Wellington Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante was left to lament missed opportunities after being held to a 1-1 draw by Adelaide United in their Hyundai A-League clash on Friday night.
English import Paul Ifill put the home side in front with a well-struck left-footed shot into the top corner 10 minutes before the break but it was quickly cancelled out when Iain Fyfe finished off a corner set piece to leave the sides locked 1-1 at half-time.
That’s how the score line remained, although Ifill was denied a second goal in the dying minutes of the match at Westpac Stadium when fellow Englishman Chris Greenacre was ruled offside.
While Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar was happy to be leaving Wellington with a point, it was not a sentiment shared by Durante.
“We’re disappointed really. Like (coach) Ricki (Herbert) said we feel like we’ve lost two points instead of gaining a point,” said the Phoenix skipper.
“We really took it to them. Browny (Tim Brown) had two clear chances pretty much in the first 10 minutes and they signalled our intent.”
“We wanted to come out and play good football. I thought Daniel was very good for us tonight as well. He created a lot of chances. To be honest I think we pretty much dominated the whole game.”
“They had a couple of little chances basically through our mistakes and not getting back but in general the whole game we were very good and it was clear to see.”
Brown could have had two goals in the opening quarter of an hour but saw a header then a scuffed shot go wide of the post. He also had another effort deflected wide late in the game.
Leo Bertos and Vince Lia also had long-range strikes go wide as the Phoenix pushed hard to find the match-winner in the second half.
“We were causing them all sort of problems, crosses and shots on goal. But they scrambled. Good teams scramble and I’m sure they will be delighted with a 1-1 draw,” Durante said.
“On the other hand we’re disappointed and I think that just sums up the game really.”
“We’ve got a good belief in this squad that we can always come back if we are down or if we are drawing.”
“Paul’s goal probably should have been the winning goal but it wasn’t to be and we look to next week now.”
While Durante saw the result as two points gone begging, Vidmar was happy to get something from the trip to the New Zealand capital even though the visitors also had two other attempts come back off the woodwork.
“I think it was a real positive performance tonight, especially in that second half. I think we dominated for the majority of that second half except maybe for the last five minutes or so when they started to get a bit of momentum,” said Vidmar.
“All in all I think there are some positive signs moving forward.”
The equaliser came from a corner set-piece which Fyfe converted from close range.
“I think it was a good goal. We’ve been working quite hard on the set pieces so it was nice that we got one on the set piece,” Vidmar said.
“Last week Wellington conceded and had some trouble at set pieces so we thought we had a good opportunity to get a goal there and we did.”
