Defensive shakeup looms for Phoenix

Tim Payne felt he was fouled by Mitchell Duke before the Western Sydney Wanderers forward scored the winner in their sevengoal thriller at the start of this week.

But the Wellington Phoenix defender also feels he had to do better in that situation, as he explained in a reflective Zoom call ahead of their next A-League match, against the Brisbane Roar in Newcastle tomorrow night.

``If I look at the goal Duke scored when up against me, I believe it’s a foul, but when I look back at it and I dissect it, as I do every single game, I think if I stay on my feet there and try and win the ball off the ground, then worst-case scenario he brings it down, and I can defend it from there; second-worst-case scenario, he heads it; best-case scenario, I win the ball.

``Little things like that, making better decisions at the right time, are going to aid us, but we were also probably playing some of the best football we have played under Uffie so we’ve got to take some confidence from that.’’

Payne started the season at right back for the Phoenix but has spent the past the last five matches at centre back, following injuries to Luke DeVere, who is out until near the end of the season, and Joshua Laws, who was only absent briefly, but is now a fixture on the bench, and has flourished in a role he played previously at Eastern Suburbs in the national league.

But with veteran centre back Steven Taylor set to be available now his two-week stay in hotel quarantine is over and expected to come into the starting lineup as soon as possible, coach Ufuk

Talay has a decision to make as to who out of Payne and Liam McGing will partner him.

Payne probably has the edge as things stand – his greater experience and his confidence on the ball in possession could be the decisive factors – though it could cease to be a question at all, depending on how his replacement at right back Louis Fenton, a late withdrawal from Monday’s loss to the Wanderers with a hip flexor issue, fares in the coming weeks.

Payne’s versatility is a feather in his cap both with the Phoenix and for All Whites coach Danny Hay, who included him in his first – and to date, only – squad in 2019 as a right back alongside Melbourne Victory defender Storm Roux, with Fenton injured.

Based on performances since then, Payne has arguably been the country’s standout performer in that position.