Phoenix to unleash Hooper
Wellington Phoenix will be boosted by the return of Gary Hooper for Sunday’s match against the in-form Adelaide United, increasing their chances of a rare win at Coopers Stadium.
Hooper sat on the bench during last weekend’s win over Brisbane Roar, their first of the A-League season, as coach Ufuk Talay elected not to risk his star signing, who has been hampered by injury.
However, fresh off a full week of training, Hooper looks set to add to the 60 minutes action he has seen since joining the Phoenix two games into the 2019-20 campaign.
Talay revealed the plan was to unleash the former Celtic striker against Adelaide and build him up from there.
‘‘But we’ll see, we’ll have to manage it and what is happening on the field at that time,’’ Talay said.
Hooper showed glimpses of his quality by scoring in his first start against Melbourne City earlier this month but his progress was set back by a minor quad strain, which kept him out of the two most recent matches and restricted his involvement in training.
Given the Phoenix’s struggles in Adelaide over the years, winning just three of their 20 encounters at Coopers Stadium, the last of which occurred in December 2014, captain Steven Taylor said the return of Hooper is a timely boost.
‘‘What he will bring to the team is something different, especially the A-League as well,’’ Taylor said.
‘‘Defences will have to be very mindful, they’ll probably need two players to deal with him because he’s got his hold up play, running the channels, his work rate, he just doesn’t stop running — he’s an absolute machine so I can’t wait to see him get a run of games together and I’m sure the goals will come.’’ Although there is an extra flight involved, Taylor said he was at a loss to explain the Phoenix’s poor record away to Adelaide, who come into Sunday’s game on the back of four consecutive wins.
‘‘I haven’t got a clue about that. We tried different things last year but they’re very good. Performance-wise this season they’ve been very good and they’re causing a lot of problems.’’
Central to Adelaide’s success this season has been midfielder Riley McGree. One of the breakout stars of the 2019-20 campaign, McGree, 21, has already found the back of the net six times.
‘‘They’ve got threats all over the park but he’s a very good football player.’’
Although he has returned to contact training after dislocating a shoulder, Louis Fenton will not travel to Adelaide, Talay erring on the side of caution given the player’s injury history.
In his absence, Tim Payne will once again start at right-back in what is expected to be an unchanged 11, with Hooper’s involvement likely to come from the bench.