Sydney FC coach Steve Corica has welcomed a short turnaround into two home derbies after his club's flat performance in the 2-0 A-League Men loss at Newcastle.
Teenager Archie Goodwin struck twice late in the first half at McDonald Jones Stadium to end the Sky Blues' run of three successive wins and clean sheets across ALM and Asian Champions League games.
Sydney had goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne and fullback Rhyan Grant on Socceroos duty, Mustafa Amini suspended and Max Burgess ill.
Corica pointed out Newcastle also had numerous players missing due to a COVID outbreak at that club.
"There's no excuses there, they competed better than us in the first half and they were hungrier in the first half," Corica said.
The Sky Blues dropped a spot to sixth below Melbourne Victory on goal difference, with Newcastle three points back in seventh, but with two games in hand.
Sydney have to back up quickly on Wednesday against Macarthur and three days later host Western Sydney Wanderers.
"A short turnaround is probably a good thing this week," Corica said.
"Both games are very important for us with the derbies, but we want to get out there as quick as possible after that performance tonight."
Goodwin hadn't played a game for Newcastle this season and Corica said he hadn't expected him to start Friday's match.
"We knew they had a few problems up front with COVID and stuff like that but we weren't sure who was going to play," Corica said.
"They changed their system completely, so obviously we had to adjust and we didn't do it very well, especially in the first half."
One potential worry for Sydney could be the fitness of key playmaker Milos Ninkovic, who was substituted just five minutes into the second half on Friday.
"I'm not sure whether he's done something to his hammy or it's just tightened up on him, that's the reason why he came off," Corica said.
"He felt something in the first half, he thought he was okay to go back out, but it just got worse in the second half so we thought we'd take him off straight away."
Corica gave 17-year-old midfielder Adrian Segecic some time off the bench and said the youngster did quite well in just his third senior appearance as a substitute.
"He's a quality young player and the more minutes he gets, the better he is going to be," Corica said.
