AUSTRALIA boss Ange Postecoglu hailed the performance of Swindon Town’s Massimo Luongo as the midfielder starred in their Asian Cup opener win.

Luongo picked up the man of the match award, scored and created a goal for the Socceroos as they come from a goal down to beat Kuwait 4-1 at the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne.

It was the Swindon star’s first start on home soil and first goal for his country, and upon his withdrawl in the 84th minute the 22-year-old received a standing ovation from his countrymen.

Perhaps poignantly the man who replaced Luongo was aging star Mark Bresciano, with Postecoglu keen to blood a new generation of Socceroos this was Luongo taking his place on the mantle.

Post-game the Australia coach was full of praise for his young player, he said: “I think Massimo Luongo was outstanding; he created the first goal that was scored and scored the second.

“More importantly there was a real urgency in what he did and I think he lifted a few around him because of that.

“He’s one of the guys that we’ve blooded in over the last 14 months and he’s one of the few we’ve worked with, persevered with and put them into camps and into tough situations.

“His club form has been really good, even though it’s the third tier of English football, but he’s still been playing good football.

“When he came into camp he was in great condition and even in training, I kind of figured this game would pan out where we would have a lot of the ball and in those kind of situations, he’s a goal threat, whether it’s creating or scoring goals.

“He’s one of a few with Aziz Behich and Trent Sainsbury, these are guys we’ve invested in over the last 12 months that are now starting to grow into national team players.”