The former Porto forward made way at the break, his cause not helped by the withdrawal of Joel Griffiths just 10 minutes from the start as an injury precaution.

It left the veteran somewhat isolated and he struggled to make any sort of impression for the visitors.

Jardel, who endured some good natured stick from the Cove after lofting a chance wide of the target, looked well off the pace with Juninho the star Brazilian on show by some distance.

"Mario is a work in progress, isn't it?' said Van Egmond, who tasted his first loss as boss this season.

"He's had 20 minutes the first game he's played, 10 in the second and he needs to get more match time.

"He's now got 45 minutes under his belt and in the end it'll be dependent on how effective we feel Mario can be against the Central Coast.

Van Egmond added: "I think he did his best and tried as much as he could.

"What you've got to think about when you're playing with someone like Mario is the fact that he can't take probably more than two touches.

"He needs people around him all the time. We probably alientated him a little bit too much at times there and that probably tends to happen because we sat back a little bit too much in the first half and couldn't push out.

"He's not someone that's going to run channels and put that much pressure on the back two defenders."

Van Egmond had hoped to capitalise on any nerves in the Sydney camp, considering the club's poor start at home but instead Culina's men just grew in confidence.

The Jets coach said: "Full credit to Sydney, they dominated in possession and territory. It was just too big a hurdle for us to get over.

"They probably got us on a very very good night considering who we had out. They played well with Juninho, Corica and Santalab."

Joel Griffiths' late drop out was a blow but not entirely a surprise for the visitors.

Van Egmond said: "He's been nursing something all week. he just wasn't 100 per cent so we felt it best for him not to be involved at all."