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Western Sydney captain Brendan Hamill has apologised to fans for last week's porous first half against Melbourne City that resulted in the mass walkout of their devout supporter base. Hamill admitted his side deserved to be booed by their own after slumping to a 2-0 loss against City that has now left them six points out of the top six of the A-League. It was an ugly opening 45 minutes that prompted their famed Red and Black Bloc to abandon their designated section after half-time of their defeat on New Year's Day. "We deserve that first half, the booing. We knew that. We spoke about it going into half-time, [and] we apologise," Hamill said. "It's a new year, a fresh new canvas, but we haven't started the right way. "We have to turn up and fight for them, the people of Western Sydney, the people that pay their hard-earned money to come and support us." With a third of the season now complete, Hamill has been left frustrated by the team's lack of urgency and fight in a number of their matches. Former goalkeeper Ante Covic recently accused his old club of lacking hunger in their performances this year and, when it came to last week's effort, Hamill agreed. "We didn't show any fight, grit, passion, hunger, or want," he said. "We talked about that at half-time and we came out and showed a reaction. Obviously we had chances whenever they went down to 10 and we didn't take those chances." However he was at a loss to explain their showing against City, whose opening goal was sourced by a long throw-in from deep inside their own territory. And the climb doesn't get much easier, with their next five opponents currently in the top six, beginning with Saturday's daunting match-up against Melbourne Victory. "We talk and we talk, but we need to turn those words into action," Hamill said. "Ultimately, we have to turn up and fight. We can't just turn up and expect to play all nice and pretty. We've got to dominate the battle first before we can play football. "We need to turn it around, we need to stick together and we have to do it ourselves."
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