Isolation gifts Ash Sykes more time to strengthen her injured hip flexor

The side reflected on their 6-0 Sydney FC loss for their three-hour bus ride home on Saturday, which Sykes said was a "pretty depressed ride", before news came on Monday COVID was detected in the team.

Although United's camp has not confirmed who tested positive, staff and the 16 players who travelled to Jubilee Stadium are all isolating as close contacts until next Tuesday.

Sykes was not involved in last year's disrupted COVID season but said everyone was rolling with the punches of the changing circumstances as they happened.

And there were some silver linings to the the seven-day isolation for United, including more rest for her month-long hip flexor injury and the ability to maintain fitness thanks to the side's strength and conditioning team.

"I've been working on strengthening that. A few days off football stuff and time to strengthen it, probably ends up being good for me. So I've got a week now to kick the ball less than anything that aggravates it, and I'll hopefully come back stronger after a little layoff," she said.

"I think everyone's sort of gotten used to it.

"When I was playing previously, I probably would have been thrown a fair bit by the prospect of sitting at home for a week and not having much to do. Now I've got ... a squat rack and all sorts of plates out there after being locked down over the last few years. So I'm pretty prepared for it now but it's still a bit frustrating."

MORE IN CANBERRA SPORT:

United had three players from their starting lineup missing against the Sky Blues, after losing loan-player Karly Roestbakken to the pre-Asian Cup camp, and Grace Maher and Emma Ilijoski to COVID protocols.

Ilijoski and Maher will return to the side for their post-isolation fixture against the Newcastle Jets.

Thirty-year-old Sykes, however, said the fact they had players missing was no excuse for the result against Sydney.

"It's always hard to cut those losses, especially when you had expectations certainly higher than that going into the game. So disappointed is probably the best way to describe it," she said.

"For me, I probably would have liked to have seen a bit more determination from everyone. You're not going to go into a game fully fit sometimes or in the best position as a squad. And sometimes you need to grit your teeth, and get stuck in and try and grind out some form of result.

"To be honest, the second half was probably the most disappointing part. We tried to stick in it the first half and we had our chances to take the game to them and try and push them a little bit, which we didn't take. So there's a lot to unpack in a 6-0 loss but I think if you can learn to try and grind out a result in tough games against tough opposition, you probably lose games by less or try and get a result out of the game that looks like a lost cause."

The isolation has postponed the side's home fixture against Melbourne Victory this weekend, as they look to their round nine fixture on January 30.

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: