Wellington skipper Andrew Durante believes he made the wrong call in allowing Eugene Dadi to take a penalty against his former club during the Phoenix’s 2-0 loss to Perth.
Heading into the Friday night clash, Dadi’s third game for Wellington since crossing from Perth, the 36-year-old made no secret of his disappointment with Glory coach Dave Mitchell’s decision to play other strikers ahead of him during the early stages of the season.
Dadi was Perth’s joint top scorer with 10 goals last year, but had played just six times for Perth this campaign without scoring before becoming an instant hit at Wellington with three goals in his first two matches.
The big Frenchman certainly had the chance to fire one back when he lined up to take a spot kick in the 73rd minute with his new team trailing the Glory 2-0.
But Dadi fluffed his lines as his desire to show up Mitchell got the better of him, the player unnecessarily bouncing around as he approached the spot only to mishit the ball and send it gently towards a stunned Tando Velaphi, who made an easy save.
When asked whether he was impressed by Dadi’s penalty, Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert simply said, ‘would you be happy with it?’.
Phoenix skipper Durante admitted the club’s regular penalty taker Paul Ifill probably should have taken the spot kick.
“I think when it comes to penalties, the most confident (player) picks the ball up and takes it,” Durante said.
“He’s scored three in two games, he’s up against his old team. He was obviously confident.”
“Eugene spoke to Paul and Paul allowed it.”
“Hindsight’s a beautiful thing, it probably was the wrong choice but he put his hand up and acknowledged it.”
Herbert implied he’d ensure the situation didn’t happen again.
“All I’ll say is, I’ll address the players and give them my view,” he said.
“He (Dadi) is a genuine guy. We brought him to the club and he’s been excellent for us, with three goals in three games.”
“He’s only human and he gets a chance and doesn’t put it away.”
Having been accused by Dadi of ‘poisoning’ the striker’s chances at Perth this season, Mitchell refused to add fuel to the fire.
However, when asked by a journalist whether the penalty was an example of Dadi being selfish and seeing this cost his team, Mitchell said: “I think you’ve said something there that’s very important.”
“But I haven’t mentioned it. Someone’s (Dadi) had a pop at me today but I’m trying to keep out of that. I think I’m a little bit better than that.”
“But I think it was a big part of what was wrong.”
