All three goals in the top of the table clash came after the Hunter outfit lost striker Roy O’Donovan to a straight red in the 13th minute.

The Sky Blues have little time to process the result, their second loss of the season, with a Champions League home clash against Kashima Antlers on Wednesday.

“You can see the boys are really hurting in the dressing room,” Arnold said post-match. “And obviously losing to 10 men isn’t great. Again, it’s about what you learn and what you do from there.

“I expect a great reaction now. We’re in a great position. We put ourselves in this position with being eight points clear with five games to go.

“We’ve got a lot of back up. We’ve got fit players. (Michael) Zullo will be back on Wednesday so we’ll be fine. It’s just about learning and moving on. It just shows you anything can happen in a game of football."

Arnold said O’Donovan’s sending off was “the worst thing that happened to us” and that the game exposed “a bit of an attitude problem” in Sydney’s ranks.

Dimi Petratos opened the scoring from the penalty spot late in the first half before Bobo equalised on 52 minutes.

Just four minutes later, J-League target Andrew Nabbout sealed all three points with a stunning long range missile, sending the 18,000-plus crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium into raptures.

 “Obviously we didn’t stop trying, the effort level was there – it was just the crispness and the execution that probably let us down in the end,” Arnold said.

“When we got back to 1-1 I thought we’d then carry on with the game but a wonderful goal by Nabbout built their energy back up. That’s football at times.

“When something like that (send-off) happens then it becomes about attitude. Our attitude has been fantastic for a few years now but it was a flat performance.”

He added: “Some of the boys were saying it’s warm out there, but it’s an excuse. At the end of the day Newcastle had to put up with it with 10 men.

“It’s about dusting ourselves off, getting ourselves ready. A good kick up the backside and we move forward.”