They Don’t All Have To Be Pretty, Make That Eight Games Unbeaten for the Welly Nix
At the start of the season the Phoenix were playing decent football. Enough to suggest they had at the potential to do what they’ve been doing these last two months, but it was scattered and inconsistent as a new coach sought to bring together a mostly new squad and the consequence of that was four straight defeats by a single goal margin. Nothing to show for it, last on the ladder. The flashes were there... but the worry was that if the Nix needed to play to their absolute potential just to avoid defeat then this was not going to be a very glamorous season.
So it’s definitely a positive that they were able to grind out a scrappy 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners in Wellington, their first game of the new decade. The last time these two teams played the Phoenix put eight past these jokers (goals for Roy Krishna x2 (gone), David Williams (gone), Sarpreet Singh x2 (gone), Louis Fenton (out for the season) and Libby Cacace) in what was the final match before Alan Stajcic took over as boss at CCM - initially as caretaker, eventually on a three year gig. And to be fair these Mariners are a much tougher prospect these days than the easy-beats that Mark Rudan’s Phoenix ran into that day.
Even without top scorer Milan Duric and coming off a four-day turnaround from their 3-0 loss to Perth Glory on New Year’s Eve they showed what they’re capable of here. The Nix were sizzling in that first half but could easily have been trailing at the break as a two goal lead was halved by an OG in stoppage time after CCM had already struck the woodwork twice through Giancarlo Gallifuoco and a near-wonder strike from Tommy Oar. Uffie Talay then made a bit of a boo-boo in the second half with his subs – admittedly he had fitness and injury-related dramas to deal with – and the Nix in the second forty-five were a shadow of the team they’d been previously. But they saw it out, they found a way, and the three points they gained here puts them into fourth place with eight games undefeated... one draw/win shy of equalling the club record of nine unbeaten set by Mark Rudan’s team last season. Another chance for Uffie to slap his old mate down after giving him what-for in person a week ago with that delightful 3-1 win against Western United.
Tell ya what, it’s about time we had a performance like this. It was getting too hard to write about this team without repeating myself but this game certainly offered up some funk. The first and most obvious one was Gary Hooper hitting his target for that return to the starting eleven after the injury that he suffered in the wake of his first start back at the start of November. He’s come off the bench in the last five games and here he lasted a little over an hour, the most he’s played for the club. The fitness just isn’t there yet and that was obvious after half-time, though he kept on battling away and at this stage it’s more a matter of playing regular games and building that all up naturally. Nice timing though, considering Reno Piscopo just popped away with the Aussie U23s for Olympic qualifying and he’ll miss the rest of January while Jaushua Sotirio was back on the bench following illness last week... curious if he found himself at the Test match while he was in Melbourne because there’s that bug that’s been decimating the Blackcaps ranks at the moment, aye? Coincidence? Hmm.
Rightio then, what did the Nix look like with Gary Hooper finally unleashed properly? Thankfully not too different, more of an evolution than a revolution despite Super Hooper offering a very different set of skills to Sotirio or Piscopo. He’s a way more direct player than any of the other Nix forwards and his presence gave them a focal point that really helped anchor a team that has a lot of moving parts in attack. That movement is a major reason why they’ve been doing so well, it allows them to swarm on the counter attack and create chances from static situations as well but so often this season the finishing has let them down. Hooper ain’t gonna have an issue there. He’s one of those dudes who knows exactly where the goal is and the rest of his teammates can feed off that confidence.
Case and point: David Ball. Now, Ball has been excellent for multiple weeks so this wasn’t the breakout game that the wider narrative seems to suggest it was. Basically ever since he finally got that first Phoenix goal he’s had that weight lifted off his shoulders and, yeah, that fella had a superb month of December. It also helps that he’s getting more used to his teammates as well, that’s a large factor, but I remember wondering at the start of the season if he’d been mislabelled. Playing as the main dude next to the supportive Sotirio, a lot of Ball’s hard work seemed to go unrewarded. Then Gary Hooper came to town and gave Ball the opportunity to be a secondary striker playing off and around a proper centre forward, which seems to suit him way better. If this was an accurate glimpse of what the Nix are up to with this dual English combo then sweet as because they both scored first half goals as the Phoenix put themselves in full control of this contest.
Unfortunately Ball didn’t even last ten minutes in the second half before having to be replaced with a hip flexor issue, putting him in doubt for next week (along with Alex Rufer who’s still waiting in the physio’s room for the green light to return). Jaushua Sotirio subbed in for him which probably screwed up the gaffer’s plans. Hooper’s substitution in the 63rd minute was a deliberate one but the intended (most likely) replacement was already out there... which meant Ben Waine got his longest cameo of the season. Love that... except it also meant a complete change of the front two so Talay covered his bets by five minutes later taking off Callum McCowatt and throwing on Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi as a third midfielder, the Nix going from 4-2-2-2 to 4-3-3.
And it did not work. Well, it sorta did because they were able to withstand a fair bit of pressure to emerge with the W... but so much of that pressure was self-inflicted. With Devlin/TAHW/Steinmann all in the middle together and the front three spread across horizontally there wasn’t anything like the normal passing options. Already that’s one fewer player in front of the midfield to look to feed, one fewer option. Then because Ulises Davila was playing as a number nine now he wasn’t sitting in between the lines as a link up guy which drowned out the influence of the two wingers as well. It was only really when Libby Cacace or Tim Payne overlapped from fullback, offering that extra man in the attacking third, that the Phoenix looked like they could create something but some poor decision-making meant they never got that killer third goal.
Look, Uffie was due to lose a hand eventually. Can’t keep winning all the tricks all the time. Problem was he’d already used his three subs so he couldn’t do anything else to fix it once he’d committed to that new shape – which was out of character for him too, usually he’s quite stingy with his subs so to use his third one in the 68th minute was a surprise. Last week he didn’t even make his first sub ‘til the 78th minute and the week before he only made two. But all things being equal, David Ball would have played the ninety as he’s done in 9 of 11 previous games so far and that’s where the card shuffling began.
There’s nothing wrong with winning an ugly one now and then though. Keeps you on your toes as things progress and with three upcoming games for the rest of January all against teams below them on the ladder this was the start of a run of fixtures that Uffie’s made no secret of wanting to target all twelve points from. Western Sydney are next at home, then Brisbane away and Newcastle at home. Add in Central Coast and these are the current bottom four.
Which means, poetically, that by the end of this month the Phoenix could be well entrenched in the top four and that club record unbeaten streak could be pending an update on wikipedia. Could be... nah should be. Bloody why the hell not, right? I’ve got no doubt that Uffie’s Phoenix are a legit threat to any team in this league, a league which isn’t as top heavy this season as it has been in recent times (although Perth are coming good with four straight wins). I’ve already reassessed expectations from hoping to match last season’s slippery sixth place to where I’ll be genuinely disappointed if they don’t get a home semi. Which they shoulda done last season but for a late season wobble and this lot are better than that.
Glad to see Callan Elliot on the bench for the first time this season. He’s started most games for the WeeNix but did miss a few to have his wisdom teeth out or something like that. I’ve heard that’s a rough one. Dunno, mine are probably due to get the ol’ extraction too but I don’t wanna go to the dentist and find out (Lisa needs braces... dental plan). Tim Payne has deservedly negotiated a contract extension having settled in beautifully at right back since Louis Fenton was injured (more on the future planning later in the week) but I’m a tad curious what’d happen if he was to miss a game. Hudson-Wihongi can play there. Walter Scott too, either on the right or on the left with Cacace swapping sides. Maybe even Liam McGing or perhaps Josh Sotirio (I mean, David Williams did a job there a couple times last term)... but Callan Elliot is another in that mix. Ronan Wynne’s one to have a peek at for the ressies too.
That Payne/Taylor/DeVere/Cacace combination has coincided exactly with the unbeaten streak. The eight games that four have started together as a group this team has won five and drawn three, conceding eight goals in eight games. The other games were all defeats conceding eight goals in four games.
And, umm... that’ll probably do us for today’s lesson, children. Bottom line of this one is that an ugly win counts the same as a pretty one and coming at the start of a run of very winnable fixtures they might have needed a kick up the arse like that. It wasn’t the most memorable one but they did score a couple sexy goals as the Hooper & Ball combo showed what it’s capable of. Fingers crossed they’re both good to go again next week. But even if they aren’t, nothing changes. This team has earned its high expectations. On to the next.
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Keep cool but care