The Wanderers showed tremendous character to fight back from 4-2 down and clinch a thrilling 5-4 victory over Brindabella FC in Canberra on Thursday night.

The Wanderers piled three goals on in the final 20 minutes to capture their second straight win in the tournament. It gets them past the fourth round, where they will now meet their next opponents, who are yet to be determined, in two weeks.

Luke Stevens and Nashwan Sulaiman shared the Wanderers' first four goals with two apiece, before Jacob Ochieng got on the end of a brilliant cross to clinch the match-winner.

After being on the end of a 10-0 Charity Shield loss to Canberra Croatia last week, Wanderers coach Dave Leonard believes the come-from-behind win will do wonders for his young team's confidence.

"Absolutely, and that's the biggest thing to take out of it," Leonard said.

"The elation at the end, the sheer desperation, they showed guts and determination and that showed at the final whistle. It was if we had won a grand final.

"We showed some real fight after the week before. That is tough to take regardless of the opposition but we showed we have the resolve to get through that."

MORE SPORT NEWS

The Wanderers got the first goal on the board but went into half-time 2-1 down.

A penalty to the home team early in the second half extended the margin and prompted a change in formation from Leonard.

The Wanderers shifted from a 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2 to help provide more balance in the midfield, where Brindabella had got on top.

It proved a winning move and Leonard was rapt with the character on display from his men to adapt and conquer.

"It can't be underestimated that this is a completely new playing group and even though we're a proud group and have high expectations of ourselves, we're still pushing shit up hill," he said.

"So to see the boys keep fighting and fighting was so pleasing (Thursday) night. To adapt to a new formation when instructed to do is difficult, especially when you're under pressure. But they adapted really well and I couldn't have asked for any more from them."

Stevens again produced an outstanding performance for the Wanderers, which included a stunning free kick goal. Others to shine in a top team effort were Jake Ploenges, Sulaiman and Ochieng.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: