Getting three points against Central Coast is all Wellington Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund is focusing on, despite another hectic week of football to follow.
Getting three points against Central Coast is all Wellington Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund is focusing on, despite another hectic week of football to follow.
Coming up after Sunday’s match at Westpac Stadium, Sigmund and his New Zealand team-mates, along with coach Ricki Herbert, will travel to China for a mid-week international friendly in Shanghai before returning for away trips to Newcastle and Perth.
But after missing last week’s disappointing loss to Melbourne Victory due to his controversial one-match suspension for a red card against Adelaide, all Sigmund wants is to get the Phoenix back to winning ways.
“I’m going to give everything against Central Coast because for me at the moment, the Phoenix we need a win and that’s the most important thing,” said the central defender, who will replace Michael Boxall in the starting line-up against the Mariners.
“Once that game is over we’ll focus on China and obviously then we’ve got to come back and play Newcastle away and Perth away.
“I think it’s one game at a time for us now. For me it’s Central Coast and getting three points.”
Wellington have slipped to eighth following back-to-back defeats away from home and last Monday’s poor loss to Victory was a particularly hard one for Sigmund to watch.
“It was pretty tough, that first half especially,” said Sigmund, who sat among fans at the local pub watching the game.
“I thought the last half-an-hour the boys got themselves together and finished with a bit of pride which we need to take into this weekend’s game.”
Sigmund admitted the whole group were still smarting from the lacklustre and error-strewn performance.
“Everyone is disappointed. Even if you don’t play you’re disappointed because we’re a team and we’re a squad,” he said.
“We’ve had a good training session now and fixed up a few of the problems that we had. Hopefully we can take that into the game and get to where we should be and expect to be.
“Everyone has got a job and a task they’ve got to do and if they don’t do it you’ll be on the bench. That’s the standards we’ve got to set.
“This weekend is important. We’ve got to put Melbourne away and say that’s finished with and fix the mistakes we’ve made.”
