Sydney's Le Fondre: 'Gaffer won't thank me...we were average'

Sydney FC's star striker Adam Le Fondre admits his side will need to improve after a narrow 2-1 win in their A-League semi-final over Adelaide United.

Le Fondre scored Sydney's go-ahead goal after VAR awarded him a penalty 21 minutes in, before Bobo doubled Sydney's advantage.

But the English striker missed a second spot-kick in the second half that created a nail-biting finish after Adelaide's Juande scored a cracker from outside the area.

A relieved Le Fondre admitted Sydney were below their best.

"They made us work for it and I didn't do my job by missing the pen and giving them a glimmer of hope," he said. "I don't think the gaffer will thank me too much for that."

"I just thought I'd take the mick and reverse it and got no luck. It was one of those where you die by your decisions.

"I thought we were average. We would have liked to have more control on the ball. If I had have kicked to make it 3-0 it's a totally different game. It wouldn't have been 2-1 with our backs to the wall.

"We've always been very strong at the back and hard to break down."

Joel King assisted Bobo's game winner and reiterated that he was relieved.

"Conceding that goal in the first half put us under pressure, so I'm relieved that we held on and got the win," he said.

"I thought the first half was tough with Ben Halloran, he was quick. All in all, it was a good game and I'm glad we won.

"I saw it coming from the right hand side and lucky enough I put the ball in before him and he did the job.

"On the field, playing next to (Alex Wilkinson) makes it a joy. He tells me what to do every second of the game and I love it."