Hedge hits out at ‘embarrassing’ loss
The senior players in the Wellington Phoenix reserve team should be embarrassed by their capitulation against Hawke’s Bay United yesterday.
That was the assessment of their coach, Andy Hedge, who watched a side featuring professionals Adam Parkhouse, Lewis Italiano, James McGarry and Logan Rogerson get thumped 7-2 at David Farrington Park.
The first word out of his mouth following the match was ‘‘wow’’ as he struggled to comprehend the lack of effort shown for most of the 90 minutes.
‘‘I’m hoping some of the older boys are a bit embarrassed by that because the attitude and application wasn’t anywhere near good enough and not what we’re expecting, certainly from the professionals.
‘‘I think some of them have got to go home tonight, look at themselves in the mirror and have a think about what they actually want to do, because if they perform like that week-in weekout well they won’t be professional athletes for very long.’’
The performance was even more bewildering given the first team lost 5-1 to Melbourne City on Saturday, meaning it was a prime chance for the young players to present their cases for selection to Phoenix co-coaches Des Buckingham and Chris Greenacre, who watched on from the sideline.
‘‘I said to them before the game that they’ve got a fantastic opportunity now to stake a claim for a place. Sarpreet did really well last night [in his firstteam debut] and I think he played OK today, but some of the others it’s there for them to step up and I don’t think they have in my opinion.
‘‘Obviously the whole club is in a bit of a downward spiral at the moment, but I suppose it’s experience. Even though they are professionals, they are still young. They’ve not experienced patches like this where they really do have to grind things out and just get back to the basics and none of our boys were prepared to do that today.’’
The Phoenix dominated the opening exchanges and took the lead after nine minutes when James McGarry’s freekick clipped the wall and sailed into the top corner.
But that kicked Hawke’s Bay into life. Their first goal was a goalkeeping error from Italiano as he mishandled a cross into his own net, before Facundo Barbero snared a first-half brace as his side shot out to a 4-1 halftime lead.
The second half was nothing more than a stroll as Hawke’s Bay played down to the level of the Phoenix, although Sam Mason-Smith still managed to grab a brace of his own.
Meanwhile, Team Wellington beat Southern United in Invercargill to remain at the top of the table. Goals to Tom Jackson, Ben Harris and Joel Stevens had them up 3-1 up at halftime, a score that was maintained until the final whistle.