Soccer: Milestone beckons for Ifill

Phoenix striker Paul Ifill will bring up his 400th senior match on Sunday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington Phoenix striker Paul Ifill will mark a major career milestone on Sunday when his side take on A-League rivals Central Coast Mariners.

It will be the British-born Barbados international's 400th senior match.

"A lot of people back home said I was injury-prone, so to reach 400 is not a bad milestone, I guess," Ifill said today.

"When I was a kid all the old pros used to say 'come back when you've played 400 games', so it's nice to actually get there. Now I'm one of the senior pros and I get to say that to the kids now.

"But I always thought that if you could get to 400-450 games then you'd probably have really achieved something in your career, so I'm really pleased to get there. And it'll be nice to do it at home as well."

The 31-year-old played the bulk of his games in England, appearing 256 times for Millwall from 1998-2005, 45 times for Sheffield United from 2005-07 and 67 times for Crystal Palace from 2007-09 before joining the Phoenix in 2009.

He has turned out on 31 occasions for the Phoenix, lifting his career haul of goals to 77 in his 399 outings.

Naturally, there have been plenty of highs and lows along the way.

"I played for Keith Stevens at Millwall. He was one of the first people to take a chance on me. I remember playing badly in the game before he got sacked and I felt it was partly my fault.

"It was the same again with Mark McGhee. When a manager who's looked after you and helped you gets sacked, it's pretty upsetting. Those situations are probably the lowest points of my career.

"But there have been so many high points - getting promoted to the Championship and the Premiership, playing in Europe and playing in the FA Cup final for Millwall against Manchester United in 2004 was special."

Given the level Ifill played at, and his relatively young age, there was surprise in some quarters when he decided to quit England and travel to New Zealand to play for the Phoenix, a young club in a young competition.

"A lot people said `what's going on, what are you doing?' For me it's about being happy in what you're doing - that's more important.

"I wasn't happy in England for a number of reasons. A lot of it had to do with the fact I couldn't seem to get fit. I played 60-odd games in 3-1/2 years, which is terrible.

"But something's going right for me here and I'm enjoying my football more now than ever. I'm the fittest I've ever been and probably playing the best I have since six or seven years ago."

- NZPA