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GOSFORD - A 10-man Wellington Phoenix made an inauspicious foray into Australian soccer with a 0-2 Pre-Season Cup loss to Central Coast Mariners here on Saturday.
In their first competitive outing, four months after being confirmed as New Zealand's new A-League franchise, the Phoenix created several chances but looked badly in need of the run before an 8000-strong crowd at Bluetongue Stadium, north of Sydney.
Australian defender Steven O'Dor wrote his name into the Phoenix record books as their first red carded player.
He was sent off in the 53rd minute by referee Strebre Delovski for pulling down the Mariners' Nick Mrdja. It was his second bookable offence.
Goalkeeper Glen Moss was the Phoenix's busiest player and a string of athletic saves stopped a scoreline blowout after they trailed 0-2 at halftime.
It was the first serious match for All Whites coach Ricki Herbert's Phoenix after two runarounds against the New Zealand under-20s and a Wellington club selection.
The Phoenix started with five All Whites but were missing seven frontliners, mostly injured, while captain Ross Aloisi completed a suspension from last season.
They also unveiled their four Brazilian imports -- defender Cleberson and midfielder Daniel in the starting side and midfielders/strikers Felipe and George on the bench.
The Mariners are notoriously fast starters -- having won the Pre-Season Cup in 2005 and finishing runnersup to Adelaide United last year -- and it took just over two minutes for them to open their account.
After three successive corners, Alex Wilkinson beat the diving Moss after the Phoenix defence didn't clear inside the penalty area.
It could have been 0-3 inside 20min but for two Moss saves from close range as the Mariners strolled into defensive gaps.
The Phoenix also rued poor finishing.
England-based Australian striker Royce Brownlie had three early chances, the best of them when he slammed a volley past the right post from a Shane Smeltz cross.
All White Smeltz was busy on the right and created another good chance when he backheeled to captain Vaughn Coveny but Jeremy Christie's header didn't trouble Australian under-20 goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.
The Mariners doubled their lead in the 32nd minute when Adam Kwasnik hammered home a cross.
The Phoenix didn't drop their heads after O'Dor's dismissal and Daniel nearly got them on the board in the 60th minute with a left-foot free kick that shaved the crossbar.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (Alex Wilkinson, Adam Kwasnik) Wellington Phoenix 0. Halftime: 2-0.
- NZPA
