Phoenix move on after Lia wonder goal
The Wellington Phoenix finished an emotional week on a positive note last night, beating the Central Coast Mariners 3-0 at FMG Stadium in Hamilton.
The win was just their third of this A-League season, and extremely important, coming just days after the resignation of their coach, Ernie Merrick.
If Merrick was watching, he would have had some cause to wonder if he was seeing the same team he had just left, for they were undeniably an improved outfit, albeit one that still has a long way to go, as tougher opponents than the Mariners do lie ahead.
Winger Kosta Barbarouses has had a patchy season so far but was an influential figure throughout, opening the scoring in the second minute, then being joined in the second half by the rarely-sighted Vince Lia, who struck from distance, and, in the final minute, Roy Krishna.
For interim coach Chris Greenacre, the result still owed a lot to the departed Merrick.
‘‘For us, he’s been the perfect mentor,’’ said Greenacre.
‘‘To be able to draw on 30 years of experience on a daily basis is something that you can’t get on coaching courses. Being tested on a daily basis was something we thrived on, and we probably couldn’t have done it this week without him.
‘‘We’re saddened, but in football the games come around thick and fast and we’ve got to move on, and that’s what we’ve done this week, and the lads have really responded to what we’ve been talking about. Full credit to the lads, it’s not about Des [Buckingham, Greenacre’s fellow interim coach] and I, they put in a performance tonight and it’s about them.’’
While his impact will be felt at the club for years to come, it took just 90 seconds for the Phoenix to draw a line under the Merrick era, as Barbarouses surged forward down the right before letting rip with a shot from the edge of the box, scoring for the first time since returning to Wellington in the off season.
His effort may have taken a deflection off Hamish Watson, but either way it was precisely what the Phoenix needed.
Barbarouses was the main threat for them in the first half, and in the 15th minute, perhaps feeling buoyed by his early strike, he tried an audacious attempt from the right wing, well outside the box, that floated over Ivan Necevski in the Mariners goal, but also just past the left post.
The Mariners looked comfortable in possession, holding on to 62 per cent of the ball during the game, but were unable to penetrate a well-organised Phoenix defence. Greenacre and Buckingham were coy in the leadup to the match as to whether they would make any changes from Merrick’s preferred system, but did decide to bring Watson in up front and switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with midfielder Alex Rodriguez dropping to the bench.
The Phoenix began to impose themselves more as the game dragged on, eager to ensure there would be no late slip up, and they made sure of the result when Lia shot from 25 metres out in the 66th minute, scoring what was only his fourth goal in 10 seasons at the club.
Afterwards, he joked that he wasn’t sure why everyone seemed surprised. ‘‘The ball popped out, I took a touch and I thought, hit it. If it goes in, it goes in, and if it goes over, we reset.’’
It went in, of course, and so the Phoenix were on their way to a much-needed win, rounding the game off in style in the final minute when Krishna finished neatly on the counter.