Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka has described his side’s dramatic victory over Melbourne in the Hyundai A-League Grand Final as the realisation of a dream both personally and for the club.
Lavicka arrived in Sydney around 12 months ago needing to rebuild a club which has gone from Hyundai A-League powerhouse to also ran after a succession of unsuccessful changes in coach.
Under the guidance of the quietly spoken Czech, Sydney has put behind the inconsistency which has dogged the side over recent years and produced a near perfect season after winning both the premiership and the championship.
“We had a dream before we started this season. We had a season target, but it was an internal target. We have dreams to achieve, bit by bit, step by step. It’s unbelievable. We have reached great success this season,” he said.
Lavicka acknowledged that the ultimate success can with a slice of luck after Sydney prevailed 4-2 in a penalty shootout but that the final was played in a manner befitting the biggest occasion on the Australia domestic football calendar.
“Penalties are a lottery and we were successful. But this Grand Final was great game.” he said.
The key man in the penalty shootout was goalkeeper Clint Bolton who watched on as Melbourne skipper Kevin Muscat missed a penalty before making a title-winning save off the boot of Marvin Angulo.
Lavicka felt Bolton has justified the faith shown in him by the new regime at the start of next season.
“We had 15 weeks pre-season, we played 13 pre-season games and he and Ivan Necevski changed several times. We made a decision two weeks before the regular season started. We trusted in Clint and he did a good job. He’s [a] true professional,” he said.
Asked what he felt about the fact that Bolton would be wearing a Melbourne Heart shirt next season, after Sydney failed to offer him a contract extension, Lavicka said that is just the nature of the game.
“That’s football. I really appreciate his performance and his professionalism, but football can be fickle,” he said.
Captain Terry McFLynn, a team-mate of Bolton’s for five seasons, also paid tribute to the long-serving custodian.
“Bolts has been fantastic for us for five years. He’s been regular No. 1 goalkeeper for five years. People come and people go, he’s going to Melbourne Heart now and personally I’d like to wish him all the best. He’s a good friend of mine I’m sure he will keep going on in his fantastic career.”
McFlynn said Lavicka’s influence on the club this season had been immeasurable and that he deserved much of the credit for the club’s status as premiers and champions.
“The boss has been fantastic since he came in on the first day. It was about getting the group together. We’ve got philosophies and we try and live out lives and play our football that way,” he said.
“We are a tight knit unit and belief in each other and there’s mutual respect for each other and each other’s work. We are like family,” he said.
