Wellington Phoenix midfielder Tim Brown has warned Perth Glory they will be given little chance to shake off any travel weariness in Sunday’s crucial clash at Westpac Stadium.
Perth have made the arduous trip from the Australian west coast to the New Zealand capital after losing 2-1 to Central Coast Mariners at nib Stadium on Wednesday night.
But given the hours the Phoenix spend travelling to away matches during the season and with so much riding on Sunday’s match, Brown said they would be looking to hit the Glory hard and hit them early.
“I think when teams come here we tend to jump on them pretty early because we know what’s it’s like (with all the travel). It’s horrible,” the New Zealand international said.
“The first 15-20 minutes of every game we’ve played at home this year we’ve really ripped into teams and hopefully we can take it to Perth again on Sunday.”
The match is the first of three in eight days for the Phoenix, who fly to the Gold Coast to play Brisbane Roar in their rescheduled match on Wednesday before returning home to play the Newcastle Jets next Sunday.
“You have those patches and you just grind through them,” said Brown of the tightly-packed matches. “It’s not much fun, particularly when you throw in the travel component in the middle of the week. That is very, very hard.”
“We just need to beat Perth. Then after that we’ll focus on Brisbane and take it one step at a time.”
The top four of Brisbane, Central Coast, Adelaide United and Gold Coast United are finals bound leaving Melbourne Victory, Newcastle, Melbourne Heart and the Phoenix fighting for the remaining two spots.
Recent results have gone the Phoenix’s way with Heart and Victory drawing their matches and the Jets losing. It has left eighth-placed Wellington just three points adrift of sixth place.
But Brown knows the next few days could be season-defining. “I think it’s exciting. Those results have probably gone out way but even if they hadn’t I think we are well in the race. This is a big week for us.”
“In terms of our performances we’ve been pretty consistent for the last couple of months now. If we can keep that quality of performance up the results will come.”
Wellington could also be helped by the depleted Glory squad that have made the trip.
Veteran defender Andy Todd has been released from his contract, while Jamie Harnwell and Adriano Pellegrino are suspended.
Robbie Fowler is out with a hamstring injury and Jacob Burns’ wife is expecting their child so he has not made the trip.
Interim head coach Ian Ferguson has brought Branko Jelic and Brent Griffiths back into an extended squad that also includes youth players Cameron Edwards and Storm Roux as well as Naum Sekulovski who returns from injury.
Leo Bertos (groin) is the only concern for Wellington coach Ricki Herbert and he has included Argentinean attacking midfielder Oscar Roberto Cornejo as cover.
