The Wellington Phoenix were beaten 2-1 by Sydney FC in Sydney on Sunday night, their third straight defeat of the A-League season.
Photo: Photosport Ltd 2021
Sydney were also too good for the Phoenix women, winning their match 3-nil. It's the second straight loss for the Phoenix women.
Sydney FC led the Phoenix men 1-0 at halftime and 2-0 early in the second-half.
Ben Waine pulled a goal back for Wellington in the 83rd minute and despite throwing everything they could at Sydney's goal in search of an equaliser they were unable to beat Sydney goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne a second time.
The Phoenix finished the match with six of the club's academy graduates on the pitch, with goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and forward Oskar van Hattum making their A-League debuts.
Paulsen looked assured in goal, while van Hattum and fellow academy graduate Ben Old played key roles in the team's second-half revival.
Head coach Ufuk Talay was disappointed by the result and performance.
"I think we gave Sydney two goals tonight," Talay told media post-match. "I think we could have dealt with the first one a lot better and even the transition one in the second-half I think we could have dealt with that a lot better as well.
"It becomes an uphill climb against Sydney when you're 2-nil down.
"I think our first-half performance was not up to standard, but second-half was a lot better. Second-half is the team that I know, that can play. We need to do that for the full 90 minutes, not for 45 and I think the results will start to come.
"The substitutions made an influence on the game. The young boys coming on gave us some energy and we created a few opportunities to get in behind them but didn't capitalise on it."
The Phoenix men will be back in action on Wednesday night, when they play Melbourne City in the quarter-finals of the FFA Cup before playing the Central Coast Mariners in round six of the A-League on Monday, December 27.
The 3-0 loss for the Phoenix women was their second straight defeat in A-League women's competition, but they delivered an admirable showing against last year's runners-up.
Gemma Lewis' side produced a more assured showing than they produced against the Newcastle Jets in round two.
"I definitely think there were better moments in the game," Lewis told media post-match. "We were more organised. There were moments in the game where I think we had a little bit of momentum, a little bit more territory and we were trying to stick to the way we wanted to play.
"I'm really proud of them for still pushing, still playing through the 90 and still trying to look for a goal, even at the end.
"A three-nil result sucks but at the same time there were moments in that performance we can be happy with I think."
The match was played in searing heat, with drinks breaks required every 15 minutes.
"It was tough. We knew some of our girls were going to struggle with it. There's a couple of our girls who do struggle in heat as you would have seen from that game.
"Even being over here hasn't really helped us too much because the weather has been really rubbish up until this point.
"We actually haven't had a lot of time to acclimatise to it either. The last couple of days have been the first days for us it's really been above 30 so it was tough conditions for the players.
"But they still pushed through, they were still professional, they knew it was the same for both sides, so they got on with it."
The Phoenix women are back in action on Monday, December 27, when they travel to Central Coast Stadium to face the Newcastle Jets for the second time this season.
