From heartbreak to elation, South Melbourne’s emotional rollercoaster of a week ended on a high following Dockerty Cup glory at Lakeside on Sunday.
Target man Milos Lujic led the line with aplomb during the club’s Cup tilts, scoring in the FFA Cup defeat and netting a double in the Dockerty Cup final to earn man of the match plaudits.
Lujic said winning the Dockerty Cup was welcome consolation for the players, who had little time to mull over the loss to Palm Beach Sharks before turning their attention to the clash against Oakleigh Cannons.
“The boys played really well, the second half especially to get the win after Wednesday’s result and it was good to get on the scoresheet and win the game,” Lujic said following the triumph.
“We were really lucky that we had a game to concentrate on straight away, we came to the change rooms together and said, “we’ve got to forget that, we’ve got a big game on Sunday”.
“We want to win everything at South Melbourne, we said at the start of the year we want to win every competition, we’ve [now] won the Dockerty Cup and we’re still in the NPL and hopefully we can fire in the finals.”
Despite a relatively successful year in all competitions, South Melbourne have battled against injuries and inconsistency throughout their campaign, but Lujic believes the squad is finally gelling at the right time of the season to also challenge for NPL honours.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries this year and there’s been a lot of rotation in the squad, especially at the start of the year, and we knew we were going to come good at the end of the year,” he said.
“We’re getting a lot of key players in the squad now, Chris [Taylor] has always got a few players to leave out of the squad, which is a complete difference where he didn’t have 11 or 12 to pick, and that’s going to make us strong for the finals and hopefully we will go all the way.
“It’s a good headache for Chris to have, but these key players make a big difference, and hopefully for the finals we can come really strong.”
The star striker had previously forged fruitful partnerships with Jamie Reed and Andy Brennan in South’s front third, with the team sometimes struggling to link up as a consequence of their departures.
However, Lujic asserts that with the plethora of attacking options, along with the quality in midfield, it was a matter of time before he and his teammates fired on the scoreboard again.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have quality supporting players around me,” he said.
“A few games this year it’s been a bit of a struggle when I was alone up front, but we just work as a unit and I try to do the best for the team and the team tries to play me as many balls as they can to score.
“I’ve done that tonight and I’m really happy.”
South Melbourne will now turn their attention to a clash against the born again Port Melbourne Sharks, with kick-off scheduled at Lakeside Stadium for 8:30pm on Friday night.