Western Sydney Wanderers manager Carl Robinson believes that Sydney FC are the team to beat in the A-League this season, following a 1-1 derby draw between the two sides on Saturday.
Milos Ninkovic and Paulo Retre combined well in the 63rd minute with a one-two that ended up with the Serbian midfielder winning a penalty for the Sky Blues, which was promptly put away by Kosta Barbarouses.
A few minutes later, James Troisi equalised for the Wanderers following an uncharacteristic goalkeeping howler from Andrew Redmayne as honours were even at Stadium Australia.
While the result puts the Parramatta outfit unbeaten in five games against their arch-rivals, Robinson was quick to respect the current champions.
“They are the best team,” he told reporters. “They won the league the last two years.
“They’re the team that everyone wants to beat. It’s a good marker for us early on in the season. We’re changing things in that locker room with personnel changes as well as the playing style and that will take time. But it was a good test for us and an early test.
“Sometimes it’s better to get these [games] early to see where you’re at, to then work moving forward.
“But I’m delighted for the boys. They put a lot of effort today. I think it was a really good game of football. They usually are – the derbies.”
The match ended up being a story of two halves as the hosts dominated the opening 45 minutes, and particularly more so during the early stages as Margush was forced to make a couple of good saves early on to keep his side in the game.
But Robinson’s men grew stronger and more confident as the game went on, putting in a strong showing during the second period as Bernie Ibini and Kwame Yeboah were introduced.
He added: “There are certain parts that I’m happy with. There are certain parts that I’m not. I think that on another day we could’ve won the game.
“We missed some good chances, as they did in the first-half. But as the game grew, I think we were the stronger team, which is credit to our sports science team. Our fitness levels were high, which is good.”
Western Sydney Wanderers will take on Central Coast Mariners in their next game in Gosford on Tuesday.
