Sydney FC remains alive and threatening in the A-League finals after their come-from-behind win over Western Sydney sent a reminder of the value of experience, and re-established the balance of power in the city that for so long they’d held, and looked to have slipped.

Manager Steve Corica’s loyalty to his senior core looked set to cost him as his side scrapped to a fifth-placed finish without the conviction of yore. Six weeks ago, Adam Le Fondre embodied just that; injured, out of contract, and looking not long for pasture.

He now embodies their revival, weaponising an underdog mentality that will see them consider the two-legged semi-final against Melbourne City as a free hit. Saturday’s winner was a fifth goal in six since his return, and as he put it post-match, ensures ‘the show goes on.’

‘When I got the news I’d be out for seven-to-eight weeks it was devastating for me. It put me in a really bad space mentally and I had a few days off from training. It was very frustrating’, Le Fondre told Box2Box.

‘I hate being injured, I hate missing football. At this point in my career I’ve got a bit more tread on the tyres and I know time missed is precious. I’ve been very fortunate that the medical staff and sports scientists were fantastic for me, and that I’ve come back and made an impact straight away is testament to them.’

You don’t lose your smarts, and a career’s worth of experience went into the 80th minute header from Robert Mak’s corner that killed the contest. Particularly striking was the simplicity with which it was executed in a crowded penalty area.

‘If you look at the first two corners of the game, Rodwell gets a couple of good headers in a very similar area. Nieuwenhof was on me at that point but he then changed off me and went to Rodwell. It was later in the game, Mrcela was off by then, so I drifted away from where I was meant to be at corners, into that area.

‘Robbie’s put in a perfect ball really, I just had to direct it. I’ve managed to time my jump perfectly, I’ve got Rodwell behind me who’s half occupying Marcelo, so there was this big hole for me to hang and attack. It all collided in one moment, everything worked out perfect.’

The Sky Blues now revive their finals rivalry with Melbourne City, with whom they split a pair of Grand Finals in 2020 & 2021, a time that saw the transition League’s dominant force. Le Fondre feels the retention of Wilkinson, Grant, Caceres et al now bodes as a strength, rather than the perceived desperate protraction.

‘We’ve got big characters in the dressing room who have been there, done that, seen it, got the t-shirt. We could have sat sulking at half-time but we had the strength of character to know if we went down, we’d go down swinging.

‘All those players in the dressing room are like brothers, we’ve been together for years now. We knew we had to force the issue and see if they could hold out and once we got the goal, it was pretty evident there was only going to be one team that was going to win it.’