Sydney United’s spark in 08′

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The 22-year-old striker arrived at Edensor Park with many plaudits after taking home the prestigious Silver Medal for best player in the Super League last year with the Mt Druitt Rangers and has made the step up to the Telechoice Premier League like a duck to water.
 ?Playing with Sydney United has been awesome, the team is going well and I feel my game is improving each time I step out onto the pitch,? he said.
?The standard is obviously a lot quicker but I am enjoying playing with and against quality players week in, week out.
?Ivan Petkovic gave me a shot and it is my intention to pay back that faith with a hatful of goals.?
The Assyrian native was coaxed to United after Petkovic witnessed his talent firsthand when he was holding the clipboard at St George last winter.
?I was happy with how I went with Mt Druitt, we had a decent squad and I managed to bang in a few goals which gave me some confidence,” he recalled.
?I was going to go back there but when Ivan got the role at Sydney United he rang me saying he felt I had something to offer.
?I have hit two goals as well as a couple in the Johnny Warren Cup; the challenge for me now is to be consistent and more clinical in front of goal.?
The diminutive marksman has his sights set of snaring an A League contract but isn?t looking too far ahead, preferring to slowly earn his stripes.
?Playing alongside Luka Glavas has been great, he is a quality player and I have already learnt heaps from him.
?Guys like Damon Collina and Todd Brodie are very experienced and it has been interesting to see the way they prepare for games.
?I realised the step up would be intense but I am having a ball.?
He then went onto express his surprise at the former NSL giants being dismissed as a genuine title threat in the pre-season.
?People are always entitled to their opinion but many of the boys were puzzled as to why so many wrote us off.
?It spurred us on and even though it is early days we have enjoyed proving those people wrong.?
He believes the biggest challenges will come in the form of Sydney Olympic and Manly United, and also refused to write off the embattled Marconi Stallions.
?Those two look to be the ones to beat, Olympic looked outstanding in the Johnny Warren Cup and Manly have been scoring for fun.
?We don?t have them (Olympic) until the last round but at this stage our game against Manly should give us an accurate indication of where we are at.
“Marconi isn?t travelling well at the moment but with all those quality players I will be surprised if they don’t turn it around.
?I think we have a squad more than capable of challenging for the title, so hopefully we can keep scoring and playing well as a team.
?The boys are very confident and Ivan has us playing good football so fingers crossed we can keep it up.?

By Andrew Hurrell