Soccer: I'm not losing heart - Merrick

APNZ

16 Feb, 2014 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Heart players Jason Hoffman and Rob Wielaert are loving their big victory in Wellington while Stein Huysegems looks dejected. Photo / Getty Images

Wellington Phoenix A-League soccer coach Ernie Merrick won't spend much time watching replays of yesterday's horror 5-0 loss to the Melbourne Heart.

As far as he was concerned, the painful 90 minutes at Westpac Stadium was just a freakishly bad day out and he doesn't believe it will drag his men down as they look to make a push for a spot in the playoffs with eight rounds to go.

"You can't analyse a game like that," he said. "Just everything went wrong so you'd spend the whole time trying to fix everything. I think you look back and say, 'Well, we've had a run of eight games, we've done well and everything went wrong today'. We've got to put it behind us and move on."

After they'd taken a possible 19 of 24 points from their past eight outings heading in to the weekend, few people would have predicted the bottom-placed Heart would come to the capital and produce such a dominant showing.

The Phoenix never left the starting blocks as they were unable to establish any rhythm when passing the ball and Melbourne were quick to shut down Wellington's midfielders, particularly the talismanic Carlos Hernandez.

The visitors took an early lead following an Orlando Engelaar thunderbolt in the ninth minute and from then on, everything that could go wrong, did for the Phoenix.

The last time Wellington played at Westpac Stadium they won 5-0 over the Melbourne Victory on January 18 but when David Williams completed his hat-trick in the 63rd minute, the Phoenix were dealt the same treatment.

Merrick, who has spent many years in the coaching game, couldn't recall a time where he had been in charge of a team who had copped such a heavy defeat.

"I probably have but obviously I've hidden it from my memory.

"Not a pleasant day at the office but I feel for the boys, they gave everything."

The loss left Wellington one win outside the top six and their next encounter comes across the Tasman on Friday night against the Central Coast Mariners.

Merrick mentioned the side's mounting injury toll was beginning to weigh the players down following the news during the weekend that midfielder Albert Riera will miss the rest of the season due to damage in his groin muscle and abdominal wall.