Lions captain Tony Sterjovski scored from the penalty spot in the 56th minute to snare his fifth goal of the season and hand his side a valuable three points, in what has so far proven to be a disappointing season.

The reigning champions went into the match as clear favourites, but it was the home side that looked the livelier of the two early on creating the more meaningful chances.

Joseph Youssef, Christopher Greechan and Christopher Camilleri all flashed shots wide of the post inside the first quarter hour, before Camilleri brought the home crowd to its feet, turning a defender and shooting with conviction, only to see his shot deflected over the bar by the Lions’ Victor Pititto.

Perhaps surprisingly, Preston found itself camped in its own half for much of the opening 20 minutes, failing to create any clear-cut chances.

The Lions came close soon after though, with John Sapazovski’s header forcing Pasi Schwalger to punch the ball clear of a gathering pack.

The match might have taken an interesting turn in the 22nd minute after the Lions’ Michael Miskas and Fawkner’s Boris Masic were involved in an altercation behind the play.

The linesman flagged the match official to attention, but both players eventually escaped the incident with only a caution.

Fawkner resumed its attack once play was restarted.

Youssef took possession on the edge of the Preston penalty area but while his shot beat the flailing legs of the Lions defenders and ‘keeper Lupce Acevski, it crashed agonisingly into the upright, denying the Blues a deserved lead.

Acevski was forced to leave the ground in the 42nd minute with a serious leg injury, and he was replaced by reserve ‘keeper Aleksandar Stojanovski, who would later leave his own mark on the game.

The contest was given some much-needed spark in the 55th minute after Zia Younan went to ground in his own penalty area while jostling for possession with Sterjovski.

The referee deemed his challenge worthy of a caution, and awarded the Preston midfielder a somewhat fortunate penalty, which he converted with assurance.

Preston should have put the result beyond doubt in the 76th minute after Bale Mickovski latched onto a cross from Nicholas Schwal, but he flashed a tame header into the waiting arms of Schwalger, leaving the home side with a glimmer of hope.

That glimmer ignited just two minutes later when Stojanovski charged out of his own area in a desperate attempt to close down the onrushing Youssef.

The ‘keeper made contact with the striker just outside the box, bringing him crashing to the turf and leaving the referee with little choice but to issue a red card.

Fawkner substitute Fikret Husanovic then unleashed a wonderful curling free kick that bent over the wall and looked to have beaten Miskas at the far post, but the stand-in ‘keeper pulled off a spectacular diving save to stun the enthusiastic support.

The two teams then traded blows for the remainder of the match, treating the crowd to a nail-biting finish.