Krishna on fire as Nix win on the road
GETTY IMAGES ROY Krishna is on fire.
After scoring two goals in the Wellington Phoenix’s first win of the season last weekend, the livewire Fijian scored one goal and setup a second in his side’s __ win over the Central Coast Mariners in Canberra last night.
After a scoreless first half, it took Krishna just four minutes to break the deadlock with a bit of sheer pace.
Hamish Watson chipped the ball over the Mariners defence and Krishna was too fast for left back Michael Neill, rounding Paul Izzo in the Mariners goal and slotting home into an empty net.
It was Krishna, and the Phoenix’s, fourth goal in six games this season.
It was as much as the Phoenix deserved after being the superior side in the first half.
The goal seemed to deflate the Mariners and the Phoenix punished them in the 56th minute as Krishna turned provider.
Gui Finkler played a superb, defence-splitting ball to the Fijian deep into the box, who had the composure to square to Watson at the back post for the simplest of tap-ins.
The second goal had the opposite impact on the Mariners to the first. They had three good chances within 10 minutes of going two goals down, but Italiano was only called into action on the final effort.
Earlier, Watson had created two good chances in the opening 15 minutes, with the first resulting in a tame shot directly at Izzo, while the other was offside. In between, Central Coast’s Connor Pain and Fabio Ferreira fired shots well over Lewis Italiano’s goal.
The Phoenix forced Izzo into four saves in the first half, while Italiano went untested.
One of Izzo’s saves came from Watson again, who went on a weaving run in the 35th minute before hitting his shot straight at Izzo for the second time.
Finkler came the closest to breaking the deadlock, hitting the post with his freekick from 30 metres out three minutes before halftime.
Krishna was lively as always for the Phoenix, while Roly Bonevacia made a real impact after being dropped last weekend.