For Sydney FC youngster Marco Tilio, hat-tricks are becoming a habit as the 18-year old bagged his second within a week with the Sky Blues running out 8-3 winners on Saturday in the Foxtel Y-League.
Tilio struck three times within a 10-minute period in the second half, as Head Coach Jimmy van Weeren’s side built on their 4-3 half time lead to seal the three points in Round 1.
Having progressed through Sydney FC’s Academy to play in the AFC Champions League and for the Young Socceroos, Tilio said it was a matter of confidence which saw him start the season in such spectacular fashion.
“Going into the game wanting to score, coming back from overseas with the national team, to score my second hattrick in the matter of a week I was really happy,” he said.
“I was ecstatic scoring a hattrick in the second half. First half was a little bit slow and sloppy by myself and then coming out second half knowing there was goals to be scored, I’m happy to have bagged the three goals in 10 minutes.
“I’m finding a bit of a groove at the moment and my confidence is very high. Hopefully I can continue that for the rest of this NYL season and then bring it into the first team sooner rather than later.”
Reflecting on the match, Tilio praised the character of the squad while he set his sights on the Golden Boot for the 2019/20 Foxtel Y-League campaign.
“The boys fought hard in the second half to come away and score 4 more goals with a better performance so we’re really happy with the win,” he said.
“First half it was really back and forth and not a game we’d like to play. Second half we came out knowing what we’d done wrong in the first half and [Head Coach] Jimmy [van Weeren] was very happy with the way we finished the game.
“We know the quality we have in our side and if we play at our best we know we can dominate any team and Jimmy said to go out and do what you know you can do and we can finish the game.
“For the this NYL season I’m hoping I continue with this form and take out the Golden Boot,” he continued.
“Hopefully we can win this NYL competition and then push myself to make the bench and get on the field with the first team.”
Sydney FC travel next Saturday, 23 November to take on the Central Coast Mariners at Pluim Park 10:30am kick off.
