Sydney FC prospect Ivanovic keen to repay Corica's faith

Eighteen months ago, Luke Ivanovic was impressing as a 16-year-old for NPL side Bonnyrigg White Eagles - little did he know that through 2018-19 he would be making his A-League debut for Sydney FC, scoring a senior goal and playing in the Asian Champions League.

The now 18-year-old made his bow as a Sky Blues player in a substitute appearance against Central Coast in December and got his first A-League goal in his maiden senior start versus Melbourne City last month.

But despite his rapid ascension to an important squad member with 11 senior appearances since his debut, Ivanovic is remaining grounded, simply wanting to repay the faith shown by coach Steve Corica.

"Steve has been fantastic with me the whole time and has really helped me a lot while I've been with the senior team," Ivanovic told Goal.

"What he has done for me in the last couple of months has been unbelievable and so good for my game.

"He has shown faith in me and I cannot thank him enough."

Corica's guidance has helped Ivanovic make the jump from National Youth League to A-League - with the winger noticing the differences between the two standards.

But with the benefit of star senior players helping him at training, Ivanovic feels he is making steady progress as a footballer and is solely focused on getting more game time this season.

"The difference between NYL and A-League is that you need to make quicker decisions," he said.

"You need to think quicker and be a step ahead. But I've had good progress so far.

"I've been learning off players who play in attack such as (Milos) Ninkovic, (Alex) Brosque, Alfie (Adam Le Fondre).

"If I do make a mistake in training, they'll always help me on what to do next - which is fantastic.

"My goal is set until the end of the season - I just want to get as much game time as I can and see where things can go from there."