Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka said he was proud of his team following their 2-1 victory over Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium on Saturday night.
Sydney had failed to score a goal in their opening two fixtures, drawing to Melbourne Victory and losing to last year-s Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar last week at home.
The Sky Blues however broke their duck, coming from behind to defeat the Reds with two second-half goals to Jamie Coyne and Nicky Carle after the Reds- marquee signing Dario Vidosic had given Adelaide the lead in the first-half.
Lavicka said the win was a testament to his players- hard work and effort to create a number of chances.
“We had a very good performance … I-m proud of the players,” Lavicka said.
“They worked very hard and created many chances, not only in the first-half but in second-half as well.”
Sydney did all the attacking early through marquee signing Brett Emerton, former Qantas Socceroo Carle and young gun Terry Antonis, moving the ball quickly and pressing United-s defence mainly from the wings.
The 2009-2010 A-League champions were unable to find a breakthrough though, and paid for the inability to finish when Vidosic pounced on a mistake from defender Michael Beauchamp on 28 minutes.
Beauchamp intervened following Sergio van Dijk-s header across goal with a knocked-down header intended for Sydney keeper Ivan Necevski, however the ball fell right into the path of Vidosic, who made no mistake from six yards.
The goal seemed to motivate Sydney rather than Adelaide, who went back on the attack and created a number of opportunities, only to be denied by the woodwork and a resilient Eugene Galekovic.
The Sky Blues finally were rewarded for their intense attacking pressure when defender Jamie Coyne hit a top corner finish from the edge of United-s area on 60 minutes, before Carle wrapped up the three points with a neat finish in the 81st minute.
Lavicka described the first-half as ‘voodoo- following his side-s dogged luck in front of goal, but told his men to remain persistent at the break.
“The first-half was like voodoo, we hit the bar (from Carle-s shot in the 43rd minute) and didn-t score,” Lavicka said.”
“We spoke about what to do in the second half at half-time … I just said to (the players) to keep going, to believe in themselves and work hard, and they were able to score two important goals.”
“The character they showed was important … I-m happy that we came from behind and scored two.”
Despite the Harbour side club failing to win or score in the opening rounds, Coyne denied the players were feeling any pressure, suggesting they had taken much confidence from their previous performances.
“We took a lot of confidence into the game tonight from the two performances the weeks before, we obviously just hadn-t scored the goals,” Coyne said.
“We created about ten chances today, and if we keep creating that many then the goals will keep coming and that-s most important part.”
Although marquee star Emerton hobbled from the pitch on 64 minutes, Lavicka confirmed the Qantas Socceroo was only suffering from cramp and taken off as a precaution.
