Coach Frank Farina is confident Lucas Neill can help shore up Sydney FC's leaky defence and lead them into the A-League finals.Neill played his first game for the Sky Blues in their lacklustre loss to Melbourne Heart last weekend and Farina said he saw good signs from the Socceroos captain."His fitness is not an issue, as we saw," Farina said on Thursday."I was not disappointed with his game last week. He will get better as each game goes on."Neill was solid in a defence that conceded three goals in a loss which bundled Sydney out of the top six.But Farina said he was hopeful Neill could provide stability to a defence that has been lacking it for much of the season."Defence has been a problem for us all year - we all know that," Farina said."Again no excuses, but we haven't had real stability in the defence all season. If we don't have that, that (the loss to Heart) can happen. We copped three last week and that is an area we have obviously been working on."With five rounds remaining, Sydney sit in seventh place on the A-League ladder, behind the Heart on goal difference.The Sky Blues face Perth away on Saturday night.