A clearly frustrated Culina declared his side had dominated the match but 'gifted' the Sky Blues victory.

Mark Bridge and Steve Corica provided Sydney's goal to break a two-game losing streak, with Matt Thompson replying for Newcastle.

Former Sydney boss Culina thundered: "I don't care what their coach says and the fact that he's on $500,000 and I'm on 50 bucks or whatever it is, but if that's what the foreigners are going to bring to this game, let's have more local coaches."

"We played against a team who were there to be beaten - they weren't at the races today unless I was watching another game - until we gifted them the opportunities."

"I don't know the statistics of the game but from what I saw, we had most of the ball, most of the chances."

"I'm not having a go at him (Lavicka). I'm just saying that as far as football is concerned, I thought we played some great stuff."

"There was only one team that really deserved to win that game, but we can only blame ourselves, we can't blame anyone else."

Culina may have a different view of his side's 'misfortune' after watching the game in replay.

While the Jets were down on their luck at times, they did miss a first half penalty and squandered several other opportunities.

Sydney gave equal value and took its opportunities to race back to the top of the A-League table alongside Gold Coast.

And they did it without star trio John Aloisi, Karol Kisel and Stephan Keller - all sidelined through illness or injury.

"I have to say that all players showed tough, strong character," Lavicka said.

"It's a very difficult situation because we had 12, 13 available players for this game."

"All players who played showed strong character and were hungry to win. I appreciate it."