Durante happy to compete for spot
The Wellington Phoenix coaches have a selection conundrum to deal with this week.
Do they reward the lesser lights of the squad who performed with aplomb in the 5-0 win against a poor Newcastle Jets side on Sunday? Or do the six players coming back from international who would normally start get their places back automatically?
You would imagine it will be a bit of both from co-coaches Chris Greenacre and Des Buckingham.
Captain Andrew Durante and goalkeeper Glen Moss should get their spots back, but the likes of striker Hamish Watson and attacking midfielder Roly Bonevacia showed enough to retain a starting position.
‘‘It’s another good thing for Chris and I to look at,’’ Buckingham said.
‘‘We’ve had some freshness come into the group this week, some players have stepped up where possibly they wouldn’t have done in a larger group with more senior players kicking around, and they’ve done themselves no harm at all to put themselves in contention for the squad and starting positions next week.’’
Durante was watching on from the stands on Sunday with a few of his Phoenix team-mates also in the All Whites squad. On Monday, he half-joked they might be left at home for the away trip to Melbourne Victory next Sunday.
‘‘I don’t know if we’ll be in the squad next week us international boys.
‘‘I was really proud of all of them, the boys who had to step in did their jobs really well.’’
While the win was pleasing, there was a frustration that it had taken so long to come.
‘‘Yeah it is [frustrating],’’ Durante said.
‘‘We felt like a performance like that was coming, I didn’t expect it to come when so many people were missing, but it’s what we’re capable of.
‘‘We’ve played some really good football, it was entertaining for the fans, it was defensively solid, they worked really hard at training, Des and Greeny, on the team so when we do come out of All Whites camp we’ve got a big game against Victory so hopefully we can back it up and keep our finals hopes alive.’’
After Western Sydney Wanderers won on the weekend, the Phoenix remain five points off the top six with three games to play.
Unfortunately for them, those matches won’t be against hapless opposition like the Jets were on Sunday. Second-placed Victory are followed by Sydney FC at home, who wrapped up the Premiers’ Plate over the weekend, and fourth-placed Brisbane Roar away.
The Wanderers’ run in is much easier as they play the Jets in Newcastle this weekend, before hosting the Victory and travelling to the second-last Adelaide United for their final match of the season.
Five or more points from those game would see them make the playoffs even if the Phoenix managed to win their last three games.