Preston Lions — South Melbourne 1:2, Australia Cup — Sportpul

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Australia Cup

Preston Lions WWDLDL

1:2

Finished

Kick-off was 26 Aug, 10:30 BST

South Melbourne LWLWLW

Venue: B.T. Connor Reserve City: Reservoir

In the Australia Cup game on 26 August 2026, South Melbourne beat Preston Lions 1:2. Match numbers: shots on target 4:8, corners 5:8.

Match report

South Melbourne ground out a 2-1 victory over Preston Lions in the Australia Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday evening. The visitors took a commanding lead through two first-half goals before Preston Lion's fightback fell short.

Cuba opened the scoring in the forty-eighth minute, capitalising on a moment of space in the penalty area. Painter-Andrews doubled the advantage twelve minutes later, and by then the contest looked settled.

Preston Lions pulled one back through Cocks in the eighty-sixth minute, but the late strike came too late to salvage anything. The hosts worked the ball into dangerous positions but lacked the final product.

South Melbourne dominated possession at 61 per cent and registered eight shots on target against four. They also created more attacking opportunities with seventy-six attacks compared to sixty-eight, though their conversion rate left something to be desired.

Both sides showed discipline throughout, with three yellow cards issued between them. Preston's Bonada and Kubilay, along with South Melbourne's Giannakopoulos, all saw the referee's card.

The result extends Preston Lions' unbeaten run, which now stretches to five matches. South Melbourne's recent form has been uneven, but they showed enough composure to navigate a tricky fixture.

Prepared from match data

Video

Match highlights Preston Lions — South Melbourne Football Australia

Key numbers

Possession, % 39 – 61

Shots on target 4 – 8

Shots off target 7 – 13

Attacks 68 – 76

🟨 37' O. Kubilay — Yellow card ⇄ 42' L. Brooks — Substitution ⚽ 48' C. Cuba — Goal 🟨 58' T. Giannakopoulos — Yellow card ⚽ 60' J. Painter-Andrews — Goal 🟨 76' N. Bonada — Yellow card ⇄ 83' S. Nigro — Substitution ⇄ 83' N. Bonada — Substitution ⚽ 86' A. Cocks — Goal ⇄ 90+1' B. Juach — Substitution ⇄ 90+1' A. Cocks — Substitution ⇄ 90+1' D. Folino — Substitution ⇄ 90+1' C. Cuba — Substitution ⇄ 90+4' D. Yoo — Substitution

Match events

37' 0:0 Preston Lions Yellow card O. Kubilay
42' 0:0 Preston Lions Substitution L. Brooks off: G. Albano
48' 1:0 Preston Lions Goal C. Cuba assist: Z. Cianci
58' 1:0 South Melbourne Yellow card T. Giannakopoulos
60' 1:1 South Melbourne Goal J. Painter-Andrews
76' 1:1 Preston Lions Yellow card N. Bonada
83' 1:1 Preston Lions Substitution S. Nigro off: M. Bozinovski
83' 1:1 Preston Lions Substitution N. Bonada off: D. Lazarevski
86' 1:2 South Melbourne Goal A. Cocks assist: Y. Uchida
90+1' 1:2 South Melbourne Substitution B. Juach off: J. Swibel
90+1' 1:2 South Melbourne Substitution A. Cocks off: J. Lampard
90+1' 1:2 Preston Lions Substitution D. Folino off: J. Romero
90+1' 1:2 Preston Lions Substitution C. Cuba off: G. Mihailidis
90+4' 1:2 South Melbourne Substitution D. Yoo off: M. Mikkola

Statistics

39 Possession, % 61

4 Shots on target 8

7 Shots off target 13

68 Attacks 76

5 Corners 8

11 Free kicks 10

1 Offsides 0

2 Yellow cards 1

0 Red cards 0

11 Goal kicks 10

13 Throw-ins 21

All statistics

1 Blocked shots 7

0.33 Shot accuracy 0.29

The data source provides no per-player statistics for this match: only team totals are available.

Recent form

Preston Lions

WWDLDL

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South Melbourne

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Match information

State: Finished
Series: Australia Cup
Venue: B.T. Connor Reserve
City: Reservoir
Kick-off: 26 Aug, 10:30 BST

Key numbers

39:61 Possession, %
4:8 Shots on target
7:13 Shots off target
68:76 Attacks

Head to head

Preston Lions South Melbourne

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1 Won 1 Drawn 2 Won

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