The Wellington Phoenix have kickstarted their Ninja A-League season in record-breaking style.
After scoring just three goals in their opening five matches, the Phoenix have recorded the biggest win in the team’s history – beating Sydney FC 7-0 at Porirua Park.
It’s also the heaviest defeat the five-time champions have ever suffered.
Sabitra “Samba” Bhandari and Grace Jale scored braces for the Nix, while Manaia Elliott and substitutes Lara Wall and Lucía León also found the back of the net in the rout.
Phoenix head coach Bev Priestman had said pre-game that she thought a team was due a good hiding from her side, and she gave all of the credit to the players.
“I spoke to them about honouring all of the hard work they’ve put in this week in the final third,” Priestman told media post-match
“There was a real commitment from everyone today to keep the belief. There can be a lot of chatter out there.
“There was a real intent there to stay together and not point fingers at who’s putting it over the bar or whatever.
“I said to the players that ‘this is a lesson not just in football, but in life. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t score a goal, because you can. You’ve just got to commit to the process’.
“I think it was a real collective effort to do that and I’m really happy.”
Jale’s two goals have moved her level with Mariana Speckmaier at the top of the team’s goalscoring list.
Priestman has praised Jale’s impact on the Nix in a new role as a central midfielder.
“When I first came in I knew she was a good player but seeing her on the training pitch, she is a top, top player. This season she’s shown that.
“She’s making a lot of things happen in a lot of ways. She’s up to every ball, she’s switching play, she’s scoring goals and she puts in the effort every day at training.”
Bev Priestman made two changes to the XI which started last Friday night’s 1-0 defeat to Perth Glory with Emma Main and Pia Vlok coming into the side in place of Wall and León, who were named amongst the substitutes.
Main and Vlok combined to set up the Phoenix’s opening goal little over two minutes into the match. Main received the ball on the edge of the six yard box and then laid it off for Vlok, who’s first-time shot was pushed on to the post by Sydney ‘keeper Tiahna Robertson. Elliott was on hand to tap home from a yard out.
Vlok rattled the same post three minutes later, this time with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, after some good interplay from Main and Samba but the Sky Blues were able to clear on this occasion.
Sydney had a moment of their own in a frantic opening 10 minutes with Bianca Galic shooting straight at Victoria Esson after finding a bit of space at the top of the Nix box.
Samba doubled Wellington’s lead inside a quarter of an hour when she nodded home from a couple of yards out after Brooke Nunn stood up a cross to the back post.
The Phoenix continued to threaten Sydney’s goal and in the 20th minute it was Samba’s turn to strike the woodwork. She thumped a header into the near post after another inch-perfect cross from Nunn.
CJ Bott and Vlok saw a couple of long-range efforts sail wide midway through the first half before Samba had a gilt-edged chance to make it 3-0. The Nepalese striker slipped in behind the Sky Blues’ defence and was one-on-one with Robertson but scuffed her shot and was unable to beat the ‘keeper.
Jale did score the Nix’s third in the 36th minute when she swept home from inside the six yard box after Sydney were unable to clear Wellington’s first corner of the match.
Ellie Walker came close to adding a fourth in stoppage time but her header was cleared off the line.
The Sky Blues started the second half the better of the two sides after making a double change at the break but found themselves four goals down eight minutes after halftime when Jale nodded in a left-wing corner at the back post.
Priestman made her first substitutions soon after, bringing on Wall and León in place of Elliott and Vlok respectively.
She made a further change on the hour mark with Daisy Brazendale replacing Main.
Samba made it 5-0 midway through the second half when she was played in behind by Nunn and slipped a shot past Robertson in Sydney’s goal.
Priestman made her final substitutions with around a corner of an hour remaining, bringing on Zoe Benson and Grace Bartlett in place of Nunn and Marisa van der Meer. It was Bartlett’s A-League debut with the 18-year-old having only been promoted to the first team at the start of the month.
The Phoenix scored their sixth before the clock ticked over 80 minutes when Wall’s short corner bounced past a couple of Sydney defenders and into the back of the net.
Bartlett and Benson both had opportunities to make it 7-0 soon after. They had shots cleared off the line from close-range after Tiahna Robertson has pushed a Brazendale shot into their path.
The Nix scored their seventh in the final minute of normal time when Robertson was unable to hold on to a deflected strike from León and it dropped over the goal-line.
The Wellington Phoenix will return to training on Monday before having three days off over Christmas. Their next match is against Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney on Tuesday, December 30.
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Victoria ESSON (gk), 2. CJ BOTT (c), 4. Mackenzie BARRY, 5. Ellie WALKER, 7. Grace JALE, 9. Sabitra BHANDARI, 11. Manaia ELLIOTT (21. Lara WALL 56th), 16. Marisa VAN DER MEER (28. Grace BARTLETT 77th), 20. Emma MAIN (15. Daisy BRAZENDALE 60th), 23. Brooke NUNN (27. Zoe BENSON 77th), 24. Pia VLOK (14. Lucía LEÓN 56th).
Unused substitutes: 22. Aimee DANIELI (gk).
Sydney FC: 30. Tiahna ROBERTSON (gk), 2. Madison AYSON, 4. Tori TUMETH, 5. Kirsty FENTON, 8. Hana LOWRY (19. Skye HALMARICK 70th), Jodi ULKEKUL, 13. Riley TANNER (7. Amelia CASSAR 59th), 15. Mackenzie HAWKESBY (24. Caley TALLON-HENNIKER 46th), 21. Sarah HUNTER (c), 23. Rubi SULLIVAN (14. Abbey LEMON 59th), 32. Bianca GALIC (26. Madeleine CASPERS 46th).
Unused substitutes: 1. Heather HINZ (gk).
Goals:
11. Manaia ELLIOTT (Wellington Phoenix) – 3rd
9. Sabitra BHANDARI (Wellington Phoenix) – 13th & 69th
7. Grace JALE (Wellington Phoenix) – 36th & 54th
21. Lara WALL (Wellington Phoenix) – 80th
14. Lucía LEÓN (Wellington Phoenix) – 90th
