Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold was delighted with the fight his team showed to come back from two goals down and almost defeat Western Sydney Wanderers in a thrilling Sydney Derby on Saturday.
Wanderers were two up in the opening 30 minutes but were pegged back by the Sky Blues to 2-2, and they almost won it at the end with Sky Blue sub Matt Simon going close with a great chance to win late on in the 16th Sydney Derby.
“We showed great character to come from two goals down and I thought in the second half we were the better side ,” Arnold told Fox Sports.
“We could’ve got three points in the end.
“We had to deal with their long ball game and [Oriol] Riera was the focus of their beating the press to hit it long and play off him.
“We handled that better in the second half.”
Arnold added he was surprised that Wanderers shifted star Spanish winger Alvaro Cejudo to the right wing and they started Mark Bridge in place of Jumpei Kusukami.
“But I thought [Michael] Zullo controlled him [Cejudo] very well.
“He [Cejudo] gets in between the lines well but it’s also about end product and we dealt with him quite well.”
Arnold said missing striker Adrian Mierzejewski is likely to return next week when the Sky Blues face Perth Glory on Friday night at Allianz.
“We’ll get better next week,” he promised.
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