The Mariners scored three goals inside the opening 25 minutes to settle the contest early and a goal less than 20 seconds into the second-half put to bed any thought of a Sydney revival.

"Firstly I would like to congratulate the Mariners for their performance but let me say sorry to all Sydney FC supporters for tonight," Lavicka said.

"There is no excuse for what we did tonight. The game was decided very early.

"We spoke about tactics before the game and we expected them to start aggressively especially after their result last week.

"Everything will be harder after this. Its football but we will have to show everyone the character of Sydney FC.

"It is important for us to recover right both mentally and physically for next weekend's game."

Central Coast coach Graham Arnold hailed his side's 'dream start' and response to last week's 5-1 hammering from leaders Brisbane Roar.

"It was a great start, you dream of those starts," he said. "The focus for the week has been reaction.

"We were all embarrassed by our performance last week. We wanted to show what the Mariners were about.

"I thought the football we played tonight was top-shelf. Forgetting the two goals in the first five minutes, the way we played tonight was fantastic.

"Especially in that first half with the way we moved the ball around."

Though reluctant to single out the performance of any one player, Arnold praised the efforts of Adam Kwasnik.

"He (Kwasnik) has been brilliant all year, and I can say that honestly," Arnold said.

"He was the leading goal scorer in pre-season before having a brief flat period, but his attitude and his mentality has been first class.

"He's been scoring goals and adding spark off the bench before getting his opportunity through McBreen's suspension. He bided his time and now is giving me plenty of headaches."

Arnold added: "It was an ideal time to bring Perez back. We couldn't have dreamed of a better time.

"Being up 4-nil and for him to go out and get a run, and get some rhythm back was a positive. Tonight showed there's plenty of pressure for places."

Captain Alex Wilkinson agreed with his coach about the performance.

"The focus all week has been on turning it around," he said. "You could tell straight away that the boys were up for it. 2-nil after five minutes, you couldn't have asked for a better start.

"I'm so proud of how the boys responded. We copped a lot of criticism about our performance last week.

"It goes to show that wasn't a Mariners performance, and now we've set a standard that we've got to keep going. We've got a tough away trip to Perth next week and we're looking forward to it."

When asked if it was one of the best performances he had been involved in his half-decade with the club, the captain considered his answer.

"I think the first half definitely was. The way we kept the ball from the back was very pleasing," he said.

"Our midfield put in an enormous shift tonight. There were times when they were outnumbered but they got back, and then had the energy to get the ball out wide. So from that perspective, yes I say it was a very pleasing performance."