Following his disallowed goal in last year’s Hyundai A-League Grand Final, Sydney FC forward Adam Le Fondre isn’t dwelling on the past ahead of Saturday’s rematch against Perth at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium (kick off 5pm AEDT).
The Englishman is aiming towards both the Premiership and Championship in 2020, as well as the Golden Boot award, and praised the winning environment the club has created for the players, Members and fans.
“I think that’s what we’re about here at Sydney FC, we’ve got that sort of mentality of not living in the past,” he said ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“We’re always focusing on the next thing, the next trophy we’re after, and as a squad we’re really good at that mindset, and the standards we’ve created here helps us focus on that.
“[The Grand Final] It’s a nice memory to have but as soon as the game’s finished we move onto next season and try to achieve more next season.
“That’s the plan for this year as well, going back-to-back and try and win the Premiership as well.”
Reflecting on that 2019 Hyundai A-League Grand Final, the Sky Blues thought they’d gone ahead when Le Fondre poked in a cross from Zullo in the 28th minute, but it was denied due to a tight offside call.
“At the time I thought it was me that was offside. It wasn’t offside when you look at it, obviously it’s marginal. Even when you looked on the screen it looked onside,” Le Fondre said.
“If we scored that it probably opens up the game a little bit but it was just one of them calls. We responded well, we had a resolute game plan and we stuck to it and it was obviously nice to win on the penalty shootout.
“At the end of the day it didn’t cost us overall and didn’t detract from the way we played because ultimately we got the right result which was what we craved,” he added.
Despite having no regrets on the game, Le Fondre admits it would have opened the match up to be a more enthralling end-to-end contest.
“It would have made it a better spectacle,” he said.
“Obviously it was a chess match where we cancelled each other out but I think if you get a goal either way it makes it interesting.
“Perth would have had to come onto us a little bit more and that’s where we can do a little bit more damage in transition or even it was the other way around.
“We broke the deadlock. It was what we wanted, to go 1-0 up in the Grand Final and it was just unfortunate it got taken away because it was a good goal to score.”
Looking towards the final stretch of this campaign, Le Fondre’s aim is to continue his devastating form against opponents to help his side to the Premiership.
“It’s always important to dent the rivals’ confidence. We’ve got to implement our game plan against them to do that because they are in good form,” he said of Perth Glory.
“It’s coming towards the end of the season and I want to score as many as I can and get the Golden Boot as well.
“Obviously I want to secure the Premiership too because there’s a lot at stake at the moment so I just want to score goals.”
Sydney FC take on Perth Glory in a Grand Final rematch at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Saturday (kick off 5pm AEDT). With a family friendly kick off time, and Macca’s Families on the Field post match, bring the whole family down for a great afternoon out.
