Sydney FC defender Jurman says success starts at the back

Sydney FC is showing the potential to become as stingy in defence as coach Graham Arnold's A-League championship-winning side at Central Coast Mariners in season 2012-13.

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Sky Blues central defender Matt Jurman told The World Game one of the team's goals is to beat its total of nine clean sheets from last season, which was the competition's best, and it is already well on the way to doing that by recording two in the first three rounds.

Sydney is top of the table at this early stage with seven points and it has made it there on defence. It has scored just two goals so far, which is equal-sixth among the 10 teams, but it is the defensive leader with just one goal against.

Only three other teams have conceded less than five goals - Newcastle Jets (two), Melbourne Victory (three) and Adelaide United (four).

The sample may only be small, with another 24 rounds to come before the finals, but only a fool would ignore the good signs, particularly since they come from a team coached by Arnold, who makes a very tight defence a priority.

When Arnold coached Mariners to win that club's only championship, the team conceded just 22 goals in 27 regular-season games and none in its two finals games.

Despite leading the league for clean sheets last season, Sydney only finished equal-third with Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory for goals conceded in the regular season, with 35. Eventual champion Melbourne Victory conceded 31 and Adelaide United 32.

The problem for Sydney was inconsistency. The team had its good days in defence, but also its bad ones, conceding three goals five times in the regular season and four goals once. It conceded three goals again in the grand final, losing 3-0 to Victory.

Jurman said the key to the team doing so well defensively early this season was increased competition for places and the improved understanding between himself and central defensive partner Jacques Faty, who only joined Sydney during last season's January transfer window.

"We've got a great squad here and if you look at the players that aren't playing you'll see what I mean," Jurman said.

"Everyone's pushing each other and it makes you a better player because you know you have to train hard every day and then perform well every week in the games on top of that to make sure you keep your spot in the team.

"Jacques and I have played more than 20 games together now, including trials, and our understanding has become very good. Hopefully we can keep building on that and make it even better.

"Obviously defending is something we all do as a team, but it does help a lot to fit in well with the other guys in the back four and we all do that.

"We still won some of those games we conceded three or more goals in last season, but overall it wasn't good to be conceding goals in chunks like that because it puts the team under too much pressure to score a lot of goals to win.

"We want to make sure the mistakes we made that led to a lot of those goals don't happen this season. We want to beat last season's clean sheet record and be a difficult team to score against every week."

Jurman did his job superbly in Saturday night's 1-0 win in the Sydney derby, making it very difficult for Western Sydney Wanderers striker Federico Piovaccari to get clear shots on goal.

The biggest moment in their one-on-one battle came a few minutes before Sydney scored its late winner, when Piovaccari was fed the ball running into the penalty box.

Jurman had to make a challenge, but if he was too late to block the shot or got the man instead of the ball and conceded a penalty it could have been disastrous for his team.

He timed his challenge perfectly, getting his foot in front of the ball just as Piovaccari struck it and deflecting the shot away.

"It was a tough game, mentally as well as physically," Jurman said.

"You've got to work hard to maintain concentration, because if you slacken off or make a mistake they can punish you.

"They had a few chances on the night, but that one to Piovaccari was pretty close to their best one. I was glad to be able to block the shot and then see us get the goal we needed a few minutes later.

"He (Piovaccari) is a strong boy. You've got to mark tight on him around the box and be careful not to give him any time on the ball.

"Every A-League team has got dangerous people up front and you can't give them opportunities, otherwise they'll destroy you. I'll have to be just as prepared for whoever I'm on this week."