By Charlene Gatt
MINOR premiers the Preston Lions have knocked out the West’s final chance to make the Football Federation Victoria Foxtel Cup grand final, with a thrilling 2-1 preliminary final victory over the Melbourne Knights.
The Knights came into the match clearly on the back foot, having failed to overcome the Lions in their three encounters during 2007, while Preston was desperate to amend an embarrassing semi-final loss to the Whittlesea Zebras.
In a heated qualifying final rematch which saw the Knights Anthony Pelikan given a red card for aggressive play, the Lions exerted their dominance at Bob Jane Stadium from the outset.
After fielding a rock-solid defence, an opening goal in the 37th minute from Zoran Petrevski was an early promise of the win to come.
The Knights headed into the second half failing to equalise, and despite concerted attempts, penetrating the goal square seemed an impossible dream.
The Knights’ chance of making their grand final debut was crushed in the 89th minute as Igor Arsovski extended Preston’s lead to 2-0.
But determined to finish the season with a bang, the Knights’ Joe Spiteri saved his team from a goalless defeat in overtime with a well-deserved goal.
Preston will now go up against the Whittlesea Zebras in the battle for the Football Federation Victoria Foxtel Cup grand final on Sunday.
Whittlesea coach Peter Ollerton said his side has “nothing to lose, nothing to fear” and will walk away from the grand final smiling regardless of the result.
“There’s no pressure on us,” he said.
“They’ve just had a marvellous season and no-one expected us to be here, so no matter what the result’s going to be I couldn’t be critical of them at all.
“I think we’re compact; our discipline’s very good and defensively we don’t concede many goals.
“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves and not worry about who we’re going to be facing.”
The Foxtel Cup grand final will kick off at 3pm at Bob Jane Stadium.
