Wellington Phoenix: Paul Temple to coach final game after second failed A-League Women’s season

Paul Temple will coach his last game for the Wellington Phoenix tomorrow after the side failed to qualify for the A-League Women finals series once again.

“I want to go out with a bang,” Temple said on Thursday after the club announced it would be parting ways with him at the end of his second season at the helm of the side.

The Easter Sunday clash with Western United at Porirua Park will mark the end of Temple’s almost 10-year association with the Phoenix – during which he was involved in the club’s academy before signing as head coach after the 2022-23 season.

“I’ve been here for nearly 10 years. It’s been a huge part of my life [and] my family’s life. We relocated to Wellington, and I’ve loved being here and I’ve loved working for the football club,” Temple said.

He said he would’ve liked to have stayed on, but understood the club’s decision to not offer him a new contract after failing to guide the side to the finals.

“[I] know that it’s the nature of first team football that it’s results driven and ultimately we haven’t been getting the results that we perhaps should of and are capable of.

“It’s my responsibility. We’ve come up short and I have to be responsible for it.”

The Phoenix are poised to finish the season in eighth or ninth – missing the playoffs for a second straight season after Temple guided the side to an eighth-place finish in his first season in charge.

Historically the Phoenix have only defeated Western United once in their five meetings in the A-League Women’s competition.

“I know there will be a bit of a mixture of feelings. There will be some frustration, there will be some disappointment that we haven’t made it, but hopefully the overriding feeling is more of joy and we can celebrate what has been done,” Temple said on coaching his 45th and final game in front of a home crowd.

Round 23 Phoenix team to face Western United, kickoff 4pm

Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted): 2. Zoe McMeeken, 3. Tiana Jaber, 4. Mackenzie Barry, 5. Alivia Kelly, 6. Maya McCutcheon, 7. Grace Jale, 8. Amelia Abbott, 9. Olivia Fergusson, 10. Alyssa Whinham, 11. Manaia Elliott, 13. Brooke Neary (gk), 14. Mebae Tanaka, 15. Daisy Brazendale, 16. Annalie Longo (c), 19. Olivia Ingham, 20. Emma Main, 21. Lara Wall, 39. Carolina Vilao (gk).