R18 vs Newcastle | Sun 22nd Feb | 5:00pm | Bellevue Gardens Hotel

The bloke next to me said "pffft. When was the last time we scored from one of these?".............

Nek minute

Bit of trivia.

1) What were the two dark coloured rectangle areas on the pitch today?  They weren't there last week. 

2) Is the ground easily cut up?  There were people out on the pitch at half time adding something to various patches on the pitch.

While people are putting their hands up I'll put mine up to say i called for Hicks to take it.

His two best attempts he put just inches wide, and both times Kennedy was beaten at his near post. Many in the croud thought they were goals. Also pinged one just over the bar. I have no complaints about Krishna at all. He's fast, very hard working, surprisingly strong on the ball, and although maybe not quite the handful for defences that Kosta is he still compares very favourably with other players of his type in the league. If you look back over the season you'd be surprised at how many gilt edged chances the likes of Berisha and Janko have missed too.

Hicks took the best corner ive seen for a while from a nix player when he came on also so had a good feeling about the FK

Makes sense to me, he's more of a natural goalscorer who has always specialised in getting into the right spot. It's pretty clear that Burns has spent more of his career as a winger when you see how he positions himself and moves in the box.

Epic trolling from Stubbins. I think.

Burns and Krishna both seem to be playing well, but not putting the ball away, but also there seems to be very little threat coming from the midfield or other players likely to score and drag defenders out of position.

Did anyone else see the Newcastle coach throw his umbrella into the  croud in anger at the ref giving a free kick, towards the end. I think the one ust before that freekcik from hicks

Managed to make the game after having to miss last week. Liked the stadium and the atmosphere. Was quite cool getting the different perspective of being so much closer to the pitch (was in Bay J next to Yellow Fever), although it would have been nicer to be a little higher as it was sometimes difficult to see what was happening at the other end of the pitch. 

Was surprised Hicks seemed to be lining up the free kick. Hadn't heard of him being a dead ball specialist, or was it simply a case of being the left footer on the pitch and the angle favoured the left foot? Great strike anyway and we wouldn't have deserved to lose.

One of them was. I think it was an attempt to hide the weedkiller cock and balls

My bet is Kia logos and Hyundai said no.

Fun fact from the match programme " If the Phoenix score twice today, they'll reach 50 A-League goals against Newcastle.  The Jet would be the first side they've managed that feat against" 

Clap clap clap

Also noticed the paddock club moved to the other side of the soul stand.  And Louis Fenton was slumming it in the Family Zone!

Hopefully we win next time we play at Hutta .

How many goals have we conceded from set pieces this year?  #plenty

By Chance were you in section F, we had a Twit like that behind us, drove us crazy especially in second half.

Before this weekend this it was just.

R4 V Victory - Finkler freekick

R6 v Adelaide - Boogard corner

R15 v Roar - Donachie corner

Boyd is history.

Somewhere around there, Some massive guy ripping into Krishna and Ernie all game.

He'll score plently for another club. Heard it here first.

All in all a fair result yesterday. We were good enough in the second term  to take all three points but in my honest opinion we did not really deserve them after going two down with poor defending.

Hutt Wreck, or any other small boutique stadium, is absolutely the way forward for the Phoenix. If people do not see the benefit in this for the city of Wellington then they are quite stupid and naive. Fingers crossed this happened.

Great day out and im gutted that I am not able to do this more often. I think there are too many people who get caught up in the negatives when the team isnt performing or when the club makes a less than ideal decision about where matches may be played but the reality is you get to see regular A League football in the dity in which you reside and you dont fully understand what its like to be a supporter who doesnt have immediate access to all home matches and the sacrifices we have to make in order to see our team play a handful of times a year!

I enjoyed the game and thought it was very entertaining evening at the Hutt. My favourite moment off the game was when Siggi was fed up with all short passing, dribbling and plowed thru the midfield short before they scored the first goal.

Yellow Fever did a good job, much louder, less wind? and People on the Ground where more animated this week.

Favourite moment after the game, some girls checking out Rufer, just to get disappointed when he kissed his girlfriend goodbye. 

Girl A (did not saw the kiss) "Was she pretty?"

Girl B "Yes she is pretty ;-("

Poor defending for the second goal.  First one?? Bad luck I think.

Apart from that we were all over them.  We were good enough over 3/4 of the game.  Who in the Nix had a poor game?  Maybe Roly and WeeMac weren't at their best, but definitely not poor.

We should have got 3 points and 4 goals.  Jets should have got a few more yellows.

Nobody had a really bad game in my opinion and yes a couple of players were below par but you have to admit whenever theball ends up in the net you have to suggest that the defending wasn't up to scratch else no goals would have been conceded. 

If you dont clear the ball out of the area effectively then there is always a chance that you will have "bad luck", therefore you have to admit that the defending was not up to scratch

I've seen plenty of goals that were bad luck and not due to any defending not being up to scratch.

(Just realised I'm sounding like Leggy!)

Not sure if im imagining this and i realize we scored late yesterday.But before the break i seem to recall us dominating teams late in the 2nd half.Since coming back this no longer seems to be the case.Did the other teams put more into training during the break and have we maybe not maintained the fitness level the guys had before the break.

So players are performing (which I agree with), and we're dominating possession and territory but not winning.

If that was a one-off you could put it down to bounce of the ball but it's not a one-off so something is missing.

Striker anyone?

Pretty sure Manny Moosecat isnt walking around today saying "It was unlucky I scored an own goal so meh!"

Not sure he is saying that he was glad the ball went where he was aiming for either!

(I see your "meh" and throw in a "pfffft")

I think its a mental thing. We lost a little traction over the break and are struggling to regain it. If you watched us after Siggy's barnstorming run before our first goal yesterday we were winning the 50/50s more often and we had a bit more swagger. Had we not conceded two early goals then we would have broken Newcastle yesterday

Im not a Lia fan but if it had been him that gave the ball away as much as Roly yesterday this place would be in meltdown.Frankly some of his stuff yesterday was just bloody stupid,why he persisted with attempted fancy flick ons when they clearly wernt working.We were chasing the game would have much preferred to see him with the ball at his feet .

Pfffft

We have two strikers. They sit 1st and 5th in the Golden Boot ladder.

Not a striker

Bring back Smeltz

Perhaps, but is that other club is going to be Auckland City in the short term; unless he and the Nix can resolve whatever their issues are? If another A league club doesn't risk a visa spot, how many options does the kid really have without a Euro passport?

Smithy, is your assertion personal Smithy-opinion? Or something closer to the club, say Yellowfever-fact?