Phoenix’s quiet achiever
There was little fanfare when Luke DeVere joined Wellington Phoenix following an injury plagued season with Brisbane Roar.
But the 30-year-old centreback, brought in to replace longserving captain Andrew Durante, has been one of the unsung heroes in a team currently riding a five-game unbeaten streak.
DeVere has played every minute of the 2019-20 campaign, forming a strong partnership with new skipper Steven Taylor.
With 810 minutes under his belt, the injury-free DeVere has already seen more action this season than he did in each of his previous two.
‘‘I’ve been happy enough, for me it’s just been about building into the season and being nice and steady at the back there and trying to help those around me, and I think I’ve been doing that OK,’’ DeVere said.
The former Roar defender was particularly impressive in last weekend’s 0-0 draw with 10-man Melbourne Victory, coming up with a key defensive play to force Robbie Kruse wide in the early stages before going close to scoring himself.
‘‘I’ll admit as it came off my head I thought it was goal bound,’’ he said, looking back on his second-half header which struck the underside of the crossbar and dropped on the goal line.
‘‘It was a good cross from Reno [Piscopo] and the ball sat there nicely and I just had to attack it.
‘‘A few centimetres either way and it might have deflected off the crossbar and gone in. It’s a bit unfortunate I guess, it would have been nice to score but it was probably more the two points lost that was the most disappointing thing.’’
But while the Phoenix were disappointed to come away with just one point, a lack of cutting edge in the final third proving costly in an otherwise dominant display, DeVere took some solace in the fact they kept Victory scoreless, recording the team’s first clean sheet since round 16 of the previous campaign.
DeVere said they owed that to goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic, who has been excellent between the sticks.
‘‘Stefan has been huge for us. He was great on the weekend when he was called upon and he’s been fantastic in the weeks prior. He’s made Save of the Week more weeks than not, which says it in itself.
‘‘I think he was happy to get his first clean sheet, he’s probably deserved a few more than that so we were happy to help him out with that one and he’s happy to bail us out when we need him. It’s been good, he’s a big guy, he’s vocal and he’s helping us out in front of him.’’
The Phoenix’s defensive unit will have to be on their game again this weekend, playing host to league leaders Sydney FC, who have been boosted by the resigning of star midfielder Milos Ninkovic to a two-year deal.
The Sky Blues have scored a competition-high 22 goals, with striker Adam Le Fondre netting 10 of those, but DeVere said he was excited to test himself against the A-League’s most potent attack for the second time this season.
The Phoenix went down 2-1 when the two teams met in round two, denied a draw by a freakish Rhyan Grant goal.
‘‘It was a great performance that game, we were probably a little bit unlucky to lose it the way we did, but we will take a lot of confidence from that game previously.
‘‘But they’ve been a fantastic team this season as they have been in the last few season so it’ll be no easy challenge, but I think everyone is up for it.’’