Ernie! What's Up Mariner?
The Wellington Phoenix once outlined a plan to bring in the crowds and to play the beautiful game in a beautiful manner. A lot has changed, but the ol' Nix still make watching them slightly difficult. Playing against the Central Coast Mariners, alongside the ocean surrounded with palm trees, the Nix put in another typically dogged performance but managed to get the W, 2-1.
The mere fact that they won, was awesome in itself. An away game against a Mariners side who are very reasonable, to get your first win of the season is that much better.
It was a weird game of footy. The Nix looked average again early on with the Mariners putting heaps of pressure on the midfield and forcing our lads to make decisions under the pump. They didn't respond too well with the usual - poor first touches, poor passes and poor all round execution. The commentator lad pointed out that the Mariners appeared to ease their foot of the gas, the pressure vanished, their energy and enthusiasm going as what can only be described as fatigue set in.
They were able to string together those extra few passes and flow forwards, sometimes. The key men are clearly Michael McGlinchey and Nathan Burns, they just look a class above. When the ball gets to them, they either make a quick decision and go forward or they can keep the ball and look to recycle the movement.
Jeremey Brockie should buy them a beer or two each week. He's gonna enjoy reaping the rewards that those two offer, He earned the penalty for the first goal, it didn't look like a lethal challenge in the box, but Brockie went down like a smart footballer ... and then tried to go top left with the penalty. Hindsight is 20/20, but you can't say you were 100% confident in Brockie were ya? Anyway, he played his part and the ball came back on to McGlinchey's noggin.
The Nix looked pretty bloody solid on defence. Compact, busting out the long barrier a few times and generally putting in the effort. They gave up the ghost at around 80 minutes with a 2-1 lead, making everyone nervous but they just defended for the rest of the game and won. Yey.
I like this midfield. Mr Alex Rodriguez just puts in work, he works his shift with no thought of letting up. He alongside Albert Riera and Roly poly Bonevacia, always seemed to be moving together and on a similar page. This will only improve and if they can play consistent footy together it should be a huge benefit. I'm loving the work of Rodriquez though, he along with Riera seem to spit in the face of softness giving us a hardworking but classy edge in the midfield.
Shout out to Tommy Doyle. Top effort on the own goal mate, precision but the wrong decision. It's all good though, a few points in the bag and we keep moving forwards.
Who are ya!?
Kia ora, my name is Andrew Durante. Hi Andrew, good effort on the weekend. You had us a bit sketchy in the last 10 minutes deciding to hang back and let the Mariners play footy, but that's simply a credit to you. As our main man in defence along with Ben Sigmund, you organised the troops to near perfection and kept the lads compact and on point.
Everything before that point was nice, but that last defensive shift won the game for the Phoenix. Mr Durante my friend, you're still the man. Siggy, I don't mean to ignore you, you did good as well.
Who's nek? The Newcastle Jets in Wellington. It's all fine and dandy to put in a good effort away from home, but it would go down like beautifully (like an ice cold Double Brown) if they could string a few passes together and attack seamlessly and pose a constant threat in front of the home fans. Chur.