Promising effort falls short for home side

The Wellington Phoenix have dropped their first game of the new A League season, going down 1-0 to expansion team Western United.

It meant that Mark Rudan enjoyed a triumphant return to the capital, after his controversial departure from the Phoenix in April, with a year remaining on his contract.

The result was no surprise, given the respective rosters on display, with Rudan parading a team full of seasoned experience, along with some genuine marquee talent.

The new-look Wellington showed some promising signs, especially Callum McCowatt and a few of their other youngsters, but the learning curve will be steep, given they face Sydney FC and Perth Glory over the next two weeks.

The decisive goal was disappointing, as Besart Berisha found space amongst a crowd of defenders in the penalty area, but the Melbourne side were good value for their win.

They were more dynamic on attack, and coped with almost everything the Phoenix threw at them.

This was the start of yet another Phoenix era, as Ufuk Talay took charge of his first match.

Talay is the club’s fifth head coach since February 2013.

In front of an impressive crowd, Wellington showed plenty of endeavour, without the finished product. That was no surprise, given the huge turnover of players in the off season, and the departure of Roy Krishna and David Williams, who between them provided 30 goals and most of the attacking threat in the last campaign.

In the first half The Phoenix tried to keep the ball, and often recycled possession, but probably overdid it.

In contrast the Melbourne side were more incisive, as would be expected with the likes of Italian Alessandro Diamante and Croatian Dario Jertec. Diamante in particular showed why he played for Italy 17 times at senior international level.

From the start the visitors had looked more assured in possession without creating too many clear cut chances, but converted in the 34th minute. Connor Pain had been elusive down the left flank, and his cross found Josh Risdan, who volleyed cleverly back across the six yard area for Berisha to finish.

The Phoenix changed their approach in the second half. They were more direct, and McCowatt in particular found space out wide. Alex Rufer had the best chance, but headed over from five yards, after McCowatt fizzed a half volleyed cross into the area.