Payne right at home in new position
Louis Fenton has a battle on his hands to resume the right-back role at Wellington Phoenix.
Fenton has missed the past two A-League games due to a dislocated shoulder but his return appears imminent, finally given the green light to start contact training after being on a restricted programme for the past fortnight.
However, his return to the starting XI for Sunday’s clash against the red-hot Adelaide United is no guarantee given the form of his replacement Tim Payne, who has made a seamless transition at right-back and put in another solid shift in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Brisbane Roar.
‘‘There’s competition in every position on the field and I thought Tim was sensational today,’’ Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said after the match.
‘‘Defensively he was very solid and very good going forward. Coming back off a 30-hour trip as well, I thought he played very good football.’’
Fenton’s injury also opened the door for Payne to earn a late call-up to the All Whites squad for their international friendlies against Ireland and Lithuania, where he was one of only a few players to feature in both matches, coming off the bench against Ireland and playing the full 90 minutes against Lithuania.
While he hoped his team-mate would be back as soon as possible, Payne, 25, said he would be doing everything he could to make the right-back position his own throughout the remainder of the A-League season in order to give himself the best chance of retaining his place in the All Whites.
‘‘Actually playing games is the number one thing so I’m just enjoying being in the team and obviously a draw and a win is good progress so we’re looking forward to this week and hopefully we can get another win on the road,’’ Payne said.
‘‘I just want to be in that starting 11 and it’s very unfortunate for Louis because he’s obviously a great player and he’s had a few injuries, so hopefully he can get back playing as soon as possible. But when he does get back I’m looking forward to the challenge.’’
Although he has spent most of his career in more central roles, starting out as a striker at Blackburn Rovers before moving to central midfield and then centre-back, Payne said he felt his attributes were suited to rightback, where he has more freedom to push forward.
‘‘I think the defensive principles stay pretty much the same apart from the fact you’re one v one at times, but it also gives you the licence to get forward in attack, support and join in and help the team score some goals,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve always enjoyed when the game is more in front of me but that’s not to say I can’t do a job at six, as a holding midfielder, or at centre-back, but I’m just enjoying the time playing football and enjoying playing right-back.’’
While the Phoenix were delighted to register their first win of the A-League season, getting a positive result against Adelaide will be a much harder proposition given they have not won at Coopers Stadium since Tyler Boyd scored a brace to secure a 3-1 victory in December 2014.
However, Payne said the players were not fazed by their poor record away to Adelaide, who head into Sunday’s game on the back of a four-game winning run.
‘‘It’s one of those statistics where you don’t really worry about it too much, it’s a new team, a new group of players,’’ he said. ‘‘Obviously travel, going away from home anywhere is tough because we’re going to another country, so you factor in that, but it’s just another statistic and hopefully we can change that this weekend.
‘‘Adelaide as a whole have been really impressive so far this season, we’re definitely up against it but we’re going over there to get three points.’’