Wellington Phoenix assistant coach Chris Greenacre was delighted with the way the Phoenix A side beat Waitakere United 2-1 in Auckland today.
Greenacre, who coaches the team in tandem with Jonathan Gould, said he had been looking for a response after the 3-1 loss to Canterbury United and he got it.
“We weren-t happy with one or two things in the Canterbury game and some of the lads had something to prove,” Greenacre said.
“I was delighted with their response because we had could have had five or six goals in the first half.
“It says something that the two goalkeepers Waitakere used were outstanding and kept the score down.
“In the first 35 minutes in particular we played some really good football and their keeper kept them in the game.”
Phoenix A took the lead through hard-working striker Hamish Watson who has impressed everyone at the club since he arrived and joined the club-s Football School of Excellence.
Receiving the ball in the penalty area Watson turned and fired a strong shot into the roof of the net.
Tyler Boyd, who has looked sharp coming off the bench for the senior side in the A-League, got the second with a typical goal poacher-s finish after keeper Alex Parr tipped a Dani Sanchez free-kick on to the crossbar.
Waitakere pulled a goal back 10 minutes from time but overall the Phoenix A side was always in control.
“In our previous games there have been little spells where we have made mistakes but we eliminated most of those today,” Greenacre said.
“It is a learning curve for the young boys but they are starting to put it together now.”
