Phoenix improve, now for a win

The Wellington Phoenix are a lot better than their record suggests.

That was Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold’s assessment after his team snatched a 1-0 win with an injury time goal from Milos Ninkovic on Sunday night in Wellington.

It was the Phoenix’s third loss from as many games to start the season.

Stretching back to last season, they have lost seven games in a row and gone 368 minutes without scoring.

But Arnold was right when he said the Phoenix would not be on the bottom of the Hyundai A-League ladder for long.

He had just watched his leagueleading team get dominated, at least for the first 45 minutes of the match, with the Phoenix looking slick in attack and solid in defence.

Two questionable offside calls cost

"The players can’t believe they are bottom of the league and not very happy at all, and neither am I." Ernie Merrick

the Phoenix goals, but refereeing mistakes happen, especially in this league, and generally balance out as the season progresses.

Overall, the signs for coach Ernie Merrick were encouraging.

‘‘It shows we can play good football and look at that team there [Sydney], they’ve taken four off the Wanderers and Mariners and took one off us in the 92nd minute,’’ Merrick said.

‘‘We’ve conceded four goals in three games, which shows our defence is doing well, I just think we need to nail that finish and once we do it once I think we will come good.

‘‘I feel as though the performance was crucial, a win is very important as well, but the performance was crucial and the boys proved they can play really good football.’’

Merrick said the players were hurting in the changing rooms after the game.

‘‘The players can’t believe they are bottom of the league and not very happy at all, and neither am I.

‘‘Our fans deserve a lot more, but we don’t need to apologise to our fans because they would have seen how hard we worked to get a result.’’

Skipper Andrew Durante backed that up on Twitter yesterday, saying it was ‘‘tough going at the moment’, but asked the fans to stick with them.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Wellington Phoenix striker Kosta Barbarouses reacts after incorrectly being called offside during his side’s loss to Sydney FC on Sunday.