The race for the A-League Premiers’ Plate may effectively be over but Newcastle coach Ernie Merrick has warned Sydney FC the title remains very much up for grabs.
Sydney’s late-season slump offered the Jets an unprecedented chance to slash the league leaders’ lead to two points with three rounds remaining.
But the opportunity went as quickly as it came, as Merrick’s men fell 5-2 in Adelaide on Friday night and the Sky Blues stole a 2-1 injury-time win over coachless Central Coast on Saturday.
With an eight-point gap restored, Sydney sit a single point away from sewing up a second-successive premiership.
And while Merrick graciously accepted Sydney would get that job done, he had different ideas about the defending champions’ quest for back-to-back titles.
As it stands, both sides will secure direct home semi-finals, meaning they can only meet again in the grand final.
“Sydney will win the Premiers’ Plate and they deserve it,” Merrick said.
“Graham Arnold has done a great job. I never expected to be anything better than second.
“They’ve got a good lead, they’re struggling a wee bit with the ACL as well as the league, but they deserve it.
“It might be different in the finals though.”
Indeed, Sydney were again unremarkable by their own high standards, and it was only through Matt Simon’s late winner that Arnold’s side did not endure a fifth winless game in Gosford.
A number of players appeared off their usual pace and golden-boot leader Bobo spurned another magnificent chance to equal Bruno Fornaroli’s all-time regular-season goal record of 23.
Arnold admitted the collective output must improve come finals time.
“Yeah, but we’ll have both finals at Allianz, that’s our fortress and they’ve got to come to us,” Arnold said.
“Okay, we’ve had a couple of weeks that haven’t been great.
“But when you speak about reality we’re on 55 points, we’re eight clear, and we’ve scored 57 goals and conceded 20.
“I think that’s a pretty good season.”
The Jets have their own form issues to address following a flat showing against the fifth-placed Reds – their first loss in seven games.
“We’ve got to accept this for what it is – a kick up the back side – and move on to prepare for finals football,” Merrick said.
“Hopefully we can pick up and learn from that game.
“We’ll have Dimi (Petratos) and Roy (O’Donovan) back next weekend, for what will be an important home game against Melbourne City.”
City have leapfrogged back into third after thrashing Western Sydney 3-0 at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Melbourne Victory remain two points shy in fourth after going down 1-0 to Perth late on Sunday.
Brisbane’s 2-2 draw with Wellington in New Zealand leaves the seventh-placed Roar and eighth-placed Glory on equal terms, one point adrift of the Wanderers in sixth.
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