McCowatt confident Phoenix will fire

They may have fired blanks in round one but Wellington Phoenix forward Callum McCowatt believes his team is capable of scoring goals.

The Phoenix’s new-look strike-force was kept quiet in their A-League season opener against Western United, managing just the one shot on target in the 1-0 defeat.

The lack of cutting edge up front highlighted their need for a new striker, having failed to replace last season’s Golden Boot winner Roy Krishna.

But McCowatt, one of the few shining lights in the narrow defeat, doesn’t think it will take long for the Phoenix to find their finishing touch despite tackling a difficult run of a fixtures over the next four weeks.

‘‘It’s just about getting shots on target and creating more clear cut chances. It’s easier said than done but I know the team is capable because I’ve seen them in training every day,’’ McCowatt said.

‘‘It just didn’t happen on the weekend, they made it quite tough for us and sat quite deep in the second half. But there’s more to come from this group for sure.’’

Although they only managed the one shot on target, the Phoenix were left to rue two other near-misses when David Ball chipped wide and Alex Rufer headed high from a wayward McCowatt shot.

‘‘I hit that clean as anything but it’s come to him so quickly,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s tough to really do anything. He’s done well to direct it towards goal but it’s tough.’’

One of the most promising young players in New Zealand, McCowatt joined the Phoenix after scoring 21 goals in 16 games for national league champions Eastern Suburbs.

That prolific record combined with some strong pre-season form suggests the 20-yearold could be the answer at No 9, given Phoenix are not expected to sign a new player before the transfer window close.

But the Ole Football Academy product said he was simply happy to play wherever coach Ufuk Talay wanted him to, which for now is in a left-sided attacking midfield role.

‘‘If he wants to put me up there then I’ll be more than happy but I’m happy in the role at the moment as well so either or,’’ he said.

After sitting on the bench in the team’s final pre-season hit-out against Team Wellington, McCowatt was a surprise starter against Western.

But his bold call to turn down a place in the OlyWhites squad for the Olympic Games qualifiers in order to stake his claim for a starting spot clearly paid off.

‘‘It was a big decision to not go to the under-23s, it was harder than a lot of people probably saw it. I was glad that the work in the pre-season paid off, but obviously I would’ve liked three points on the weekend. All the lads wanted it as well.

‘‘The performance was OK. It was the first game of the season so we’ve got more games to work on stuff, but I thought I did OK.’’

The task does not get any easier for the Phoenix, facing champions Sydney FC at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday night.

Sydney made a winning start to the new season, edging Adelaide United 3-2 thanks to Ryan McGowan’s late winner.

The Sky Blues bolstered their attacking unit in the off-season by luring All Whites forward Kosta Barbarouses across from Melbourne Victory.

‘‘It will be a tough game but we’re looking forward to bounce back, for sure,’’ McCowatt said.