While it was a great night for fans of Sutherland, undefeated and leading the NSW Premier League, Sydney FC were missing several players, including marquee signing, John Aloisi, midfielder Michael Enfield and Brendon Santalab.

Olympic hopefuls Mark Bridge and Stuart Musialik filled in.

Sutherland showed no-fear against their more fancied opponents and Neil Jablonski opened the scoring in the first half, before a FC-leveller came from Jacob Timpano just before half-time.

Sutherland substitute Matt Hall scored what proved to be the final goal of the match, in the opening five minutes of the second half, to give the home side a 2-1 lead, with both goalkeepers forced into desperate saves.

Despite the loss Sydney FC coach John Kosmina was happy with the teams' performance."We were a bit rusty, definitely,'' Kosmina said.

"Sutherland were a little bit sharper than us but I thought we knocked the ball around exceptionally well.

"[We] played some really good football at times which I'm happy with...we'll only get better.''