Redmayne wobbles deepen for Sydney FC

He’s probably earned the right to have a run of bad form but few at Sydney FC epitomise the Sky Blues’ stuttering start to the A-League campaign at the moment than Andrew Redmayne.

The fringe Socceroo has been a key plank of Sydney’s back-to-back championship campaigns over the past two seasons.

2021 has however been a more difficult year for both player and club so far.

In Saturday’s match against Brisbane at Redcliffe it was a non-threatening shot from outside the area which undid Redmayne.

There appeared no danger when Dylan Wenzel-Halls hit the speculative effort in the 18th minute but somehow the ball squirmed through Redmayne’s gloves and into the net.

The error would prove to be costly despite Sydney equalising in the second half through Brazilian veteran Bobo, with a 1-1 draw meaning it’s now four matches without a win for the eighth-placed Sky Blues.

It’s not Redmayne’s first error of the season, having been culpable for Western Sydney’s equaliser in the Sydney derby in January.

Sydney FC coach Steve Corica admits the 32-year-old isn’t at peak form, like many others at the club.

Just why that is however is less clear.

“He’s made a couple of mistakes which are uncharacteristic for him,” Corica said.

“You know there’s been a slight change, he’s had a little baby recently … I’m not obviously blaming that but it’s a bit of a change in lifestyle for him at the moment.

“Other than that I think he’s doing really well.

“He missed a little bit of pre-season … didn’t come with us to the ACL (Asian Champions League).

“So he missed about five weeks away with the team.

“Obviously ACL was an important time for us and he was back here just training with the youth team and he probably couldn’t get the amount of games that he would have in a normal pre-season.

“He’s played a few games now since we’ve been back but he’s still finding his feet.”