Outgoing Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka labelled his side’s defensive effort “embarrassing” as a host of former Sky Blues players starred for Newcastle in a painful 5-2 A-League thrashing on Sunday.
The Sky Blues dropped out of the top six for the first time this season as the Jets took sixth spot with an impressive follow-up on their upset win over Brisbane Roar last week.
Sydney’s loss came just two days after the Sky Blues announced Lavicka would be departing the club at the end of the season by mutual consent.
Sky Blues players had spoken of their desire to send the Czech coach out a winner but there was little evidence of that motivation as they trailed 3-0 at halftime in front of 10,232 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Sydney, missing marquee star Brett Emerton (hamstring), mounted a comeback in the second half but suffered two late killer blows in a defeat that puts their finals hopes on thin ice.
Adding to the pain for Sydney was the fact four of Newcastle’s five goals were scored by former Sydney players with Jeremy Brockie netting a double and Ruben Zadkovich and Niklolai Topor-Stanley also chiming in.
Substitute Ali Abbas added Newcastle’s fifth deep into injury time and Lavicka and Sydney captain Terry McFlynn could not hide their disappointment after the match.
“Before the game we knew how important this game was for us and our opponents as well, so it’s a big disappointment,” Lavicka said.
“I think we started well … we created chances but didn’t get the goal and from first set piece we concede, give the advantage to our opponents and we lost the confidence.
“I have to say how we defended as a team, especially first half was embarrassing.”
McFlynn denied the events of the week had been a distraction, saying Sydney had no excuses for the performance.
“To go in 3-0 down at home, embarrassing is the word we used at halftime,” McFlynn said.
“You should never be 3-0 down at home. You talk about character and pride and playing for each other and playing for the shirt.
“… But we cant let it damage us too much psychologically, we have to get back to training on Tuesday and we’ve got a big game against Perth on Sunday.”
Goals early in the second half from Hiro Moriyasu and Michael Beauchamp raised hope of a comeback but it ran out of steam when Brockie scored his second and Abbas pounced late.
It was the first time Sydney had conceded five goals at home and the first time the Jets have scored five.
“It’s great for the team,” Jets coach Gary van Egmond said.
“… But we know it’s going to be even tougher in the run into the finals if we want to make the six and do something in the six.
“We’re starting to gain some momentum and I think if we get into the finals we can cause a few headaches.”
AL
Guest
IT was painful to watch. I was in the crownd with a mate. We left after the 4th Jets goal. I dont mind my team losing or even losing by a large margin, thats football and as a member I go through the good, the bad and not so good times with my team. As with anything in life as in football true families/mates go through it all. But Sundays performance was PAINFUL. Contrary to many views SFC fans are not hard to please. We want a team that stand up to be counted and gives a good account of themselves. As alwast "Sydney till I die".