It Was One Of Those Days For The Welly Nix As The Streak Comes To An End
Like a forgettable library book, this was a little overdue. The Wellington Phoenix saw their undefeated streak snapped at nine games and their winning streak at three as they fell 1-0 away to Brisbane Roar in a ridiculous and exasperating game which ultimately comes back to that evergreen football truism that you’ve got to take your chances. There were plenty of them. More than enough to win this game comfortably and, as Uffie suggested afterwards, if they’d only scored first then they might have run away with it. But they didn’t and they lost. You’ve gotta take your chances.
But that’s been an issue all season, right? They just can’t get the ball into the net often enough to reflect their efforts and again here they had 20 total shots yet only three of them were on target. Ulises Davila putting one narrowly over. Josh Sotirio ripped one off the crossbar. Jamie Young came up with a couple superb saves for the Roar (keeping kiwi keeper Max Crocombe on the bench, annoyingly). There were crosses that went astray and those that weren’t capitalised on. A hopeful handball penalty appeal. Callum McCowatt drove one wide. Some last ditch defending came into play. And the one that really stings in the memory was Steven Taylor hitting the crossbar from here...
He’s way too good a header of the ball for him not to feel he should have scored there. But that was the way it went on this Saturday evening in Brisbane, a sweltering eve which finished in torrential downpour.
All the hallmarks of the Welly Nix of the last nine games were there as they sizzled and popped in that first half, the lads keeping up that gorgeous one/two touch passing stuff in their own half to build quickly in possession and work their way around the press and into space to attack into. Liberato Cacace was getting plenty of that space in the first half – although Robbie Fowler made a couple tweaks at the break to alter that (his halftime chat with the telly crew was pretty fascinating) – and Ulises Davila was pulling strings. Josh Sotirio got in behind the defence a couple times on the right side while on the left Callum McCowatt had one of his best games in a Phoenix jersey. Some of his touches were superb and he was playing at a high intensity whilst still making sharp decisions, it was lovely. Gotta think he’s feeling more confident after a nice run of starts with Reno Piscopo off with the Aussie U23s (who beat Syria 1-0 after extra time the other day so now need to either win their semi-final vs South Korea or win a third-placed playoff vs either Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan to qualify for the Olympics). Cam Devlin was dynamic as always. Tim Payne was linking up in good areas. All the things you wanna see... except for the lack of goals.
Also Gary Hooper might have played ninety minutes for the first time since December 2017 but he wasn’t a massive presence here, to be fair. One shot glanced wide in the second half and a mistimed bicycle kick and that was about it – his 31 touches were fewer than Stefan Marinovic had. Probably because David Ball was only fit enough for the bench and Ball and Sotirio are very different strike partners. Sotirio is more direct, more about speed and making those vertical runs. Ball tends to hover around and look to link up. Both work very hard in their own way but for Hoops to be a poaching presence up front he sorta needs that sacrificial Ball type guy who’ll work in off him rather than running past him. Ball did come off the bench in the second half so hopefully he’s in line for a start next week. We haven’t had a massive look at that Hooper/Ball combo yet but what we’ve seen has been tantalising. Both of Hooper’s goals have come in the first halves of the two games in which he and Ball have both started.
Then when you don’t score the goals you should you leave the door open for the other team, their confidence rises the more they withstand, and you leave yourself vulnerable to moments like this. A young fella comes off the bench and scores. Dylan Wenzel-Halls had been on for about thirty seconds when the Phoenix got caught trying to reshape after defending a set piece and Stevie T was waxed by a beautiful cut with DWH’s first touch who then slammed it past Big Stef for the only goal of the match.
Brisbane had been much better in the second half and had done well to minimise a few of the things that the Nix were doing really well. Their midfield in particular was smarter in not getting sucked in and exposing their backline and they stretched the field to keep the Nix fullbacks pegged back. Clever work from Robbie Fowler to be honest... but the damage should have already been done by then.
Ufuk Talay was quick to go to his bench while trailing (prior to this game Nix subs were averaging the second fewest minutes behind Sydney FC... who are the league leaders so you know the stronger your first eleven the less you need to sub), with David Ball and Ben Waine getting good minutes and Sam Sutton replacing a yellow-carded Libby Cacace at the end for his third appearance of the season. Two strikers and a midfielder subbed on for two defenders and a winger (Sotirio, DeVere & Cacace – the first minutes Luke DeVere has missed all season, only Taylor and Marinovic remain everpresent now). But there was to be no late equaliser in the pouring rain, in fact the Roar came closer to adding a second as Bradden Inman somehow missed a bit of a sitter. They didn’t need it. The streak ends and the Nix have lost a game of football for the first time since the 3rd of November.
They were also kept scoreless for only the third time in these 14 games... except they’ve also only once scored more than two and they’re capable of much better than that. All these one or two goal games mean close scorelines, remember that last week was only their second clean sheet of the season. Close scorelines mean the margins for error are that much slimmer and we all know full well that the Nix usually concede a sloppy one each game. That’s fine as long as you’re putting multiple goals away yourself. The Phoenix didn’t do that in Brisbane and their quest for a perfect January is over.
There’s a pretty fine chance to get back to winning ways next week as the Nix host the Newcastle Jets in Wellington, fresh from Ernie Merrick getting the chop over there. A short turnaround too with Friday Niiiiiight Football on the cards. However there is a bit of a conundrum in midfield because Matti Steinmann will be suspended for that game after picking up his fifth booking of the term and Alex Rufer is still out for probably two more weeks by the sounds of it. Brandon Wilson was on the bench in Brissie and he shapes as the obvious candidate to slide in there alongside Devlin although he has only been at the club for two weeks and has only played one A-League game this season for Perth. He’s undercooked... which wasn’t helped when he managed to get himself sent off for the reserves last week.
The other option would be Sam Sutton since the 18 year old has been included on seven of the last ten subs benches (playing three times), although that’s a risk in itself in terms of his inexperience - only at the modern Phoenix would a 22 year old option be the safe experienced one, gotta love it. Or maybe Rufer turns out to be ahead of schedule, you wouldn’t really know.
Uffie has had mad praise for Sutts lately, even giving him that new A-League achievement badge of comparing him to Sarpreet Singh. They’re different sorts of players, I see Sutton as more of a proper central mid while Singh is more advanced than that... but Sutton’s probably got more of an opening here, when everyone is fit and available, as a winger or attacking mid just to ease him into this level while Sarpreet does get a lot of footy for the Bayern reserves playing deeper these days. A better like for like comparison in my eyes is Joe Bell and it’s a good time for that one after the Phoenix product signed his first pro contract with Viking in Norway last week. Sam Sutton has that same motor, that same energy. He’s very good on the ball. He’s an excellent passer. And if you want to buy stock in Sam Sutton’s prospects then you’ll have to speak to my stockbroker because I already bought it all, sorry (jokes, stockbrokers are for yuppie hedge fund bastards). I expect Wilson gets the start against the Jets though.
Other than that, it’s a shame to see the unbeaten streak end and especially in a game where it had no reason to. But those streaks can get heavy sometimes and a few of the second half performances over the last month have hinted at the Nix needing a bit of a slap in the face like this. It’s not like they were outplayed or anything. All they had to do was score a couple goals to reflect their first half dominance and they’d have won another one so no reason to panic about this defeat, just some minor tweaks and a little more of that clinical nature in the oppo penalty area required and there you go. We’ve only scratched the surface of that Hooper/Ball partnership so we already know there’s more to come in attack. Ultimately it was just one of those days. A really good first half and a bundle of chances but no goals and you lose to a sloppy one in the second half. One of those days. One of those days.
One of those days.
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