Gold Coast’s Kiwi goalkeeper Glen Moss has dismissed claims the Wellington Phoenix have an edge over United ahead of Friday night’s clash at Skilled Park.
In four meetings since coming into the Hyundai A-League, United have managed just two draws and a pair of losses against Wellington; the Phoenix being the only team – apart from Melbourne Heart – which United is yet to conquer.
Wellington also inflicted Gold Coast’s worst loss of their first season, a 6-0 thumping at Westpac Stadium.
But Moss, who played for the Phoenix from 2007-09, is hoping all those facts are sent to the scrap-heap when the two sides battle it out in a big Friday night encounter.
“I don’t think there is too many boys in the team that believe in hoodoos or bogey teams,” Moss said. “It’s just another game of football.”
Moss has kept four clean sheets in the opening seven games of the season but he is expecting to have plenty to do against the Paul Ifill-led Phoenix who sit just one point above United in fourth spot on the ladder.
“I know (Phoenix coach) Ricki (Herbert) pretty well and he loves to play attacking football so I think I will be busy in this game,” he said.
“And they have got Ifill back from injury and he is one to watch, being one of the best strikers in the league.”
But Moss will be backing his support team of defenders to shut-down the Barbados international should he threaten to penetrate.
“Ifill is a tough one to come up against but there is nothing that (Kristian) Rees, Dino (Djulbic), and Michael Thwaite cant handle at the moment,” he said.
United coach Miron Bleiberg has joked that Moss’s kit wouldn’t even need to be washed after some of United’s recent shutouts, but the All Whites’ custodian isn’t worried about getting rusty in between goals.
“The two games against Mariners and Jets I didn’t have to do much – the guys in front of me have been exceptional. So even if I don’t make a save until the last minute, like against Sydney, I am happy with that,” he said.
“I get plenty of work screaming and yelling at Dino and Thwaitey; it keeps me in the game. If I come off the field with a sore throat rather than sore hands I don’t mind one bit.”
