The Christmas break can’t come quick enough for the Brisbane Roar Youth who fell to their third consecutive loss on Saturday, going down to Sydney FC Youth 2-1 in Wollongong.
The Roar has struggled to turn an arduous two weeks on the road into points and will be looking to find their early season spark over the three week festive break.
Sydney FC went after the Roar from the outset scoring two early goals through Justin Hayward in the 23rd minute and Blake Powell in the 27th, leaving the Roar with a two goal deficit at halftime for the second week in a row.
Brisbane, without the services of a number of players who had been called up for Hyundai A-League duty, attempted to mount a comeback in the second half and after Kenneth Dougall scored in the 83rd minute the game looked to be heading for a frantic finish.
However Sydney managed to quell a desperate Brisbane attack, finishing with their second win over the Roar Youth this season.
Roar Youth Head Coach John Sime was philosophical about the defeat, saying that his players managed to turn a poor first half into a strong performance in the second.
“Sydney came out of the blocks very fast and dominated us in the first half, at the break I changed the system a bit and the boys responded very well,” said Sime.
“I couldn-t fault our performance in the second half, it was first class.”
Sime also commented on the number of early goals from opposition sides that have plagued the Roar Youth over the past month, stating that he plans on utilising the Christmas break to rediscover the defensive steel that was a feature of Brisbane-s performances earlier in the season.
“The early goals have been my biggest concern over the past few weeks as the boys are leaving themselves huge mountains to climb in the second half,” Sime said.
“I will be having a close look at correcting all the little things that may have crept into our game and hopefully the next few weeks we can get things back to normal.”
With three weeks until the Brisbane Roar Youth resume their season with an away fixture against Adelaide, Sime is counting on the break as an opportunity for his side to spend some time away from football and recharge before they mount a run at the competition lead over the final month of the competition.
“I know the boys are looking forward to having a few weeks off, it will be a great chance to recover from all the niggling injuries and also a chance to get players back from more serious injuries,” Said Sime.
“I have told the players to enjoy the break but be ready to hit the ground running when they return.”
