Sydney FC coach Steve Corica says his side needs to take a look in the mirror after the Central Coast Mariners condemned the Sky Blues to a 2-0 loss and their worst start to an A-League Men’s campaign in more than a decade.
In front of a crowd of 6037 at Gosford Stadium on Sunday, the Mariners claimed the three points courtesy of a two-minute blitz in the first half with goals from Marco Urena and an Anthony Caceres own goal handing Nick Montgomery’s side the win.
The defeat leaves last year’s grand finalists with just two draws from their opening four games and Corica’s side, who have scored just twice in the league this season, struggled to find a way through the resolute Mariners defence.
Corica stormed down the tunnel at fulltime and said his side had some urgent rethinking to do.
“We weren’t anywhere near where we should be and we gave away cheap goals,” he said.
“We were second to everything. We do have enough quality in that dressing room to turn it around.
“There is a lot of hard work and looking in the mirror to do. That’s everyone from myself to the players and the coaching staff.
“I’ll speak to the players when I’m a bit calmer. They know what I expect from them.”
The Sky Blues were stunned by the Mariners’ electric start and by the time they registered their first shot on target the Central Coast had gone two goals up and 25 minutes of play had passed.
Right-back Harry Van Der Saag was dispossessed by Oliver Bozanic, Moresche was able to drive forward down the left flank and fed Urena in the box.
The Costa Rican took one touch and was able to slot a cool finish beyond Andrew Redmayne in the 14th minute.
Barely two minutes had passed from Urena’s celebrations and the Central Coast had doubled their lead when Lewis Miller’s cross was turned in by Caceres with Moresche breathing down his neck.
“We’ve started every game this season on the front foot and we knew they had a game midweek,” said Montgomery, whose side moved into fifth spot with their second win of his tenure.
“Our mindset is always to start well and maybe we can put a bit of doubt in their mind.
“Sydney threw everything at us, so today is just one game. It’s early in the season, but we just hope to carry on as normal and hopefully we’ll get a few boys back from injury.”
Corica made a triple substitution after the break as he brought Elvis Kamsoba, Trent Buhagiar and Patrick Yazbek on for Bobo, Milos Ninkovic and Max Burgess.
All three fired to offer a point of difference and Sydney’s hunt for an elusive win goes on.
© AAP
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