Adelaide United defender, Ben Garuccio, has already switched his focus to the Club’s home match with Wellington Phoenix, after suffering a 2-0 away defeat against league leaders Sydney FC on Friday.
Two second-half goals in two minutes from the Sky Blues decided the rather insipid encounter, as Garuccio and the Reds will now shift their attention to their home match against the Phoenix Sunday week.
Despite the negative result, Garuccio felt it was a relatively even match, but lamented the team’s failure to get further forward and trouble the Sydney defence.
“We had a bit of confidence coming off last week’s win (against Melbourne City),” Garuccio said.
“But obviously it’s a tough ask to go to Sydney and to back that up again, they’re in great form at the moment.
“It was a fairly even game as there wasn’t too many chances created, but they pinned us back a lot.
“And they had the ball in our half and that obviously limited our opportunities to go forward.
“Because we were so deep in our own half that when we got the ball it was very hard to form a good attack.”
The 21-year-old insists the confidence within the squad has not been shattered, believing the team can quickly put that setback behind them with a win over the ‘Nix.
“A lot of teams have been there and felt that (experiencing a loss) this year in Sydney, so I don’t think it’s anything to get too disheartened about,” Garuccio said.
“Next week we’re back at home again, we’ve got Wellington, it’s the team we’ve beaten already once this year so I think we take full confidence going into that game.”
The winger-cum-defender featured higher up the park against the Sky Blues for the first time at United, in order to accommodate the returning Tarek Elrich from suspension.
However, Garuccio affirmed he is happy to be deployed wherever required under Head Coach, Guillermo Amor.
“It was a bit of a shock because it was my first game there (on the left-wing) in a little while,” he continued.
“But as I said we were pinned back a lot, so it was very hard to form good attacks and obviously we didn’t see too much of the ball.
“But wherever the coach (Amor) wants to play me, I’m happy to play there.”
Adelaide United host Wellington Phoenix in Round 17 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season on Sunday, 29 January at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.30pm ACDT.
