Holosko strikes to give Sydney a point against Melbourne City

Sydney FC marquee striker Filip Holosko scored on his debut to cancel out a Wade Dekker goal and secure the host a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

Filip Holosko celebrates scoring the equaliser for Sydney FC against Melbourne City. (AAP) Source: AAP

Dekker stunned the home crowd when he pounced on a Jaques Faty error to give the away side an early lead.

On the stroke of halftime Holosko scored his first goal for the club after being delightfully played through by Alex Brosque to earn the Sky Blues a point in their A-League opener.

In front of a crowd of 17,051 Sydney dominated possession in the early stages and created a few half chances, yet Melbourne was also looking dangerous when it got forward.

The visitor hit the front on 16 minutes as it took advantage of a Faty error when playing out from the back. It allowed Bruno Fornaroli to play Dekker through and he powered into the area before driving a low shot beyond the reach of Vedran Janjetovic inside the near post to make it 1-0.

Sydney was finding it difficult to break down City's well organised defence and the away side was continuing to cause trouble on the break.

Approaching the half hour, the away side felt it had legitimate claims for a penalty turned down after Janjetovic appeared to collide with Robert Koren in the area.

Ten minutes from the interval the Sky Blues had another lucky escape after Jason Trifiro's free kick was headed on to his own crossbar by Matthew Jurman.

Just as it seemed City would go into the break with the lead, Sydney struck. In first-half stoppage time the host won the ball on halfway and Brosque played Holosko through on goal.

The marquee striker comfortably slotted it past Thomas Sorensen to draw the Sky Blues level.

Despite having played for the Socceroos only 48 hours earlier, City midfielder Aaron Mooy replaced Trifiro 12 minutes into the second half.

While neither side was able to take a firm grip of the contest, Sydney did appear the most likely to score.

Rhyan Grant had Sorensen at full stretch with an excellent curling effort from outside the area on 76 minutes.

The Sky Blues then had an excellent chance to win it in the 90th minute when Grant sent a pinpoint cross to George Blackwood on the edge of the goal area, but the substitute's first-time volley was saved by Sorensen.

Sydney coach Graham Arnold praised his charges for what he labelled a very promising start to the season.

"If I compare the start this year to the start last year, it's 75 per cent better, and I think there's about 70 per cent improvement in us," he said.

"It's new players, a new league for them and adjusting to each other.

"We pretty much dominated the game. The only time they were dangerous was when we turned over cheap possession in the middle of the park and they hit us on the break."

City boss John Van 't Schip lamented the absence of a host of experienced players including Ivan Franjic, Harry Novillo and Aaron Hughes, but admitted Sydney took advantage of its chances.

"They pushed more. Their full-backs went higher and we had some troubles in keeping the ball," he said.

"In the first half, we controlled the ball better, played from the back into the midfield ... we could have gone up 2-0 and then, of course, it's a different game."