RESTORED once more to the Sydney FC goal, custodian Ivan Necevski believes his performance in Saturday's morale-boosting 2-1 defeat of Perth can earn him an extended run as Vitezslav Lavicka's No.1.

Necevski produced a vital save at 0-0, before Sydney scored twice in the second half to record a priceless victory in the tight race for the finals.

So long the club's No.2 keeper, Necevski repaid Lavicka's decision to drop Liam Reddy and is now aiming for a long-term tenancy.

"I've bided my time and I keep finding myself in these situations every season. But to be fair to Liam, he's not done much wrong either," Necevski said.

"I'm a pretty calm and level-headed individual, and all I've been able to do is be patient. But I've also been training week in, week out as hard as I can to be ready for the opportunity, and people around me know what I can do.

"The three points are great, but in the wider scheme of things won't count for much if we can't add to them next week. It has to be a step forward, and we must play even better next week against Adelaide.

"They have changed a few little things since Kossie (John Kosmina) came in that can make all the difference and have had a lot of good results. But we've just had a good result too."

Sydney have been given a further fillip with the news that Adelaide have been forced into an Asian Champions League qualifier on Thursday night.

Thanks to a bizarre ruling by the Court of Arbitration in Sport, Adelaide must face Indonesian side Persipura Jayapura just 72 hours before taking on Sydney at Hindmarsh Stadium.

Persipura had been thrown out of the ACL for their involvement with the rebel Indonesian Premier League, but the CAS has reinstated them for now. An appeal against the ruling will be held in March, raising the prospect of Adelaide losing on Thursday then winning the appeal and going through anyway.

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Originally published as Necevski repays Lavick's faith