Australian A-League

Sydney FC stronger mentally: Farina

Sydney FC's Houdini act against Melbourne Heart has Sky Blues coach Frank Farina feeling his players have learnt to toughen up when the chips are down.

On the brink of yet another defeat, Sydney scored two goals in the final 10 minutes to escape with a dramatic 2-1 A-League win over Heart at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

Socceroos tyro Richard Garcia put the visitors in front midway through the first half with veteran Brett Emerton levelling the scores in the 85th minute and Rhyan Grant netting the winner in the 93rd.

The Sky Blues were outplayed for most of the match but managed to come from behind to snatch the three points and climb off the bottom of the ladder - where they have sat for eight of the competition's 15 weeks.

Sydney are now in ninth place but equal on points with eight-placed Brisbane while the Heart remain in seventh.

But far from getting carried away with the victory, his third since taking the reins in round nine, Farina says "it will count for nothing" if they can't back it up with another when they host the Phoenix next week.

"I said that these next two home games we have to take maximum points," he said.

"The first part of the jigsaw is in so if we can beat Wellington next week then we can maybe talk about a possible push (for the finals)."

Sydney beat the table-topping Central Coast in their last home clash and came back from being behind twice to steal a point in their 2-2 draw against Perth last week.

And while he admits they played "ugly" football on Sunday, Farina feels his messages might just be getting through to his charges.

"I've tried to drum into these players 'you've got to play for 90 minutes and if you do that you'll always have a chance'," he said.

"It's a slow process but I think they're starting to see that against Perth, against the Central Coast and again here now if they're prepared to really work hard and keep going even when you're down the rewards can come.

"If they buy into that mentality, you've got a formidable side on your hands.

"We ground out a result again and it was purely down to the players not dropping their heads and giving up."

Farina dismissed any suggestions there may tension between his players after Ali Abbas exchanged some heated words with Alessandro Del Piero after he was substituted for Blake Powell in the 39th minute.

The usually placid Iraqi International appeared furious over the decision but Farina dismissed it had anything to do with Del Piero.

And while refusing to divulge what was said between the players, Farina insisted "it's all sorted; it's not an issue".

"It was my call to (substitute Abbas)," he said.

"It's good to see that the players can fire up over that.

"I'd rather that any day of the week than people who just accept everything that happens."