Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka hailed the heroics of his two-goal striker Mark Bridge after the Sky Blues registered a comfortable 3-1 win over Wellington Phoenix at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.
Bridge had a stomach complaint in the lead-up to the game and missed a training session during the week as a result.
He was only confirmed to play on the morning of the game as the 23-year-old shrugged off the sickness to score two first-half goals in a stellar performance alongside strike partner Alex Brosque.
He lasted 52 minutes before being subbed off to rapturous applause. Bridge was too hoarse to speak with the media after the match but Lavicka said he was confident his striker was in good enough shape to play.
“I had a report from our physio and I spoke with him [Bridge] last night and this morning he said, ‘Yes coach I’m 100 percent ready to play’. He played well,” Lavicka said.
Three goals in a 20-minute first-half burst blew away the visitors with Bridge’s double and a Steve Corica strike doing the damage.
Lavicka hailed the first-half performance of his side as one of the best 45 minutes of the season.
“They played simply, quickly, moved the ball quickly and created the chances and scored goals,” he said.
“Most importantly, we created the chances.”
The Phoenix managed a late goal with 10 minutes remaining through young substitute Costa Barbarouses, Sydney appearing to lose concentration for about 20 minutes during the second half, a fact skipper Corica admitted after the game.
“We’ve spoken about it. We’ve spoken about being consistent and it does happen a little bit in the second half. But even though we had that patch it was still good in the second half,” he said.
