The Wellington Phoenix’s Isuzu UTE A-League season has ended with a disappointing defeat.
The Phoenix have been beaten 4-0 by Macarthur FC at Campbelltown Sports Stadium in Sydney after trailing 3-0 at halftime.
It’s Wellington’s second biggest defeat of the season and heaviest since Chris Greenacre took over as head coach.
The result means the Nix will finish no higher than eighth on the ladder.
“Really disappointed with the way that we conducted ourselves in the first half,” Greenacre told media post-match. “We were nowhere near the pace.
“When the own goal went in you saw…it depleted us really, which is disappointing.
“We had a few words at halftime and I thought in the second half we took the game to Macarthur…and in transition we caused them a few problems without having that final end product.
“It’s the first time I’ve probably questioned our group. They’ve been awesome for a number of weeks now and that was probably our blip and unfortunately we don’t have the opportunity to fix that.”
Greenacre says the disappointment of missing out on finals last week wasn’t an excuse for their performance.
“It is more difficult for players to get up for a game when there’s nothing but at the end of the day you’re a professional athlete and that shouldn’t matter.
“Ultimately this is your job so there should be no taking your foot of the gas in my opinion, and we did that.
“But overall I’ve been really pleased with the group, pleased with the staff and everything that’s got us to this position.
“At one point we were bottom of the league and we look at our situation now, it’s a lot different so lots of positives to take on from here.”
Chris Greenacre made two changes to the XI which started Saturday’s 2-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers in Christchurch with Fin Roa Conchie and Sander Kartum replacing the suspended Alex Rufer and Ramy Najjarine respectively. Kazuki Nagasawa led the Phoenix in Rufer’s absence.
All Whites midfielder Sarpreet Singh was named amongst the substitutes 10 weeks after suffering a knee injury on his much anticipated return to the Nix.
The first half was one to forget for the Phoenix.
Macarthur took the lead little after five minutes into the game as a result of a mix up at the back which saw a long-range effort from Matthew Jurman deflect off Bill Tuiloma and into the back of the net.
The Bulls doubled their advantage midway through the half when a right wing cross fell favourably to the feet of midfielder Dean Bosnjak on the edge of the six yard box and he slotted home.
Ifeanyi Eze had Wellington’s first goalscoring opportunity in the 25th minute when he got on the end of a defence-splitting through ball, but he saw his effort deflect narrowly wide of the left post.
Luke Brattan made it 3-0 to Macarthur nine minutes later, picking out the top left corner of the Phoenix goal with a quality finish after being given space and time outside the penalty area.
Paulo Retre came close to delivering the Nix an near immediate response but his powerful effort from distance rose just over the Bulls’ goal.
Roa Conchie had a shot blocked on the edge of the Macarthur penalty area soon after as Wellington had a rare spell of pressure with a few corners.
The hosts came closest to scoring the fourth goal of the first half though with Luke Vickery rattling the right hand post after Oluwayemi had pushed away Brattan’s initial effort.
Greenacre made a double change at halftime, bringing on Najjarine and Luke Brooke-Smith in place of Kartum and Roa Conchie respectively.
The substitutes, particularly Brooke-Smith, had an impact with the Phoenix having a great share of possession and looking more dangerous with the ball.
However they weren’t able to test Alexander Robinson in Macarthur’s goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half and Oluwayemi made the first save after halftime, denying Vickery from a tight angle around the hour mark.
Brooke-Smith was denied from close range by Robinson midway through the second half after Corban Piper nodded a Najjarine cross back across goal.
Greenacre made another double change soon after with Singh and Matt Sheridan replacing Nagasawa and Tim Payne respectively.
Piper had a chance to pull a goal back for the Nix in the 76th minute but he dragged his left-footed shot across goal.
Macarthur instead added a fourth soon after courtesy of a big deflection which looped over Oluwayemi and into the back of the net.
Singh came closest to getting the Nix on the scoresheet in the final minute of normal time when he rattled the crossbar from a free kick after Eze had been fouled on the edge of the Bulls’ penalty area.
Robinson also made a good save in the third and final minute of stoppage time to push away a shot from Eze before some last ditch Macarthur defence denied Brooke-Smith from close-range and secured a rare clean sheet.
The Wellington Phoenix will return home tomorrow and will be back on the training pitch next week as they prepare players for the chance of playing at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE (29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH 46th) 6. Tim PAYNE (27. Matt SHERIDAN 71st), 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 8. Paulo RETRE, 15. Isaac HUGHES, 16. Sander KARTUM (20. Ramy NAJJARINE 46th), 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD (12. Dan EDWARDS 89th), 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA (c) (9. Sarpreet SINGH 71st), 28. Bill TUILOMA.
Unused substitutes: 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 11. Carlo ARMIENTO.
Macarthur FC: 1. Alexander ROBINSON (gk), 3. Damien DA SILVA (c) (6. Tomislav USKOK 83rd), 5. Matthew JURMAN, 8. Luke VICKERY (11. Bernardo OLIVEIRA 71st), 10. Anthony CACERES, 15. Mitchell DUKE (28. Harrison SAWYER 78th), 17. Oliver RANDAZZO, 24. Dean BOSNJAK (35. Henrique OLIVEIRA 78th), 25. Callum TALBOT (19. Harry POLITIDIS 82nd), 26. Luke BRATTAN, 32. Will MCKAY.
Unused substitutes: 12. Filip KURTO (gk), 22. Liam ROSE.
Goals:
28. Bill TUILOMA (Wellington Phoenix) – 6th og
24. Dean BOSNJAK (Macarthur FC) – 22nd
26. Luke BRATTAN (Macarthur FC) – 34th
11. Bernardo OLIVEIRA (Macarthur FC) – 80th
Cards:
25. Kazuki NAGASAWA (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 47th
24. Dean BOSNJAK (Macarthur FC) – yellow – 51st
8. Paulo RETRE (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 63rd
5. Matthew JURMAN (Macarthur FC) – yellow – 89th
