If Sydney FC are not officially suffering a championship hangover, the defending A-League champions are at least nursing a massive headache after their 1-0 A-League loss to arch rivals Brisbane Roar on Saturday night.
The odds were against the glamour club ahead of their grudge match at Suncorp Stadium after Alex Brosque (ankle) joined fellow star striker Michael Bridge on the sidelines just days ahead of their crunch clash.
But they were still thoroughly dominated by one of last season’s great underachievers.
In the end, Roar captain Matt McKay’s 53rd minute right foot wonder-strike proved the difference as Brisbane chalked up their first win – and a key scalp – in an encouraging 2010-11 season start.
And it could have been much worse for the defending champions after a 17th minute deflection was controversially denied by officials.
McKay’s cross sprayed off a Sydney defender and appeared to cross the line before former Roar keeper Liam Reddy dived on the ball – not that the Sydney FC custodian was giving anything away.
“Goalkeepers are very honest blokes and I will tell you now it wasn’t over the line – no need for goal-line technology there,” Reddy said with tongue in cheek.
“We are disappointed with not getting at least a point up here but we have two home games coming up and we look forward to that.
“We have a derby next (against Central Coast on Saturday night) and the boys will be primed for that.”
But Roar coach Ange Postecoglou said: “I thought it was a goal to be honest.
“It looked like a goal and that would have changed the game – but we were creating enough opportunities.
“But we didn’t get frustrated – and if you play like that consistently the results will come.”
It was a shot in the arm for Postecoglou after feeling the heat ahead of the new season.
He put the broom through an ageing Roar roster after taking over the reins from sacked mentor Frank Farina mid-season, signing 12 new players ahead of 2010-11.
And they seem to be gelling judging by their polished performance against supposedly one of the competition’s heavyweights.
“I was delighted with the performance,” Postecoglou said.
“I know Sydney were undermanned but we still had to play and they sat back and made it hard for us.”
They backed up well from last round’s bye following their encouraging 0-0 season opening draw with bogey side Gold Coast United.
“Coming back from the (first round bye) was a weird one, it was almost like a false start,” Postecoglou said.
“You wanted to keep playing, but to the boys’ credit they worked really hard (during the week off), and now they have seen the hard work paying off – I don’t think it (bye) did us any harm.”
The Roar next host Wellington on Friday night.
While the Roar have begun well to bounce back from their worst season finish of eighth in 2009-10, Sydney FC are up against it.
Adding to the drama on Saturday night, coach Vitezslav Lavicka raised some eyebrows when he subbed marquee player Nick Carle in the final 15 minutes.
“We know it is only a matter of time before we turn the corner,” said Sydney captain Terry McFlynn, who celebrated his 100th game.
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