Wilkinson’s initial game for Sydney came in the Round of 32 of the cup, coming off the bench in their 3-0 victory against Wollongong Wolves.

A lot has happened for Wilkinson in the past eight months, it was only in February the 32-year-old returned to the A-League to join Melbourne City for the remainder of season 2015-16.

Wilkinson, who was born and bred in Sydney is now happy with wife Brooke and two children. And despite the comfort he had at City, he felt the decision was the right one.

“I’ve settled well, everyone has made me feel really welcome which is great and I’m from Sydney originally, so that makes it a lot easier. I know a lot of the boys, so it’s been pretty seamless to be honest,” Wilkinson told FourFourTwo.

“The facilities at Sydney are great, being at City earlier in the year, their facilities are first class. I really enjoyed my time there, but Sydney have got everything as well. They’ve got a great pitch, good setup and everything you need to be professional and to concentrate on your football.”

Wilkinson managed two hours in the game against Perth after it was goalless at full-time. Milos Ninkovic and Alex Brosque were the heroes for Sydney when both struck at extra-time to take the Sky Blues into the quarter-finals.

The Sky Blues will now take on Blacktown City away in the final eight of the FFA Cup and with the A-League season just over a month away, Wilkinson said it was all the more crucial they progress in the tournament.

“I’m really enjoying it and the more competitive games now, we’re through to the next round, the more we can play before the A-League, the better off we are, because we’re stuck playing friendly matches, trying to kill time before season starts and whatnot, so it’s great we’re through to the next round,” he said.

“It was a good result, Glory are at the same stage of our pre-season, so towards the end of the game in extra-time there were a few tired legs out there. That’s normal and that’ll do us a world of good being able to play that long. Boys will take a lot of benefit from that, overall it was a pretty good performance, we probably should’ve won in normal time.”

City bring on unprecedented scrutiny after the signing of Tim Cahill, the Glory also have heavy expectations with the likes of Adam Taggart and Andy Keogh in the line-up.

Wilkinson was adamant the same amount of expectation was placed internally regardless of the hype.

“Yes and no (less pressure is good), It doesn’t bother us either way, we’re confident in our own ability and we want to challenge for every title,” he said.

“That includes the FFA Cup, the Premiership and Championship, we expect to be up there and we expect to be doing well throughout the season. If there’s no external pressure, then we put pressure on ourselves, we’re a big club and we need to perform.”

And as Wilkinson leaves Perth to resume training back home, the Socceroos remain in Western Australia to take on Iraq in the World Cup Qualifiers on Thursday night.

The last time Wilkinson played for Australia was in November last year in a 4-0 win over Bangladesh, he was selected for the squad in recent matches against Tajikistan, Jordan and England, however did not play.

Despite focusing on his club, Wilkinson still sets his sights on receiving a call-up in the near future.

“Yeah of course (Socceroos future involvement), who knows? At the moment, I always knew it would be difficult to make this squad with us not being in season,” he said.

“So come the games later in the year and early next year, hopefully I’ll still have some sort of role to play, but I’m not going to think about it too much, it’s more about doing and playing well for Sydney and if I’m playing well enough and coach Ange (Postecoglou) likes what he sees, then hopefully I’ll get another opportunity.”