A Dyron Daal goal was enough to condemn Victory to  a 1-0 defeat. That sees Sydney FC end 2009 three points clear of their rivals at the top of the A-League.

However, Merrick believes the defeat will only spur his team on to greater efforts. But he had no excuses for the Townsville setback.

"I'm not going to make any excuses. The better team won," he told reporters. 

"They played well, created a good chance, scored a good goal, created a couple of other chances and they were the better team.

"We didn't deserve to win tonight. We deserved to be knocked off the top of the ladder. "You can't play like that and expect to be a top team."

Merrick is confident that one setback won't be the trigger for a collapse in form.

"We're a strong side. We'll come back from this," he added.

Victory are back in action on January 10 against Newcastle Jets.