With his side's push for a berth in the A-League Men playoffs stymied by a 1-1 draw with Wellington, coach Ufuk Talay has welcomed Sydney FC's difficult run home as a chance to take points from their top six rivals.
Coming off a short turnaround after they advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League 2 midweek, Sydney started strongly in Sunday's clash at the Sydney Football Stadium and seized an early lead thanks to Adrian Segecic's seventh minute effort.
But a week after coach Giancarlo Italiano said they were playing for pride, the Phoenix struck back through Kosta Barbarouses when he was played through by Francisco Geraldes and slotted a 38th minute equaliser that stood after a lengthy VAR review for offside.
Despite outshooting their opponents 21 to four, Sydney couldn't find a way through in the remaining exchanges, with Josh Oluwayemi producing a series of late heroic saves to deny the hosts.
Forced to settle for a point, the seventh-placed Sky Blues remain three points behind Melbourne Victory and Adelaide, who both lost this weekend.
Five of their six remaining league fixtures are against sides currently in the top six, in addition to a minimum of two ACL2 games.
"It's great that we're playing teams that are above us," Talay told Paramount+.
"We definitely need to take points off them to slide into the top six and we'll continue to work very hard in the ACL campaign to go all the way as well."
Set to go into his first Socceroos squad over the international break, defender Alex Grant struck a similar tone.
"These are the games that we need to be taking three points if we want to cement that spot in the top six," Grant said.
"We're playing a lot of teams that are around us, so we've got to capitalise on that and push forward."
With tensions high, skippers Rhyan Grant and Alex Rufer were booked for their role in a shoving match with 10 minutes remaining, while Patryk Klimala and Scott Wootton were separated after the two engaged in a war of words after the final whistle.
"We've been pretty disappointed with the results and our performances," Rufer said.
"So we made sure that it was all about character this week."
The result snapped a four-game losing run for the Phoenix, who remain 11th.
