The old cliché of one game at a time is firmly on Wellington Phoenix captain Andrew Durante’s mind as the team heads for Australia once more for Friday’s game against cellar dwellers Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.
The old cliché of one game at a time is firmly on Wellington Phoenix captain Andrew Durante-s mind as the team heads for Australia once more for Friday-s game against cellar dwellers Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Despite being in the middle of a hectic schedule of nine games in six weeks, the Phoenix are going along nicely with three wins from their last four games, but Durante isn-t getting carried away.
“We are on a bit of a roll but you can-t look too far ahead,” Durante said.
“It is a fact that we haven-t had much joy at Hindmarsh in the past, but on the up side we are playing much better away from home than in previous seasons.
“The history of the club shows we haven-t performed well away and there have been some poor performances in the past, but that isn-t the case any more.
“We-ve started games well and put teams on the back foot. It hasn-t translated into points so far but I think we should have been five or six (points) better off from away matches on our performances.”
Considering the pre-season upheaval and the horrendous run of injuries in the opening rounds, the Phoenix have surprised many with their results and performances.
“We are tipped to come last at the best of times,” Durante said with a wry smile, “but we have proved a lot of people wrong in the past and are doing so again.
“Every club is liable to go through periods when injuries pile up and hopefully we-ve had ours.
“Ifes (Paul Ifill) is the only one still out, apart from Lucas (Pantelis) who is missing the season, and once he is back Ricki (Herbert) will have plenty of selection options.”
The Phoenix- stocks ahead of Adelaide have been boosted with the news that All Whites defender Tony Lochhead has recovered from the groin injury sustained against Perth Glory and will travel to Adelaide.
Lochhead is likely to go straight into the starting line up which will allow Manny Muscat to revert to right back and Vince Lia to move back into midfield.
