Brosque double eclipses Suns

There was plenty of rust but Sydney FC kicked off the defence of their FFA Cup crown with a comfortable win.

Aleksander Canak of Rockdale City beats Sydney FC players to the ball in their Round of 32 match FFA Cup game at Ilinden Sports Centre in Sydney. Picture: AAP

There was plenty of rust and they were made to work hard for some periods of the first half but Sydney FC kicked off the defence of their FFA Cup crown with a comfortable win over Rockdale City Suns last night.

Playing their first serious competitive game in what is a long pre-season before the A-League kicks off in October, the Sky Blues overcame a slow start to beat their NSW NPL rivals 4-2 in front of a great midweek crowd of 4489 at the Ilinden Sports Centre.

Captain Alex Brosque grabbed a second half brace while Danny De Silva and Ben Warland also got on the scoresheet as Sydney advanced to the round of 16.

Just a month into preparation for the new season, Sydney, who won the Cup and A-League Premiers Plate last season, took time to get into the game against a side that was rock-hard fit and in the final stages of their season.

But their class told in the end as they gave new coach Steve Corica his first competitive victory since taking over the reins from Graham Arnold, who left to take up the job with the Socceroos.

Sydney were set back on their heels early in the game when the home side opened the scoring after just six minutes through a superb effort from Harris Gaitatzis after they broke quickly from defence into attack down Sydney’s left side.

The ball was played to Gaitatzis who had the presence of mind to send a first time, looping shot over the head of goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne and into the back of the net.

That really lifted the atmosphere of the decent-sized crowd with the Suns growing in confidence.

However Sydney, as expected, dominated the possession and pressed forward, putting pressure on the Rockdale defence which did well to survive for 20-odd minutes.

It took a wonderful strike from De Silva — his first goal for Sydney — to put the Sky Blues back on level terms. A corner from the left was headed down into the midfielder’s path and he struck it beautifully first time to send the ball crashing into the back of the net from the edge of the penalty area.

It was a fitting reward for the former Mariners star, who looked lively when on the ball.

It took Sydney just three minutes after the half-time break to effectively kill off the game.

First defender Warland headed home from close range to make it 2-1 on 47 minutes before Brosque poked the ball home just three minutes later to make it 3-1 after he and Milos Ninkovic had combined.

Brosque added a fourth in the 64th minute before the home side added some respectability to the score through a goal by Toufic Alameddine in the 76th minute.