Brisbane coach Rado Vidosic believes his side’s strong record in Wellington may come down to the Phoenix respecting them too much.
Brisbane coach Rado Vidosic believes his side’s strong record in Wellington may come down to the Phoenix respecting them too much.
Since Wellington joined the Hyundai A-League five years ago, the Roar have typically not left the New Zealand capital empty-handed and that form continued on Sunday when they claimed a point with a 1-1 draw at Westpac Stadium – a venue most other Australian sides struggle at.
Brisbane’s 2-0 defeat in New Zealand last season was played in Dunedin and the only other time the Roar have failed to earn at least a point from the away fixture was back in the 2009/10 campaign.
“I think maybe they respect us too much,” said Vidosic of Wellington.
“You saw the way they played against Sydney. They were in our faces for longer periods of time. They did not back off even when they scored the first goal.
“With us, we do play a little bit differently than anyone else in Australia. Maybe that’s why we have such good success here.”
Regardless of that success, Vidosic said it still remained one of the toughest trips in the competition and he was ‘very happy’ to come away with a point on Sunday after Besart Berisha’s 39th-minute goal cancelled out Stein Huysegems’ opener for the Phoenix.
“You just can’t prepare for Wellington unfortunately. There is no area in Australia where it’s so windy, it’s so cold and the grass is different,” Vidosic said.
“That’s probably why they force us to wash our boots before we go back to Australia so you don’t take the sticky grass with you,” he joked.
“The first 15 minutes was all Wellington. We knew that once we survived that first 15-16 minutes that the game would open up and there would be more space.
“I think the last 30 minutes of the first half we created a lot of chances. We should have scored two or three goals. We probably could have finished the game off.
“The second half was all square. I think they dropped off. They were more tired. But unfortunately we just couldn’t penetrate because they were so deep.”
Jack Hingert, who replaced the injured Ivan Franjic at the back, was tested early on by Paul Ifill.
But he grew more comfortable as the game progressed and linked well with Ben Halloran and Mitch Nichols as the Roar started to make inroads down the right flank.
“He (Hingert) did really well. He played against Ifill and that’s not an easy task,” said Vidosic.
“There were maybe a few times when both of our fullbacks went forward. Maybe there was a lack of communication or game awareness but I think in the second half he did a really good job.”
