Ricki Herbert has come away from Wellington’s 1-0 loss to the Brisbane Roar feeling more than a little hard done by, but despite thoughts of what might have been, the Phoenix coach admits it’s time for his side to address their poor record away from home.
Much has been made of Wellington’s uneven home and away records, and while Herbert says it’s important to look at the performance, not the result, he knows it will be a tough month ahead if they can’t resurrect their travelling fortunes.
The Phoenix will play three of their next four games away, and while most teams who haven’t lost in their last 21 games at home would rather stay off the road, it seems Herbert is ready to take the bull by the horns.
“We’ve always struggled away from home.”
“The next three out of four are away, so it’s probably a good space to be, being thrown right into it rather than perhaps having some mental comfort of being at home.”
“So we’ll look forward to that, and I think we’ll certainly get it right at some stage,” he said.
The Phoenix were kept alive in the first half only by the best efforts of keeper Mark Paston and with Brisbane forwards unlucky not to convert a number of one-on-one opportunities, few would call them undeserving victors.
But it’s fair to note that the Phoenix had opportunities throughout the 90 minutes and although much of their attack came on the counter, a review of the stats show Wellington’s total of six shots on goal was only one less than Brisbane delivered
Herbert was certainly in no mood to give his opposition the credit, instead he suggested that the selection of Roar keeper Michael Theoklitos as Man of the Match was an indication of how close his side had come to earning competition points.
Having suffered just their first loss of the season, and with one of the strongest squads in the competition, Friday night’s loss to the Roar certainly isn’t causing panic in the Phoenix camp, and Herbert assured both he and his men were fully committed to the cause
“I’m there as the Phoenix coach 150%,” he said.
“It’s about the club, and it’s about winning football matches, making the grand final and doing really well.”
“Our aspirations won’t change again this year.”
