Final execution costs Phoenix
The introduction of marquee striker Gary Hooper cannot come soon enough.
Wellington Phoenix created enough chances to beat A-League champions Sydney FC but came away with nothing from a hugely encouraging performance at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday night.
The Sky Blues claimed a 2-1 win after scoring twice from set-piece but really it was only a moment of brilliance from returning Socceroos defender Rhyan Grant that separated the two sides.
Grant, who missed Sydney’s season opener as he was on international duty, popped up with the match-winner with 13 minutes to go by flicking a Brandon O’Neill free-kick above Stefan Marinovic’s reach.
The ball clipped the underside of the crossbar on its way in.
‘‘I’m not happy about conceding goals in set-pieces but sometimes it happens, it’s part of the game,’’ Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said.
‘‘It’s a dead ball situation, players lose focus sometimes but a dead ball situation is when you need to be most focused.
‘‘For me it’s disappointing to concede that way and lose that way but it’s something we will work on.’’
But with 23 shots apiece, the Phoenix will rue their many near-misses, even if they did finish the match with 10 players following Liberato Cacace’s late brain explosion.
Cacace was sent off for an ugly lunge on Anthony Caceres in the 79th minute.
Last night he was handed a two-match suspension by the A-League’s match review panel.
The independent panel found the Phoenix youngster’s challenge to be of ‘‘serious foul play‘‘, doubling the mandatory one-match straight red card ban.
‘‘Young players, they make mistakes but we all learn from our mistakes and move on,’’ Talay said of the dismissal.
However, the Phoenix responded extremely well in Talay’s return to Sydney, where he was an assistant last season, and looked the better side for most parts.
After a lacklustre season opener against Western United last week, the unchanged Phoenix played with plenty of vigour and came close to scoring on multiple occasions.
They had eight shots on target to Sydney’s seven but were let down by poor finishing and some impressive goalkeeping.