Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert will keep a close eye on Eugene Dadi after the star striker needed 15 stitches to a cut eye following a clash of heads in the Phoenix’s 3-0 Hyundai A-League win over North Queensland Fury on Friday night.
Dadi, who got his side’s opening goal two minutes after the break at a wind and rain-swept Westpac Stadium, was forced to leave the field in the 67th minute after an accidental clash of heads with Matthew Smith which left the Fury defender also requiring a stitch.
The Phoenix face a packed schedule in the coming two weeks with a match against Perth on Friday night followed by a midweek game against Melbourne then a home match against Adelaide in Christchurch on January 30.
“He’s not concussed which is good,” Herbert said of Dadi who has scored three goals in his first two games for the Phoenix. “He’ll just have to tough it out through the week and step up against Perth.”
“We might take a couple of extra [players on the trip] if we can because obviously Eugene is going to be a bit of an uncertainty all the way through to the match.”
“I’m sure he will be [keen to play against his former club]. Let’s hope that everything is going to be okay. There are no signs to say that there could be any major problem.”
Wellington’s win, its third on the trot, lifted it to fourth on the ladder but it took Dadi’s 47th minute header to spark it into life after a below par effort in the first half in the difficult conditions.
Paul Ifill rifled home his ninth of the season in the 78th minute to ease the nerves before Jon McKain glanced home a Troy Hearfield cross in the dying minutes for his first goal for the club.
“It’s the toughest conditions I’ve played in here,” admitted Ifill.
“You’ve got the heat over the Gap and over here you’ve got the wind. It’s pretty tough.”
“It took us 45 minutes to get used to it. You play one ball through and it would hold up, the next would run on. You didn’t really know where you were.”
“It was a bit of work and application in the second half. I think we dug in and sometimes you need to grind it out. At this stage of the season it’s about results and it’s another three points and we move on now.”
The Fury, who made several changes to their line-up which included a start for newcomer Jeremy Downey just days after switching from Perth, had the upper hand early in the match.
Robbie Fowler and Dyron Daal were unable to convert good chances in the opening 10 minutes and a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Liam Reddy ensured the teams remained deadlocked at the break.
But poor defending at the set-piece in the second half proved costly again for the North Queenslanders.
“We started off well and we gave away a goal just after half-time and the difficulty then is that we’re chasing the game,” said Fowler. “Three-nil was maybe a little bit flattering to them. We were chasing the game and when you’re playing catch-up it’s always hard.”
“We’ve done it too many times this season. I’ve said before it doesn’t matter what league you’re in if you’re giving silly goals away it’s always going to be difficult.”
“That’s what we need to try and stop. The season is almost at an end now. The same things seem to be happening over and over again.”
Coach Ian Ferguson was at a loss to explain the reasons for the lapses.
“It could be concentration. I don’t know if it’s hesitation or whatever until I see it on TV,” he said.
“The first one was Dadi just towering above somebody. I always say you’re not going to win every header but if you jump and compete you can maybe put them off and it can go elsewhere. But unfortunately for us it goes in the net.”
