Melbourne Victory’s James Troisi echoed his coach’s comments, saying the Big V must eradicate defensive errors after their 2-1 loss to Sydney FC in Thursday night’s Australia Day Big Blue.
It was Victory’s chance to reel in unbeaten ladder leader Sydney FC to five points.
And after Troisi opened the scoring with a superbly taken low shot to cap off a sweeping counter, it looked like it would be Victory’s night in front of over 30,000 fans at Etihad.
Instead, defensive lapses contributed to the Sky Blues’ comeback.
A first half equaliser to Filip Holosko could’ve been defended better after the Slovakian striker headed unchallenged past Lawrence Thomas.
And a stunning Bernie Ibini second-half winner came via a defence that didn’t deal with a long ball from Danny Vukovic which allowed the Sydney sub to bullock his way through and smash home the winner.
It sealed the three points and that sees Sydney now 11 points ahead of the Big V.
The Premiership looks all but certainly heading to the Harbour City.
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“The first half we dominated but we let them score an easy goal,” a disappointed Troisi told Fox Sports.
“So defensively we have to be better. And then second half you get 10 men [after Victory’s red card] and it’s a lot more difficult.
“In saying that we played some good football but still defensively we let it slip.
“And they’ve got some decent players … and you can get punished.”
“It’s been a tough ten or so days but we now have time to recover for the derby,” Troisi added.
Victory next face their cross-town rivals City in the Melbourne Derby on February 4.
