An injury to Jack Rodwell is the only concern for Sydney FC coach Steve Corica, as he hailed his side’s resilience following their 2-1 A-League Men win over Melbourne City.
Rodwell didn’t return in the second half of Saturday’s game, casting doubt over his chances of featuring in next week’s away trip to the Central Coast Mariners.
The three-cap England international missed the opening six rounds of the competition with an adductor issue and his debut was cut short after just 45 minutes with a groin complaint in his other leg.
Captain Alex Wilkinson is not expected back until the new year after undergoing surgery and the Sky Blues were hit by the withdrawals of Slovakian import Robert Mak and talented midfielder Patrick Yazbek in the build-up to the hard-fought win.
“Yazzy has got COVID-19, Robbie Mak got sick so we had to change a little,” said Corica, whose side moved up to fourth with their first ALM home win at Allianz Stadium.
“Jack felt his groin a little bit, we don’t know how bad it is.
“Wilko’s still going to be a while, but we showed a lot of great character.
“We take a lot of confidence in beating the team who are at the top of the table with a lot of attacking threats.
“We stopped them getting into the box and we were really strong defensively.”
Corica would have taken confidence in the ease with which his team adapted in the final third as both Max Burgess and Joe Lolley impressed.
It fell to a familiar name in Adam Le Fondre to secure victory just after the hour mark as he got on the end of a rebounded Lolley shot.
Le Fondre is just back from a hamstring injury and is expected to have an increased workload as he nears a full return.
“He only just got back this week so we’ve had to ease him back into the game. As he gets fitter and fitter, we’ll start to give him more minutes,” Corica said.
“I think we needed Adam to come on and hold the ball up for us.
“It’s great that Adam got on the scoresheet from the bench to get that winner.”