Soccer: We have no excuses - Durante

Andrew Durante of the Phoenix sits dejected after his side's loss. Photo / Getty Images

Captain Andrew Durante admits this could be a long season for the Wellington Phoenix if they cannot snap out of a serious form slump in soccer's A-League.

A bad week got a whole lot worse for the Phoenix last night after they slumped to their fifth loss in seven matches with a 0-1 defeat to the Newcastle Jets at Newcastle.

Thumped 0-3 at home by Central Coast last Saturday and under the microscope all week after it emerged that club owner Terry Serepisos owed Inland Revenue about $3.5 million in unpaid taxes, Wellington never really challenged as the Jets deservedly collected the three points to move up to seventh, above the flagging Phoenix on goal differential.

Wellington travel home today for their Victorian double-header, with matches against Melbourne Heart on Wednesday and Melbourne Victory on Saturday, and will be under pressure to produce two wins against the two top-six sides, or risk drifting too far off the pace.

"We just weren't good enough on the day, they were better than us and we've got no excuses," Durante told Fox Sports after the match.

"We didn't create enough and we didn't get in goalscoring positions.

"It's simple; we're conceding at one end and not scoring at the other end. If you do that you're not going to win football games.

"We've got a lot of work to do if we want to start climbing the ladder because it's going to be a long year if we continue like this."

Marko Jesic's strike ultimately proved the difference between two teams, the young striker curling a shot around Wellington goalkeeper Mark Paston in the 55th minute.

Wellington pressed for an equaliser but they offered too little, too late.

Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert made two changes to the team which lost to Central Coast, Nick Ward replacing the suspended Tim Brown in midfield and Troy Hearfield starting at right back ahead of Jade North, who only joined the team yesterday after playing 25 minutes as a substitute in Australia's 0-3 loss to Egypt at Cairo on Thursday.

As he has been doing on a regular basis, Herbert tinkered with the system, still searching for an answer to their attacking problems.

He went away from the customary 4-3-3, instead using Chris Greenacre and Paul Ifill in a front two with Leo Bertos and Vince Lia in wide midfield roles, Simon Elliott screening the defensive line and Ward pushing further forward.

But the answer didn't come and the changes did little for their cutting edge as they again struggled to create opportunities in the final third.

Newcastle looked the more likely on attack but they, too, lacked polish as both goalkeepers were rarely threatened in a scoreless first half.

Jesic had the two best chances of the half but he fluffed his lines on both occasions.

Ben Sigmund and Andrew Durante stepped up defensively for the Phoenix, but on attack Wellington were again bereft of creativity and their talisman last season, Ifill, remained quiet.

Mirjan Pavlovic replaced Greenacre up front in the second half but the change was ineffective and Herbert's coaching ability will be severely tested in the coming weeks with his team's status now critical.

- NZPA