DeVere’s injury blow

Football: The Wellington Phoenix’s troubled start to the ALeague season has deepened with defender Luke DeVere set to be sidelined for at least 10 weeks with a knee injury.

The 31yearold suffered the injury in Sunday’s 20 loss to Central Coast and the Phoenix has confirmed he underwent surgery yesterday. It is expected the former Brisbane Roar centre back, who made one appearance for the Socceroos in 2015, will be out for 10 to 12 weeks.

It is a blow for the Phoenix, which has relocated to Wollongong for an undetermined period to play the 202021 season and is secondlast in the league with just one win from six matches. Wellington’s next match is against the Western Sydney Wanderers in Wollongongon Sunday.