Although the Moore Park men lost just once in the second half of last season they paid the price for poor early form in front of their own fans.

An opening round 1-0 defeat by Central Coast Mariners was followed by a draw in their second home game (2-2 against Adelaide United). Wellington Phoenix then enjoyed a 2-1 win at the SFS and it wasn't until round six that the Cove finally had a home win to cheer, a 1-0 triumph over Newcastle Jets.

Perth Glory then pulled off a shock 4-2 win on Sydney soil just before Christmas as more precious home points were dropped.

Popovic prefers to point to the positive end to the season rather than the spluttering start but acknowledges that Sydney must be more ruthless on their own turf.

He told au.fourfourtwo.com: “It’s very important (to be strong at home). It’s important everywhere in the world.

“For teams who are successful year in and year out, have a look at their home record, it’s up there with the very best.

“If we can turn this place into a bit of a fortress where teams are nervous about coming to, we can only go and benefit from that and hopefully be successful in our quest and achieve our goal.

“You can analyse things and hindsight’s a wonderful thing. You can look at the disappointments or the fact that we only lost one game in the second half of the season."