Wellington Phoenix manager Mark Rudan says his side simply won’t bow down in the face of adversity as injuries and suspensions begin to pile up.
A Nix side missing key players Roy Krishna, Steven Taylor, Nathan Burns, Michal Kopzcynski and losing Louis Fenton to injury just after half-time demolished Newcastle Jets 4-1 at Westpac Stadium to all but secure a finals spot.
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The loss of Hyundai A-League leading goal scorer Krishna was expected to nullify the Phoenix attack but a hat-trick to David Williams meant the home side simply continued to roll on.
Speaking to Sky Sports NZ after the match, Rudan was full of praise for his troops.
“Super performance, great result as well,” Rudan said.
“When you look at the stats I thought we were a team that looked possessed, who were hungry, who were motivated and like I’ve said over the last couple of weeks we’re a team that’s in form.
“Momentum is there, the belief is there, confidence is sky high and we just looked like we were going to score from every counter-attack in the second half.”
Despite having a number of players out, Rudan said it mattered little with the mindset the Nix brought into the match.
“We knew how important this game was for Newcastle and we had to match that intensity as well,” he explained.
“There were probably question marks over who wanted it more, they were more desperate than us but I think tonight’s performance showed you just how clinical we were with players out.
“Earlier today we ruled out Kopa and Taylor and the big man Roy Krishna out, top goalscorer in the A-League but it doesn’t affect us.”
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David William's finishes off his hat trick in style with this effort into the top corner!#WELvNEW #ALeague
? @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/4VE9hHdIeE
— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) March 30, 2019
The aforementioned absences opened the door for Wellington’s young brigade to emerge with Max Burgess starring alongside Hyundai A-League debutant Ben Waine.
Rudan said he had full faith in his youth stocks as the Nix chase a crucial home final.
“There’s a lot of talented kids here,” Rudan said.
“We normally see teams throw in the youngsters when they’ve got nothing to play for towards the back end of the season. We’ve got a lot to play for this season and we keep throwing the young boys in and they don’t let us down. Really proud of them.”
Ending with a whimper
The past 12 months have been a rollercoaster for Ernie Merrick and Newcastle Jets.
From top-two form to watching their hopes of finals slowly slip away, it’s not been easy for the Jets’ faithful.
A 4-1 thumping in New Zealand’s capital has surely put the final nail in the coffin for the Novocastrians, a fact not lost of Merrick as he tried to explain what has changed in the space of a year.
“It’s easy to pick a couple of positions but it’s a case of the whole season being very similar,” Merrick said post-match.
“We haven’t really conceded that many goals, up until today it was 28 which was similar to [Melbourne] Victory but we haven’t been scoring goals, we scored twice as many last year and defences know how to shut us down….it’s something we have to look to change for the rest of the season and next season.”
