Phoenix earn praise but target points in Brisbane battle

The Wellington Phoenix are approaching the halfway mark of their first A-League Women campaign and while they’ve received plenty of praise for their efforts, they would prefer to have more points.

They’ve lost five in a row since drawing with Western Sydney Wanderers in their opening match and have scored just a single goal, while conceding 18.

But it’s been a reoccurring theme after their losses

– to Melbourne City, Newcastle Jets, and Sydney FC – that there has been plenty of praise for how they’ve played.

Melbourne City coach Rado Vidosˇic´ was the latest to speak highly of them, after his side’s 4-0 win last Sunday.

When asked by a

New Zealand reporter about the performance of his Football Ferns striker, Hannah Wilkinson, he deflected and said the focus should be on some of the Phoenix’s young Kiwis.

He then said the Phoenix were ‘‘a very, very good team’’.

‘‘They pressed us really hard, they asked a lot of questions.

‘‘It was probably the most challenging game because they were so up for the fight, which was really good to see and it was a good challenge.’’

For Phoenix coach Gemma Lewis and her players, that kind of feedback is welcome, but she would still rather it was coming after wins and draws.

‘‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely to hear,’’ she said ahead of today’s clash with Brisbane Roar in Wollongong.

‘‘The coaches have been really, really good to us and even the opposition players have been really positive in response to playing us.

‘‘I think people see results and make assumptions and then when they play us, they actually end up having a lot tougher game than think they’re going to get.

‘‘But it’s one of those things where the pats on the back and the ‘well dones’, and the ‘you’re doing a great jobs’ are nice to hear, but also it doesn’t make the 4-0 losses feel any better, really.’’

Three of the Phoenix’s last four matches have been against City and Sydney, who have established themselves as the frontrunners this season.

They lost those matches by a combined margin of 12-0 (3-0 and 5-0 to Sydney, then 4-0 last weekend) and there was also a 5-1 defeat to the Jets in their second match.

But they bounced back to only lose 1-0 in their second meeting with their Jets and when you combine that with their first-up 0-0 draw with Wanderers, there’s every reason to believe there will be more opportunities for the Phoenix to pick up points as they head into the second half of the season.

The Roar come into today’s match having won just one of their first six games, against a Melbourne Victory side that had a player sent off, and went from winning 2-1 at the time to losing 4-2.

Brisbane have also conceded an average of two goals per game so far, which will excite the Phoenix, as they look to add to Ava Pritchard’s goal against the Jets in round two.

But Lewis stressed that while it was good to be playing a team with a less imposing record than City or Sydney, they wouldn’t be taking Brisbane lightly.

‘‘They’re not a bad team,’’ she said. ‘‘They’re probably just having similar problems to us in terms of converting their chances.

‘‘What I do know though, is that you cannot tell me that they’re not going to be targeting us for three points and throwing everything at this game.

‘‘That’s what the girls need to be mindful of . . . not thinking that this is going to be a way easier game than the City.

‘‘Brisbane have pace on the flanks. We’ve seen with how we deal with pace on the flanks at times – that it is a bit of an Achilles heel, to be honest.’’

The Phoenix will be without Kelli Brown, who is out with concussion. She is likely to be replaced in the starting XI by Grace Jale.