Patrick Wood hopes to further impress Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay

Sydney FC marksman Patrick Wood is keen to continue his habit of scoring goals against Macarthur FC.

Sydney FC striker Patrick Wood (left) is hungry for goals. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

With Patrick Wood desperate to prove he’s worthy of a permanent spot in Sydney FC’s starting team, the Sky Blues’ battle with Macarthur FC on Saturday night has come at the perfect time for the 21-year-old striker.

In his 58 A-League appearances for Sydney. Wood has scored eight goals, with four of them having been at the Bulls’ expense.

“I’m not sure what it is playing against Macarthur,” Wood said ahead of the all-NSW battle at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.

“Goals just seem to come to me and I love that.”

And Wood would “love” another one this weekend to further put forward a case to recently appointed Sydney coach Ufuk Talay that he should start every week.

Wood has only started in 13 A-League matches in a senior Sky Blues career that dates back to the 2020-21 season.

This season, despite good form in Sydney’s run to Australia Cup glory, Wood has only played from the opening whistle in two of the Sky Blues’ six A-League games this season.

Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay is searching for back-to-back A-League wins. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

However, in a positive sign for the future, Talay last Saturday started Wood and fellow marksman, Brazilian Fabio Gomes, together in attack in Sydney’s 3-2 home win over Perth.

“Fabio is a lot bigger boy than I am so he holds the ball up really well and flicks it on to me … more a running behind sort of player,” Wood said.

“Having these two attributes up top together, (we) will definitely help each other out.

“(Talay) puts a lot of faith in me and hopefully I can repay that to him this week with a couple of goals.”

Talay wants Wood and Gomes, as well as the rest of Sydney’s players, to be more ruthless in front of goal.

“One thing we definitely need to improve on is the quality of finishing,” Talay said

“We created a lot of chances against a good opponent (Perth), and I think we will create those opportunities again.

“We just need to be composed and a lot more clinical.”

In Saturday’s other A-League clash. Newcastle faces the tough task of trying to become the first team this season to beat Wellington Phoenix.

The Jets are nine points adrift of the Phoenix ahead of the match at Sky Stadium.

Wellington coach Giancarlo Italiano warned the Jets that the Phoenix still had plenty of improvement in them.

“We’re going in the right direction but if we’re serious about doing anything major this season, we need to increase the consistency overall, with the ball especially,” Italiano said.

“Defensively we’re quite sound at the moment, but we can still improve in that respect.”

Originally published as Patrick Wood hopes to further impress Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay