Sydney FC boss Steve Corica admitted that cross-town rivals Western Sydney Wanderers “finished stronger”, insisting that the game could have ended differently if his side had scored early on in the 1-1 draw between the two sides on Saturday.
The home side came into this fixture having previously played only one game in the A-League this season, which was a 2-1 victory over Wellington Phoenix in Wollongong.
The Sky Blues started the game against Carl Robinson’s men strongly, as both Kosta Barbarouses and Trent Buhagiar had good chances to give their side the lead in the opening minutes. But on both occasions, goalkeeper Daniel Margush was up to the task.
As the game went on, the Wanderers seemed to impose themselves on the game in the second period with Bernie Ibini and Kwame Yeboah giving them a good physical presence in the attacking third.
However, Corica believes that his men were unable to measure up towards the end because of a lack of match fitness.
“Yeah, they finished stronger,” he admitted to the press. “I think similar to Wellington [Phoenix in the last game] because we haven’t been playing regular [competitive games].
“I knew this was going to happen because the Wellington game was similar. We hadn’t played for six weeks, and then we had two weeks in between this game as well. So, you know, it’s the way it is at the moment with COVID-19.
“We just want to play regularly so we can get our match fitness going and just get on a roll.
“But I think definitely in the first-half, we had the better chances. Should’ve probably been up early on in the game I think. We had two or three very good chances. We could’ve scored.”
Sydney FC have not managed to get a win in their last five games against Western Sydney Wanderers. They will play host to Central Coast Mariners in their next match on Friday.
