Tony Popovic and Wanderers can’t rest on laurels after Sydney FC win

Tony Popovic is smart enough to know his Wanderers players cannot rest on their laurels after beating Sydney FC.

Brendon Santalab thanks Wanderers fans after the win over Sydney FC at ANZ Stadium. Picture: Mark Evans

After 1135 days, nine games, plenty of angst, doubts and a good deal of pressure, you wouldn’t blame Tony Popovic for living in the ­moment of Saturday night’s derby 1-0 win over Sydney FC at ANZ ­Stadium.

Popovic hasn’t just had to contend with the Sydney hoodoo — Western Sydney going a little over three years without beating their fiercest rivals.

But in a season in which the Wanderers have played some ­decent football yet failed to get ­results, he has also had to face growing discontent from the club faithful.

From comment on left-field team selections, and the constant turnover of the playing squad to the failure to sign a quality striker, the fans have levelled plenty of criticism at Popovic in recent ­seasons.

The single-minded coach, however, is made of sterner stuff. He has always had belief in his own ability and that of his players.

And he is smart enough to know that one win, albeit against your biggest rival, isn’t going to change things overnight as far as those who pay their money to watch from the terraces are ­concerned.

It is why he was quick to point out on Saturday night that the Wanderers need to step up ­another level and ensure that this is indeed the turning point of their season. As good as it is, inflicting the first defeat of the season on the competition leaders isn’t going to cut it if your team doesn’t back it up next week, or the week after and the week after that.

With seven rounds left in the regular season, the Wanderers — and Popovic — are not yet out of the woods. That they could deflate their fans so much by losing last week to Central Coast, then come out and produce the sort of performance they did against the best team in the league, shows how much of a fine line there is between quality and mediocrity.

“That would be a good plan, a good thing to happen,” Popovic said when asked if the win could be a defining moment in the season for them. “But, there’s a lot of work ahead. It would be nice if it was nine or 10 points for a game like that (against Sydney) but it’s not ... it’s three points.

“If we are not up to scratch next week (against Perth Glory in Perth) we won’t win and then you are battling again.

“The league is tough and the challenge is to keep repeating these performances and get some more results.”

Popovic understands the pressures involved but deals with it like he used to deal with pesky strikers during his days as a tough-as-teak defender.

“It’s all external pressure, there is nothing from within,” he said. “If there is no internal pressure then there is nothing to worry about.

“I am not going to worry about things that I can’t control.”

The Wanderers were good value for the three points on ­Saturday night although Graham Arnold’s Sydney FC did not lose any friends in a game that lived up to the hype in front of 44,000.

Brendon Santalab’s first-half goal, which put him alongside Mark Bridge as the club’s greatest goalscorer, proved the difference.

It was a performance that delighted Popovic.

“It’s really nice to send our fans home happy, we have waited a long time,” he said. “In all aspects of the game we more than matched Sydney. They are obviously a very good team. They were undefeated and full of confidence. But we showed we are a very good team. I knew we were.”

For Sydney, it was the end of the dream of being the “invincibles” of the A-League.

But the loss has done nothing to dent Arnold’s confidence in his team.

“It’s been a great journey and it has kept the media busy writing things about how well we have done,” Arnold said.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys in the first 20 rounds, 19 unbeaten. We have put ourselves in a fantastic position. At the end of the day it was something we strived for.

“I don’t see it (losing) as getting a distraction out of the way. We enjoyed the ride. For us it was one game at a time. To go so long ­undefeated was a fantastic effort but now it is about finishing it (the season) off — and I am very, very sure we will.”