The Wellington Phoenix men have drawn 1-1 with Western Sydney Wanderers, while the Phoenix women suffered their fourth straight loss, going down 3-0 to Canberra United.
Phoenix men's coach Ufuk Talay Photo: Photosport
It was the men's first game since their painful 3-2 defeat to Western United last month as the A-League paused for three weeks for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Bulgarian international Bozhidar Kraev nodded the Nix in front an hour into the match after a scoreless first-half which Wellington dominated.
But Western Sydney finished the stronger of the two sides and Congolese striker Yeni Ngbakoto drew Wanderers level from a free-kick in the 79th minute.
It is the Phoenix's fourth draw from seven matches and moves the men up to sixth on the ladder, at least temporarily.
Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay had mixed feelings after the match.
"Disappointed in the way that we conceded," Talay said. "To be honest it was a great delivery that evaded everybody, even Oli, and it ended up in the back of the net. But overall, I thought we played some good football."
Ufuk Talay made four changes to the XI which started the team's defeat to Western United last month, with David Ball, Yan Sasse, Lucas Mauragis and Tim Payne replacing Kosta Barbarouses, Ben Old, Sam Sutton and Josh Laws, who all started the match from the bench.
Meanwhile Canberra United turned the tables on the Wellington women with a 3-0 in Australia's capital.
The hosts opened the scoring inside 10 minutes and doubled their advantage before a half an hour was gone to take a 2-0 halftime lead.
The Nix came close to pulling a goal back early in the second-half before Canberra scored their third in the 53rd minute to ultimately seal the win.
The result lifts Canberra United up to fifth on the ladder, while Wellington remain at the bottom of the table without a point four rounds into the season.
Phoenix head coach Natalie Lawrence was disappointed with the nature of the defeat.
"There's a lot of disappointment around the team [because] we wanted to move forward from last week and progress, and I think that first half wasn't a true reflection of the work we've done and where the team are at," Lawrence said post-game.
"We can't cough off stupid goals like we did for the third because that just kills the game.
"If things had been different and one of those shots had gone in and all of a sudden five minutes into the second half it's 2-1 then you have a different story, but going 3-nil down through our own mistakes killed the game for us."
The Wellington Phoenix women will return home tomorrow to prepare for their first home double-header with the Phoenix men against Adelaide United at Sky Stadium next Saturday.
