One defeat is bad enough when you’re involved with Sydney FC, so back-to-back defeats is simply unacceptable.
That’s the opinion of Sky Blues defender Ryan McGowan, who declared his side is out to right their wrongs of recent weeks against Adelaide United on Thursday night.
Steve Corica’s side, who wrapped up a third Premiership in four seasons last month, have lost to the Newcastle Jets (2-1) and Melbourne City (2-0) in their last two outings.
But McGowan admits his side is desperate to bounce back and deliver a statement of intent to the rest of the Hyundai A-League ahead of the Finals Series.
“We’ve got a lot to play for in terms of making sure that in these next few games we put a few wrongs right since we’ve come back after COVID,” he told the Sydney FC website.
“Making sure that we’re going into the Finals Series in good form and recapturing the form we’ve got that made us Premiers.
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“We have high standards and that’s what we were most disappointed with, that we didn’t perform to the levels we have throughout this season.
“We’re at a club that’s expected to win and none of us have gone out there to lose the last two,” McGowan continued.
“At the end of the day we want to break records and that starts again on Thursday where we want to put out a statement that says ‘yeah we’ve had two bad results but we want to make sure that it’s finished, and that we’re going into the Finals red hot favourites’.”
The clash with Adelaide brings back good memories for McGowan, who hails from South Australia.
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It was against the Reds that McGowan made his Hyundai A-League debut back in Round 1, scoring a late winner in that clash back in October last year.
“We’re looking to turn it around on Thursday night and I’m looking forward to playing the hometown club and trying to get the win,” McGowan said.
“It’s been a long time since Round 1, it’s crazy to think that’s it’s still the same season and that it started so long ago.
“I’m really happy to have won the Premiers Plate, it shows we’re the most consistent team over the course of the season,” he continued.
“I came to Sydney FC wanting to win things but it’s a lot harder to actually win those things. Now, let’s finish it off these next five games and ion the double and that’ll be a successful season.”
Kick-off at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night is 7.30pm.
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