A crestfallen Brett Emerton feels he let the side down, but saw enough in Saturday night’s battle with championship favourites Melbourne Victory to be convinced that Sydney FC will be right up there as well come finals time.
A crestfallen Brett Emerton feels he let the side down, but saw enough in Saturday night’s battle with championship favourites Melbourne Victory to be convinced that Sydney FC will be right up there as well come finals time.
Emerton squandered a golden opportunity on debut for Sydney when his 33rd minute penalty was saved by Victory ‘keeper Ante Covic who was also playing his first game for his new club.
“That’s football really, you have to take the highs with the lows,” Emerton said.
“Someone has to take responsibility.”
“It was just one of those things, he guessed the right way. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”
“It’s obviously disappointing from my point of view. I would have liked to have found the back of the net but, that’s life.”
Emerton’s frustration wasn’t shared by coach Vitezslav Lavicka.
“He did maximum for the team success,” said Lavicka of Emerton. “He missed the penalty but, as he said, that’s football.”
Emerton, who’s returned to play in the Hyundai A-League after a decade plying his trade in Holland and the EPL, said he was surprised by the standard of Saturday night’s contest and the atmosphere generated by the more than 40,000 fans who packed Etihad Stadium.
“It was an entertaining game for a nil-all draw, and both sets of fans we great,” he said.
“I said earlier in the week that hopefully it would be a European-type atmosphere, and it was.”
“All the hype might have been about me and Harry (Kewell) but let’s look at the other players out there on the pitch.”
“I think there were some very good performances tonight. This league is so closely matched that anybody on their night can match anybody.”
“On tonight’s performance we should take encouragement and feel confident that we are one of the teams that will be challenging for the title.”
Emerton, who captained Blackburn Rovers in the opening match of the new EPL season before deciding to head home, said the past months had been ‘stop-start’ and he’s looking forward to building some match fitness over the next few weeks.
