Sydney FC striker Mark Bridge admits his side’s lack of recent success on the road is a major concern.
The Sky Blues slumped to their fifth away loss of the season on Sunday, going down 2-0 at the hands of Perth Glory to tumble out of top spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder.
While Vitezslav Lavicka’s men have won six of seven matches in the familiar surrounds of the Sydney Football Stadium, they’ve managed just two wins and a draw from eight fixtures away from home.
And Bridge concedes he’s at a loss to explain his side’s worrying away record.
“I think just our away form is the biggest concern, I mean a couple of away wins and we’d be sitting in first place – we’ve struggled away and it’s cost us first spot,” Bridge told Sportal on Monday.
“It is (disappointing) considering we’ve lost so many away games now. Yesterday in the first half we looked good, we created a lot of chances and found ourselves in a lot of space and then to come out in the second half and play the way we played is disappointing.”
“I can’t exactly put my finger on it. We came in confident at the end of the first half and then came out and it was like a totally different team.”
Asked if the problem can be attributed to his side’s mental approach or pre-match routines, Bridge said: “I really don’t know I mean we had that game against Melbourne (in Round 10) where we played brilliant so it’s not really anything we can put our finger on.”
“We’re preparing the same and we’re doing the same things, it’s just when we get on the field we don’t tend to play the same way we play at home.”
The Sky Blues return to the safety of SFS on Sunday to take on Branko Culina’s Newcastle Jets on Sunday before hosting North Queensland Fury – the only visiting team to taste victory in Sydney this season – in a fortnight.
And with all 10 teams so evenly matched this season, the importance of the next two matches is not lost on Bridge.
“A couple of losses and you’re down and a couple of wins and you’re right back up there,” the former Newcastle Jet said.
“It’s pretty close at the moment but the good thing for us is Gold Coast play Melbourne this week so hopefully we can win and they can draw or something.”
The Sky Blues are likely to be boosted by the return of Steve Corica from a hamstring strain for the crucial Round 16 clash.
