Heart 2
Phoenix 1
More road trip blues for the Wellington Phoenix.
Going down to new boys Melbourne Heart yesterday, Ricki Herbert's team ended their two games at AAMI Park with just one point - from Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Melbourne Victory - to show for 180 minutes of football.
After a sometimes lively, at times willing, start, the Phoenix struggled to seriously test Clint Bolton in the Heart goal and once 0-2 down there was the feeling they saw it as a lost cause.
A goal from Tim Brown with 15 minutes to play sparked their best period of the game, but when that came to nothing the Phoenix showed little interest.
"We were just poor, to be fair," a shattered Herbert said after his team slumped to their third loss in seven outings.
"We didn't come out of the traps at all. A tough night for us, and at the end of the day we weren't good enough."
The Phoenix' failure to win, or seriously challenge, in Australia continues to cost them and leave them as unlikely Hyundai A-League contenders.
A fluffed attempt from Chris Greenacre in the 18th minute set the tone for the Phoenix, and when Nick Ward provided a weak finish to a good ball in from Leo Bertos 10 minutes later, the feeling was that it was going to be a long day.
The home side also struggled to produce much, and by halftime the statistics made for sombre reading - two shots at each end and none on target.
Five minutes into the second half the home fans - in a disappointing 5698 turnout - had something to cheer about when, from a Gerald Sibon cross, John Aloisi drifted in at the far post to stab a foot out and steer the ball home for his first goal for his new club.
On the hour the hosts were rewarded when Ward was undone by some sloppy defending, which gifted an opportunity to Brazilian Alex Terra who whipped his left-foot shot home.
The Phoenix needed 14 minutes to hit back when Brown got in behind the Heart defence to gather a superb ball from Paul Ifill to score the 100th A-League goal for the Phoenix.
But that that proved to be too little too late.
