Sydney FC seeking payback against Mariners

Inflicting some payback for a rare defeat will be on Sydney’s minds when the A-League pacesetters host Central Coast on Saturday.

The Sky Blues lead the competition by six points following Sunday’s 0-0 away draw with a youthful and understrength Adelaide United.

Sydney’s attention now turns to the Mariners, who beat them 2-0 in Gosford back in November.

“They’re the only team to have beaten us this year, so we definitely owe them one,” Sydney captain and forward Alex Brosque said on Monday

“We remember the loss up there and the way they reacted to that win.

“There’s a little bit burning in there from that last game for us.”

Sunday’s game in Adelaide was the first time in their past 11 matches since the loss to the Mariners, that Sydney went goalless.

They had scored 23 goals in their six games prior to being held in Adelaide.

“We threw everything at them, we had a lot of chances,” Brosque said.

“Enough chances to do what we’ve done in the last few games, which is get three, four, five goals, but It just didn’t come.

While second-placed Newcastle moved a couple of points closer after the last round, Sydney are still setting a blistering pace with 39 points from 16 games.

“This time last year everyone was raving about how good we were going and we’re only one point off where we were last year,” Brosque said.

“We’re still going great. We’re on target to do what we want to do which is win the Premiership.

“We’ve got the rest of the league chasing us which is a good spot to be in.”