Ballarat City's Brandon Lauton praised in Victory's FFA Cup loss

It's not the sort of scoreline anyone was predicting with barely 15 minutes to go and Victory cruising at two goals up thanks to a brace from new signing Andrew Nabbout, the Socceroo striker who had once been a Jets player.

It's also not the sort of result Kurz would have been looking for in his first competitive game in charge of the club: Victory have high expectations, and blowing two-goal leads and not progressing beyond their first game in the FFA Cup is not part of the script.

But amid the wintry gloom there were flashes of light.

With so many top players having exited in the off-season, Kurz had only a handful of experienced players - headed by 350-game captain Leigh Broxham - to rely on, so he placed his faith in youngsters and fringe players.

Several came through the experience with positive performances - none more so than 18-year-old debutant Brandon Lauton.

The teenager, signed from Ballarat City, has been with Victory's youth set-up since 2017.

The South African-born defender (he was raised in Durban but came to Australia when he was three) certainly grabbed the opportunity.

''I am disappointed to give up a two-goal lead and then lose in extra time, but we did a lot of good things so we have to keep moving on,'' he said after the game.

''It was very special to make my debut. It's an honour to play for such a big club, the biggest in Australia. ''

He admitted the experience was a world apart from playing at youth level, but he adapted quickly. Not afraid to take players on, he made several forward runs and linked well with Nabbout when the Socceroo forward switched to the right flank.

"The style of play, the opposition and the intensity was much higher ... it was a really big jump," Lauton said.

"You can't make mistakes, they get punished straight away. You lose the ball, the counter-attack is on.

"I think I handled the nerves pretty well today. Surprisingly, as I can be quite nervy sometimes.

"I thought we had all their attacks pretty much nullified. But a deflection goes in here, they turned the tide, they are a good side.

"I try to think that the opposition is not anyone special. They are just another player for me."

He says his Ballarat coach, former Victory striker James Robinson, had been a big influence.

"We had a good coach in Ballarat who has had A-League experience. He taught us a lot of the little things that you don't learn from other coaches. So when I finally got a trial here I could take the chance."

Kurz was happy with elements of his team's performance, particularly the youngsters, but disappointed with the result.

"I think we set up a lot of young players, but at the end the quality from Newcastle [made the difference]. They had more quality in the finishing [than us], hence the result," he said.

"When you are 2-0 in front the game is not done. The first goal was lucky. It was not easy, then we had to change the goalkeeper [Lawrence Thomas] as well with an injury."

Andrew Nabbout made an excellent debut, he said. "He's a good player, we are very happy. He's an excellent, high quality player and he made a great job, scored two goals. It's good to have him in our team.

"Lauton, young Anthony Lesiotis, Hopey [Josh Hope] played overtime, yeah, I think they did it well.

"That is good to see, that we have some young players who can maybe be a part of the squad for the season.

"Ola [Toivonen, who came off the bench] is not ready, he came [back into training] very late. He is a high quality player, but we need him fit. That's now a job for Ola and the coaches.

"Lawrence Thomas, we must have a look at his knee problems. He fell down and felt pain. We must wait for the diagnosis from the doctor."