Wellington Phoenix 2
Melbourne Heart 0
Paul Ifill would have been feeling the pressure more than most, but the Wellington Phoenix striker delivered with a two-goal performance in a pressure-relieving 2-0 win over Melbourne Heart in their A-League soccer match tonight.
Having struggled for good form all season and lost five of their previous seven matches, the Phoenix were under intense pressure to produce three points and stay in touch with the top six tonight, while Ifill was under his own pressure.
The Barbadian international had not scored a goal in 621 minutes of football heading into the match, but he sprung into life in the second half with two of his most important goals in Phoenix colours, and he could have easily had a hat-trick.
The Phoenix talked about the need for some luck, and they got just that as they opened the scoring in the 62nd minute.
Leo Bertos attempted to control the ball but he inadvertently flicked the ball through to Ifill, who was right on the spot to beat Heart goalkeeper Clint Bolton.
Ten minutes later, and just after the visitors had been reduced to 10 men after defender Matt Thompson was sent off for a second bookable offence, Ifill produced a classic, beating his defender and rifling the shot past Bolton's outstretched arms.
There was a late blow for the Phoenix with defender Ben Sigmund picking up his fifth yellow card of the season, meaning he will miss Saturday's home match against Melbourne Victory, but that is small fry for coach Ricki Herbert, who has been under fire following their poor results and performances.
Tonight's match was not pretty and Herbert will not be performing cartwheels over the performance.
Goalkeeper Mark Paston had to be at his best to deny the visitors, who opened the Phoenix up through the middle on several occasions, but the result will give them some desperately-needed confidence.
Herbert made some intriguing and surprising personnel changes tonight.
All Whites midfield mainstay Simon Elliott was benched with fullback Manny Muscat moving into the defensive midfield role he performed so well in last season and Jade North going into the backline.
Nick Ward, one of the few creative players in the squad, was also dropped as Tim Brown returned to midfield after a one-week suspension, while striker Chris Greenacre also suffered at the hands of Herbert's selection axe as the Englishman made way for Daniel, with Ifill assuming a more central role.
Wellington had adopted a siege mentality going into the match and whether it was that or the effect of the changes, they started with plenty of vigour.
Their chances were created more by Heart defensive errors than attacking nous, with the best of them falling to Ifill in the 18th minute.
The Heart had probably the best chance of the half, however, when Alex Terra was put through on goal but could only blast his finish over the crossbar.
The shot count at the break told the story as the teams combined for nine shots, but only one on target.
Terra and then Gerald Sibon should have opened the scoring early in the second half but Paston was at his best when he needed to be.
Ifill did the rest.
- NZPA
