Phoenix shunted down to league cellar
The Wellington Phoenix have slumped to the bottom of the A-league ladder, beaten 2-0 by previous cellar dwellers Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
At a ground where they have now gone 11 games without a win, the Phoenix were undone by a brace of headers from towering Victory striker Rudy Gestede, both from preventable corners.
Not for the first time this season, Wellington’s defence was shown to be brittle under set-piece pressure and simply couldn’t deal with Gestede’s aerial threat. Twice he climbed highest to meet right-wing Jake Brimmer corners and both times the ball ended up in the Phoenix net.
Against a Victory side severely weakened by injury, Wellington dominated first-half possession without creating too many clear openings; in fact, the Victory’s Kiwi goalkeeper Max Crocombe wasn’t called upon to make a save in the first 45 minutes. The closest Wellington came was a James Mcgarry chip which skimmed the top of the crossbar.
At the other end, Phoenix custodian Oliver Sail was receiving a far sterner test, producing a flying save to deny Gestede early in the game and pulling off a smart stop with his legs to keep out a low shot from the impressive Callum Mcmanaman. But he could do nothing about either of Gestede’s goals.
Under-pressure Victory coach Grant Brebner was without three of his back four and lost three more players through injury — including All Whites attacker Marco Rojas — inside the first 45 minutes.
By contrast, Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay made just one change to the side that drew 2-2 with Western Sydney on Sunday, reinstalling Cameron Devlin to central midfield in place of Clayton Lewis. As Wellington chased the game, Lewis was introduced, along with new recruit Charles Lokoli-ngoy.
The Phoenix had a glut of possession as Victory settled in to see out the game, but failed to consistently test Crocombe. As usual, Mexican attacker Ulises Davila posed the biggest threat, but couldn’t find the net himself or create openings for his team-mates to do so.
The defeat means the Phoenix have only one win and just five points from their first eight matches of the season and run the risk of being cut adrift from the finals equation if they can’t arrest their decline. Already, they’re six points back from the sixth playoff spot and 13 behind the league-leading Central Coast Mariners.
Talay has issues to address at both ends of the pitch, with set-piece defending and frontthird execution sure to be high on his list of priorities as the side prepares for Sunday’s clash with Newcastle. — NZ Herald