Krishna pays tribute after goal on ‘difficult day’

Roy Krishna pointed his hands to the sky before dropping to his knees in prayer, in a tribute to the victims of Christchurch’s terrorist attack.

The star Wellington Phoenix striker, who revealed on social media the pain of playing football yesterday, just two days after 50 innocent people lost their lives in the devastating mass shooting, took just 12 minutes to open the scoring in a 3-1 win over the Western Sydney Wanderers in Wellington yesterday.

The new A-League Golden Boot leader, with 15 goals to his name, picked off an errant pass from Tate Russell and fired home on a tight angle to give the Phoenix the perfect start to the match – the first at Westpac Stadium for 50 days.

He then walked past the dead ball line and dropped to his knees. The Fijian international, whose wife Naziah Ali is Muslim, paid a classy tribute to the victims of the worst terrorist attack New Zealand has seen, after a gunman opened fire on two Christchurch mosques.

‘‘Probably one of the most difficult days for us to take on the field while we know that our fellow countrymen (including those like me who came from my homeland Fiji to NZ) are dealing with the horrific events of the Christchurch attack. Our hearts are with you. We are one,’’ Krishna tweeted.

The Phoenix doubled their lead when Mandi fired a superb freekick into the top right-hand corner only 11 minutes later.

Hoping their team would go one better than last week’s record 8-2 demolition against the Central Coast Mariners, Phoenix supporters started chanting ‘‘we want nine!’’ once David Williams then curled home the team’s third in the 33rd minute.

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