Young Sydney FC defender Aaron Calver says persistence was the key to his side’s 2-0 Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 win over Sorrento FC in Perth on Wednesday night.
The Sky Blues took less than three minutes to take the lead at nib Stadium from a Shane Smeltz penalty but only put the result beyond doubt after Max Burgess scored late in the second half.
“Full credit to the Sorrento boys, they definitely made a match of it,” Calver told Fox Sports.
“It was very hard to break them down but after we got the first goal we kept persisting and got the second one.
“It was a tough game. Once the game opened up a bit there was a bit more space but they fought hard and made it very difficult.”
The Sky Blues are just three weeks into their pre-season campaign and coach Graham Arnold used a host of young players in his line-up who impressed.
New recruits Brandon O’Neill, Andrew Hoole and Riley Woodcock all produced strong displays to make a winning start to their Sydney FC careers.
”It’s definitely good [result], we had a fairly young team and we can only get better from here as well,” Calver said of the new-look squad.
“We definitely want to go as far as we can in this competition. A first win on the road…you can’t beat that.”
While it was jubilation for Sydney FC it was disappointment for the Western Australian NPL outfit, who were hoping to pull off an Adelaide City-like boilover.
“It doesn’t sit well. We obviously thought we’d come here and get result but being 1-0 down after two minutes it gave us a mountain to climb,” midfielder James Morgan said.
“I thought we matched them for a good period of the second half, were unlucky not to score and they’ve just got that but of quality that hurts you in the end.
“But this is why we play football. We’ve got tradies, school teachers [in our side]. For us it was a dream.”
