Phoenix coach labels performance as ‘timid’

Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay labelled his team’s performance against Melbourne Victory as ‘‘timid’’ after they coughed up an early lead to lose 3-1 to the worst team in the A-League Men.

The fourth-place Phoenix went into Friday’s fixture at AAMI Park riding a four-game unbeaten run and could have jumped as high as second if the result had followed the form sheet.

But Talay suggested his team might be starting to feel the weight of expectation after being ‘‘second best’’ in most aspects against the struggling Victory.

That was despite the Phoenix taking an early lead through in-form striker Oskar Zawada in the 13th minute.

The former Poland age-group international outmuscled Cadete and directed a glorious header over goalkeeper Matt Acton to score in his fifth successive game, tying the club record.

But Victory replied with three unanswered goals to hand the Phoenix their fourth defeat of the season. The Phoenix should still finish the weekend inside the top six, but they have a challenging month ahead.

Friday’s fixture was the first of four consecutive games outside New Zealand. ‘‘It was a weird one. It was quite quiet before the game,’’ Talay said afterwards.

‘‘I don’t know if the boys were a little bit timid tonight or the expectation of where we’re sitting on the table and what’s expected of the group [had got to them]. In the second half we were second best in most moments.

‘‘We started off the game quite well. We were controlling the game with the ball. We scored a fantastic goal and got ourselves up. There was just one moment in transition when we allowed them to come back into the game, and after that I thought we were second best most times. When ... there were challenges, I thought we were second best.’’

Bruno Fornaroli levelled the score in the 32nd minute with a rebounded effort after Victory broke down the right and Jake Brimmer delivered an early ball into the box, leading to a chance for Josh Brilliante which Oli Sail did well to parry. Brimmer then put Victory in front with a spectacular free-kick in the 54th minute when he won a foul and curled the ball into the top right corner.

Victory wrapped up the three points when they were gifted a goal following a horror mix-up in stoppage time.

Sail and centreback Finn Surman got in each other’s way when attempting to deal with an awkward ball, allowing substitute Tomi Juric to run through and score a third.

Talay said the third goal was a suckerpunch. ‘‘We were 2-1 down … even though we weren’t as good in the second half we still could have got ourselves back into the game and maybe got a point out of the game, but obviously the error for the third goal killed us.’’

The Phoenix are back across the ditch next weekend, taking on Macarthur in Campbelltown. They will have Tim Payne back from suspension and could be boosted by the arrival of a new signing, with Talay keen to bring in a defender before the transfer window closes on Wednesday.

‘‘I don’t know if the boys were a little bit timid tonight...’’

Ufuk Talay