That’s the warning issued by defender Mark Rudan as Branko Culina’s depleted outfit prepares for Sunday’s encounter at the Members Equity Stadium.

It has hardly been the ideal build up to the match with Culina questioning whether A-League fixtures should be taking place at all this weekend.

As if shoulder and back injuries to Juninho and Tony Popovic respectively wasn’t bad enough (although the latter will make the long trip west) the coach will also be without those on Olympic qualification duty.

Perth also has players missing but Rudan says it is now a question of just getting on with the job in hand.

There is the matter of trying to banish the disappointment felt at seeing victory slip from the grasp against Adelaide United last week and a chance to enjoy that scoring feeling for the first time this year.

Rudan said: “It was disappointing (against Adelaide) but we’ve been working on things in the week. It’s a collective thing.

"There’s no point in pointing fingers at individuals. Whenever you either concede or score there’s several players involved."

He added: "The only way we’re going to go forward is by learning from things like that and making sure we don’t do it again. You’re only as good as your last game.

"It’s one game at a time, whether you’ve played in a world cup or just starting out in your career. You have to perform week in and week out for the club.”

While Sydney has taken just one point from its opening two fixtures, Ron Smith’s Glory boys have recorded successive goalless draws.

Certainly, those results are hardly a major talking point at this early stage of the season.

Nevertheless, Rudan knows Sydney will need to be on top of their game from the word go if they are to make the long trip home with points in the luggage.

He said: “People don’t really talk much about Perth. But I think they’ve got a good side that’s paying some good football under Ron Smith.

“I’ve got so much admiration and respect for Ron having been coached by him during my time at the Australian Institute of Sport.

“They’re playing some good stuff and they will be a hard team to play against, especially on their own turf. It’s never easy going there.”

Both teams have players absent through a combination of injury and international commitments but Rudan is not about to start bleating.

The 32-year-old said: “We’ve players missing as well but we’re not looking for excuses. We’ve just got to get on with the job.”

Having seen his team rattle the goal frame three times against Adelaide last week, Culina joked that perhaps his players had been spending too much time on ‘woodwork’ practice in training.

Juninho twice hit the woodwork in that match with Rudan also seeing a shot kiss the frame in the first half.

‘Not guilty’ is his answer when it comes to the woodwork training charge. He joked: “I wasn’t part of the woodwork training at the end of the session he’s talking about.

“Seriously, I was a little bit unlucky against Adelaide. I’m pretty eager to get off the mark again, I enjoy scoring a couple of goals during the season. If I get myself in the right positions then hopefully it won’t be too long.”