their Egan Lee Reserve ground.

Three more wins, and the minnows from Victoria's State League Three can hope and dream about securing a tie against an A-League club - perhaps mighty Melbourne Victory, moneybags Melbourne City or Premiership Plate certainties Sydney FC - in the round of 32, when the big teams from the national competition enter the cup draw to meet up with the lower-level teams that have battled their way through to face them.

Knox City's achievement in turning over a club from the top NPL division in Victoria (nationally NPL clubs are the second tier of the domestic game beneath the A-League) is unprecedented in the competition's short history, where the early rounds are all played within each team's respective states.

Only once before in the three years that the FFA Cup has been running in Victoria has one team beaten another that is playing so many levels above it: that was in 2015, when Kings Domain, then in State League Five, knocked out State League One Cairnlea.

Paul McEvoy did the damage late in the match against Pascoe Vale, which is lying fourth in the NPL, just two points behind league leaders Avondale FC.

Delighted Knox coach Danny Verdun said: "This is a fantastic result and a great run for a club that is trying to rebuild. We don't mind who we get in the next round - an NPL club will be fine."

What makes Knox's win even more meritorious is that Pascoe Vale are now match fit and battle hardened, while Knox is in its pre-season: it plays its first league match of the 2017 campaign next weekend, against Monbulk.

Most of the other big boys from the NPL went through their fourth qualifying round with the minimum of fuss, although one or two had a scare along the way.

NPL Green Gully, once an NSL club, had to work hard to see off Springvale White Eagles from NPL 2, while NPL leaders Avondale needed a penalty shootout to see off the challenge of Sunshine George Cross, these days an NPL 2 club but a team that once also had a spell in the top tier in Australia's old NSL.

Only Mornington and Morwell Pegasus remain of the regional clubs, former giant killers Ballarat, Murray United, Bendigo, North Geelong and Goulburn Valley Suns already having been knocked out.