Cazarine's goal came after the ball appeared to cross the byline before Hirofumi Moriyasu cut it inside for the Brazilian to score and Lavicka acknowledged there was an element of fortune to the winner.

"We have had bad luck this season several times so tonight we had a bit of luck for us," Lavicka said after the game.

"Yes it is a controversial goal. To be honest I thought that if the linesman's flag is going up it was for [shirt tugging on Hiro] and I expected a penalty kick, but everyone makes mistakes."

Sky Blues skipper Terry McFlynn praised Moriyasu for chasing down the ball.

"I thought it was a great endeavour from Hiro to close down Topor-Stanley the way he did," McFlynn said.

"He's that type of boy. He never gives up a lost cause, he chased it right down to just before the line, crossed it in and Bruno was there to tap it in."

McFlynn added: "Two teams down the bottom of the league, fighting for their lives, it was always going to be an edgy affair. I think it was a decent battle; no quarter was asked or given across the pitch. Sometimes it takes a goal like that to win."

The win moved the Sky Blues up two spots into ninth on the A-League table.

Sydney are now on 11 points and only six points behind sixth-placed Melbourne Heart in the race for the finals.

Lavicka added: "We are doing small steps forward now.

"Everyone knows we have plenty of room to improve this season, but I appreciate the players because they worked very hard on the pitch, we played a clean sheet in defence which is a very important step forward, and we reached our first home win this season."

Lavicka continued he was delighted with the appearance off the bench of debutant Dimitri Petratos.

"We know Dimitri has good potential," he said. "Because players like Nicky Carle (foot), Mark Bridge (hamstring) are unavailable we gave him a chance and he did well."

Lavicka also revealed Bridge is due to return to full fitness for next Friday's clash away to Gold Coast United.