Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka paid tribute to his side’s character after the Sky Blues came from two goals down to record a contentious 3-2 win over Gold Coast in a Sunday night thriller at the SFS.
Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka paid tribute to his side’s character after the Sky Blues came from two goals down to record a contentious 3-2 win over Gold Coast in a Sunday night thriller at the SFS.
The normally reserved Sydney boss was beaming at the full-time whistle after the hosts scored the final three goals to steal maximum points and go fourth on the Hyundai A-League table.
While conceding luck played a part in the injury time winner – referee Peter Green awarding a dubious penalty for Karol Kisel to despatch – Lavicka preferred to focus on his team’s rousing comeback.
Sydney were 2-0 down on the hour before coming to life through goals to Bruno Cazarine, Nicky Carle and Kisel.
Asked if it was a game the Sydney of last season would have won, Lavicka replied: “We have better quality than last year on the park and we have players who have more experience and more character.”
“This is nothing disrespectful regarding the players we had last season, but before this season we made the focus to pick up the right players.”
“I have to say full credit to them. They have shown again strong character.”
“We made some mistakes during the game but the character was unbelievable.”
“We’ve played five games this season and three times we’ve come back from behind which is good for team confidence.”
Sydney looked likely to pay for their wastefulness against Gold Coast after they squandered a host of opportunities and found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline after 59 minutes.
But with marquee player Brett Emerton enjoying his best game for the club and Carle a constant threat, three goals came in the final 30 minutes to seal the first home points of the campaign.
Emerton will be missing for the next fortnight, on duty with the Qantas Socceroos for two crucial World Cup qualifiers.
Lavicka is already counting the days until his return.
“Emmo played his fifth game tonight for us and he did his best performance. He worked very hard, same like every single player on the park, but he’s shown his quality,” the coach said.
“He just needs time and confidence and to settle in more and I’m sure he can bring us similar performances like he did tonight.”
