FOR weeks he has been the odd one out, victim of the quality in Sydney FC’s attacking stocks.

David Carney admits he is feeling the frustration of biding his time on the bench, keen to play a role in the record-breaking start to the season.

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Carney is likely to be among the substitutes again tonight in Perth, behind Alex Brosque, Milos Ninkovic and Filip Holosko in the pecking order as the Sky Blues aim to maintain their lead at the top of the table.

The 33-year-old has played a key role several times this season, and knows there is the prospect of doing so again as Sydney mount a challenge for their first title since 2010.

David Carney says it’s been tough not getting regular starts for the ladder leaders. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

“It’s hard at times — if you’re playing well you want to keep playing, and get momentum,” Carney said. “To win the title it’s important you have quality all over the park and in reserve, which we do. The backline has cover, in midfield there’s players who can come in, and obviously plenty of strikers.

“But we’re all in it together. It’s hard at times if you do get dropped, but you just have to make sure that when you do play that you cement your spot and try to keep playing. It’s part of being in such a good-quality squad that you always have to be on your toes to play well.

“This is an important game for us. We’ve been playing well and just need to get back to winning ways. We’ll see what happens when we’re over there but everyone’s full of confidence. It’ll be good to get some minutes and do what I can for the team.”

Carney missed last weekend’s draw with Melbourne City, rested to alleviate a slight calf strain, but the winger is fully fit to face a Perth side he said would be “intimidated” by their visitors.

Winger Carney has been able to contribute when called on by Sydney FC. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

“It’s going to be a hard game — Perth didn’t play the best against Newcastle last weekend and I’m sure they’ve had a good look at themselves, reviewed the match to see where they went wrong,” he said.

“They’ll try to bounce back but the way we’re playing we’ve been fantastic all year. We’re full of confidence, and we will go there and get the win.

“Every other team wants to play us and raise their game against us. The way we’ve been playing, hopefully we intimidate teams.

“I think that’s what’ll happen when we play Perth — they’ll be intimidated because we’re six points clear and undefeated, and I’ll be interested to see how they set up.

“They’ve not had the best results lately and we’ve beaten them in the last couple of games against them. It’ll be a tough one, no doubt, but with the quality we’ve got we should get the win.”