AFTER the final whistle sounded at Wembley, Massimo Luongo made time to wish an international colleague all the best for securing promotion to the Championship.

The Australian ace, who starred as player of the tournament at the Asian Cup earlier this year, was left with the bitter taste of dejection following his side’s 4-0 mauling at the hands of Preston North End.

But Luongo still managed to show humility as he chatted to Socceroos team-mate Bailey Wright on the Wembley turf, extending his congratulations to the Lilywhites defender.

“Obviously, he was very understanding and I just firstly wanted to say ‘congratulations’. I think they deserved it,” said the Town man.

“I said ‘I’m very happy for you. All the best for the season and I’ll see you soon’.”

Luongo admitted that the feeling of falling at the final hurdle in spectacular fashion was ‘heartbreaking’ and that his team failed to offer up any resistance to Preston’s aerial threat, particularly after conceding with just a handful of minutes on the clock.

He said: “With a start like that, it was always going to be difficult to get back from it.

“It was difficult from the start. Preston are a good side and the I wish them all the best. The better side won on the day.

“I think their two up front (Jermaine Beckford and Joe Garner) are really dangerous. They’re direct but they do it better than anyone I know and they’ve got the best players for it.

“We didn’t deal with crosses into the box good enough. The goal in the first couple of minutes probably summed it up. It set the theme for the whole game.

“It is a bit heartbreaking because we are a close bunch and from the start, I think we always exceeded expectation, which that sort of spurred us on a little bit throughout the season and to get here was a massive achievement.

“Just on the day, it wasn’t our day.”