No need to be embarrassed: Rudan
WELLINGTON: Optimism around the Wellington Phoenix should not wane despite a perplexing FFA Cup loss to an Australian National Premier League opponent, believes Mark Rudan.
In its first significant match under new coach Rudan, the Kiwi ALeague club went down 10 to 10man Bentleigh Greens in Melbourne.
Rudan started with close to a fullstrength team, including the three recent visa signings who have created plenty of positive chatter among longsuffering Phoenix fans.
Polish holding midfielder Michal Kopczynski, English defender Steven Taylor and Polish goalkeeper Filip Kurto were all solid, although they could not stop Marko Jankovic’s headed firsthalf goal.
Of more concern was the lack of attacking thrust, notably for the last 60 minutes when the host was undermanned following James Kelly’s second yellow card.
New signing Mitch Nichols was part of a fluid front four also comprising Nathan Burns, Roy Krishna and Sarpreet Singh. They were without newly signed former Socceroos striker David Williams.
Rudan has talked up the prospects of the Phoenix but he was not surprised at its rust after an intensive 10day camp on the Gold Coast where defensive structure was the priority.
‘‘The boys are extremely tired. It was a really hard 10 days and I wanted to test them under fatigue,’’ he said.
‘‘We looked heavy in the first half, which didn’t surprise me, but it wasn’t as disappointing as you may think it was.’’
Rudan’s biggest concern was now finding quality preseason opposition, which was thin on the ground in New Zealand.
He expects vast strides to be made before their seasonopener against Newcastle on October 21.
‘‘We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of players left to fill our roster,’’ he said.
‘‘So certainly to call it an embarrassment is disrespectful to Bentleigh Greens. They’re a good outfit.’’ — AAP