Sydney FC will be wary of a triumphant Central Coast Mariners side full of “adrenaline” as a Sky Blues outfit minus talisman Joe Lolley attempts to conquer the travel-weary AFC Cup champions.
The Sydneysiders will host the Mariners in Friday night’s A-League semi-final first-leg clash at Allianz Stadium.
With the Mariners only having arrived home on Tuesday night from Oman where they beat Lebanese team Al-Ahed 1-0 to win the AFC Cup, there is seemingly a great opportunity for a fresher Sky Blues side to take a commanding advantage into Saturday week’s second leg in Gosford.
However, Sydney’s title hopes have been hurt by the season-ending hamstring injury suffered by star winger Lolley in his side’s 4-0 elimination final thrashing of Macarthur FC last Saturday.
And while Sky Blues coach Ufuk Talay remains confident his team can achieve success without Englishman Lolley, he won’t fall into the trap of believing the Mariners’ heavy travel schedule will leave them as easy prey on Friday.
“They’ll be high on adrenaline,” Talay said.
“Congratulations to them for what they have achieved. They’ve won the Premier’s Plate, they’ve won the AFC Cup, (and) when you’re young, you recover a lot quicker than what we (older people) would, so they’ll be fine.”
Sydney was the only the team to beat the premiership-winning Mariners twice during the regular season, but on both occasions ex-Nottingham Forest attacking weapon Lolley played.
“He’s a special player, not just for Sydney FC but for the competition itself,” Talay said of the “gutted” Lolley.
“It’s disappointing (that he’s injured), but it’s been something that we can’t control.
“He’s very influential. Whether he gets the ball or not, he’s always a threat … but we’ve had these injuries during the season and it provides opportunities for other players to step up and take charge.
“We’ll have to tweak our starting (team) with the attributes that we have, and that’s something that we’ve been discussing thoroughly in the last few days with the staff.
“We’ll come up with a game plan that suits the players we have on the park.”
Contenders to replace Lolley in Sydney’s starting team include attacking midfielder Max Burgess and forwards Fabio Gomes and Jaiden Kucharski.
Talay said skipper Luke Brattan was “looking good” to play on Friday night despite being forced off late in proceedings against Macarthur with an ankle injury.
“We’ve got to make sure he’s right in his ankle and also in his head to be able to play through the game,” he said of Sydney’s captain.