Pre-season 2013/2014 - vs Phoenix B - Ring of Fire - Sunday

Who`s your money on for the first injury of the year ??............They are playing Bubbles You Know !!!

Vinnie Lia my pick  !!

Porirua East is not that bad a place to walk through. Done it for the last 12 years and not much has happened.

Stein opens scoring in 2nd min, beats offside trap and rounds keeper. Olympic have had some good chances 

team??

Moss

Fenton durante adams rowe

Gulley lindsay lia watson

Biss huysegems

Not sure of subs. Anyone know?

Febton RB is weird. Guess traunmueller and aussie kid didnt work out

fenton at RB is very weird.... unless Ernie is playing 3 5 2?

2-0 on 30mins. Stein again

hows fenton at rb?

one imahgines he'd be pretty quick and good on attack, unsure about his defensive ability

Rowe any good?

Ryan Thomas makes it 3-0

4-0. class left foot finish around keeper from stein

Final score?

Hat trick from Stein....Nice!

He needs to show Ernie that he should be the starting striker...no better way than to bang in the goals. I think this could be a big year for Stein.....he really struggled under Ricki but working with Ernie may be just what he needs

Match report and player ratings please....someone?????????

Back from the training run..2 x 35 min halves.  Not may first teamers from last season.  Good quick passing game at relative pace..hope it carries on. Stein good...as always:>)  hatrick!  Fenton wasnt really right back I thought..first half there was someone else deeper and they played more 3 across back but stand to be corrected.  Gulley did okay first half. Rowe..hmmm. Baselaj on in second half..good reflex save at end.  Has a good punt.

Piney just tweeted that Louis played RB and Ernie will give him a run there during pre-season to see if he is an A-League option.

Really.. I thought Stein was very average tonight, took his goals well, but against better opposition he wont get that much time on the ball? Good game, fast pace considering the pitch..My shock was seeing Fenton playing right back? Strange.. see him as a midfielder. I thought we (Olympic) played well considering this was our 4th game in 10 days!.. Mikey H played well second half, Van knocked some nice balls around. Didn't really threaten too much. Overall a good run out for both teams. Sat next to Ernie first half, great encouragement to his players, I like his style of play... Was Central League standard though.. nothing special! Disappointed in many of the Nix players first touch.. not what i would expect from a Pro team, but early pre season so may be rusty!

I stand corrected then

Said the man in the Orthopaedic shoes!!! 

Fenton at RB is just silly. Why not just sign an actual RB/wingback. Mental!!!

Hard to read much into the game given the pitch, opposition and the number of yoof players.

Far to say Fenton struggled in his defensive positioning.  

Colour me shocked

Just sign a wingback, international if need be. 

In Ernie we trust

Quite a few first teamers not playing tonight then: Siggy, Leo, Manny, Tyler, etc

Moss 7.0 - Rarely tested, but when he was put under pressure he handled it adequately. Distributed the ball along the ground to the back 4 quite nicely and appeared composed while doing this. Was a breath of fresh air to see more of a consensus on controlling the ball and composing himself as a pose to hoofing the ball down field given any opportunity as we often saw with Paston. 

Fenton 6.0 - Slightly disapointed in Fenton's performance. To his credit he worked hard as always, but didn't really see much conviction when he was going forward. Seemed a little bit slow. To be fair, he was played out of position and I can't recall him making any shocking mistakes. Overall, a decent performance though.  

Durante 8.5 - Was a class above anyone on the pitch. Played as a central defender in the first half, and was cool, calm and clinical on the ball. Controlled it well, distributed exceptionally well, and beat his man with skill when required. In the second half he moved to a defensive midfielder role, pushing higher up the pitch and screening the back four. Thought he was very good here too, as he bossed the midfield and controlled possession really well. Only concern is that he does sometimes get caught out of position while trying to intercept and his defending can be a bit questionable at times. 

Adams 8.0 - Brilliant game from Adams. His technique and ability on the ball was exceptionally good. Controlled the ball from the back really well and never panicked. Hope to see more of him. 

Gulley 7.0 -  Had a decent game. No noticeable mistakes that I could make out. Did not really stand out, but he did most things that would be required of him in that position. Didn't delay on the ball, and most of his passes were well executed and complete.  

Lindsay 6.5 - Didn't really see too much of Lindsay but from what I saw, he was okay. Can't recall any major errors or anything. Played in a central midfield role. 

Lia 7.0 - You either love him or hate him but to his credit, Lia had a pretty decent game. Nothing spectacular, and he made some bad passes and mistakes, but he also played a couple of great balls that  no one else on the pitch was capable of. One of them was a ground through ball assist to Stein who slotted it in the bottom corner. 

Watson 6.5 - Showed potential. Has great strength and pretty good work ethic. However, his touch is not up to professional standard, nor is his passing. Needs some technical work if he is to ever make it as a pro footballer. He made a great assist to Stein in the second half (might have had 2 assists, can't quite remember). 

Huysegems 8.0 - Took his chances. His finishing was clinical, and he deserved his hat-trick. First goal he beat the offside trap and calmly dribbled around the keeper and tapped the ball in. Second goal he got on the end of a driven cross and slotted it into the bottom corner with his right foot actually. Buried his third goal with finesse into the side netting after Watson used his body and strength to beat his man on the edge of the penalty box and crossed it into Stein. Looked pretty good on the ball when it was played to his feet. Controls the ball and lays it off nicely. Only weakness is that he has no right foot whatsoever and apart from the goals, he went missing for periods.

Kind of agree with most of those ratings, but we have to remember that an 8.5 against a Central League side is much different to an 8.5 against A-League opposition.

In terms oflearning how the nix will go this year was largely a waste of time to be honest. It was useful for seeing some accadamey  players again. Team that ultimately takes the field in round two will look nothing like what was on the pitch tonight. What they did they did well and played with reasonable pace and controlled the ball and game for long periods . Fenton went ok at RB for a first hit out. would be interested to get the low down on triallists to knwo if they have been given the shove.

Enjoyable though seeing Nix colours on the park again

Decent from the Nix. If that's the style of play we can look forward to then all good.

Anyone with shirts off at 80 mins?

Interesting Merrick is keen on Fenton at right back. I'm forever an optimist and am trying to think of the good reasons to try it but I can't stop the nagging feeling he needs to be played higher up both for himself and the Phoenix. And we just need to get ourselves a fricken specialist right back. Definitely keen to hear why none of the newbies were there.  

But glad to hear otherwise encouraging, even with limited opposition (speaking of, anyone know Olympic line-up?)

the ozzie kid is injured.

Van Elia could well be HAL one day

What happened to Traunmueller?

Fenton as right back.....aaaarggg!!

Somewhere carved in stone, buried deep in the basement of the ROF, are the  foundation documents of the Wellington Phoenix Football Club.

Clause two, subsection one  " from this day forth and forever more, you shall never buy a specialist right back.....you will always try and convert someone to this position"

Hopefully he was just there because Tranmueller and the oz blood nut where injured....in Ernie we trust!!!!!