Sydney FC winger Robert Mak lauded lifting the Australia Cup 2023 as the perfect start to the season, ahead of the upcoming A-Leagues campaign.
Sydney came from a goal down against Brisbane Roar at halftime to win 3-1 in the Cup final on Saturday night.
Mak bagged his goal in between Fabio Gomes’ brace, being found at the far post by Joe Lolley’s cross. Mak emphasised the importance of his fellow wideman in Sydney’s set up and their growing partnership on the pitch.
“He’s always there, he’s doing a very good job,” Mak said to Network 10 following the entertaining contest.
“I think he’s got six assists in the Cup so he’s a really important player for us and we’ve played together for almost a year.
“We understand each other and what we can expect from each other, and hopefully, we can have a good season.”
The Slovakian said taking out the Cup was a nice reward for an arduous pre-season. He explained that despite a lacklustre first half, the Sky Blues deserved the trophy.
“It’s very nice because the preseason is long, and this cup helps us to go step-by-step towards the season, for the perfect start to the season with a trophy,” Mak said.
“We are really happy, even though the first half was not very good from us, but the second half we came out and we played really well and we deserved to win for the second half.
“We started pre-season early, we have been training for three months and we said this Cup is very important for us.”
With the A-Leagues season just around the corner, Mak said the side can take confidence from the early silverware, seeking a better league campaign than their last.
“I think the last season wasn’t very great, but in the end, we got to the semi-finals, which no one expected. We finished the season very well,” he said.
“We can go with big confidence towards the season. We played some very good teams in the Cup.
“We are very confident. We still have to work.”