Preston Lions coach Lou Acevski in awe of Australia Cup spectacle

Preston Lions coach Lou Acevski believes Tuesday night’s Australia Cup blockbuster against South Melbourne proves why Victoria is the best football state in Australia.

Luc Jeggo celebrates his goal for Preston Lions. Picture: Matt Johnson

“That’s the way football should be in this country.”

Preston Lions coach Lou Acevski believes Tuesday night’s Australia Cup clash with South Melbourne shows why Victoria is the biggest football state in Australia.

Despite a 5-2 loss to its long-time rival and inaugural National Second Division counterpart, Acevski was in awe of his team, his club and the exhibition of football.

“That was an amazing night for the club,” Acevski said.

“You turn around and see the crowd, the chanting, the singing – from both clubs – that’s the way football should be in this country.

“It’s not our first taste (of the National Second Division), we get 3000-4000 people a game every week.

“But a derby always makes it more exciting, more passionate and that’s what football should be.

“I think we’re the leading state in Australian football at a semi-pro level.

“We’re not trying to big note ourselves or be arrogant, we’re being real and real is what we saw tonight.”

More than 6000 people packed into BT Connor Reserve on a cold Tuesday night to witness the Preston Lions and South Melbourne rivalry renewed.

The Lions had the ball in the back of the net inside the first minute of the match as Wes Jobello swept home a Connor Bell cross.

It could have been two-nil just before half-time but the hosts were denied a penalty shout when Jobello was clattered by Jordan Lampard.

It proved a turning point as South Melbourne struck a minute before the break before taking control in the second half and establishing a 3-1 lead.

Luc Jeggo gave the home crowd hope with a deserved goal with six minutes remaining in regulation, making it 2-3.

However, a red card to Aaron Anderson and two late goals to Hellas put an exclamation mark on the game.

“I thought the first half we were the better team, we tried to play some good football,” Acevski said.

“When you look at the whole picture of the game we conceded five set pieces, none from open play football, but credit to South Melbourne that’s what they’re good at.

“I thought Connor Bell was causing grief all night and Luc Jeggo worked his buttocks off.”

Preston will now turn its attention back to the VPL1 campaign with a mammoth, championship-shaping month ahead.

The Lions sit second on the ladder and face Melbourne Victory in a top-of-the-table clash on Monday night.

The club is riding a seven-game winning streak and are nine games unbeaten.

“We’ve got a tough game again, the next month we’ve got Victory, Western United and Northcote – that’s the top four in our league,” Acevski said.

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“We’ve got to go back and concentrate on the league now, I know we’ll regroup and get on our bikes and go again on Monday night.

“We learnt from our mistakes (early in the season), we’ve got a young squad and we were making some schoolboy errors at the wrong moment.

“We improved areas we should be better in and at the end of the day the ladder doesn’t lie, the boys are improving and we’ll try and improve week after week.”

Bell leads the club with six league goals, while Marcus Whelan has five – including last weekend’s 95th minute match-winner against Bulleen Lions.