Wellington Phoenix boss Ufuk Talay says his game plan worked to a tee as his side notched their first win of the season against Brisbane Roar on Saturday afternoon.
The 2-1 win over Brisbane hauled Wellington off the bottom of the table and back within touching distance of the top six.
Talay was unsurprisingly delighted post-match, particularly with the way his side were able to stick to the plan and carry it out with aplomb.
“I think the boys played really well today,” Talay told Sky Sports.
HOW TO WATCH: Every match in Round 7 of the Hyundai A-League
“I think the game plan worked very well, in the first half we pressed them a lot higher, we won a lot of balls going forward as well.
“I thought we deserved the three points tonight.”
Talay’s team executed a solid collective performance, but much of Wellington’s success on the day came from the performance of their steely leader Steven Taylor, who scored the opening goal and denied Brisbane a certain equaliser with an incredible goal-line clearance.
And Talay was quick to give credit to the Phoenix captain post-match.
“I’m very happy for Tayls,” he said.
“He’s our captain and he led from the front, and scored his goal as well.
“We’ll build on this game, a big game against Adelaide so we’ll go there to get three points and look forward.”
On the flip side, Roar boss Robbie Fowler was particularly downbeat after his side showed little to no fight throughout the majority of the game.
Fowler could only watch on in frustration as the winless Phoenix took control of Brisbane in their contest at Westpac Stadium.
It took until the 85th minute of the clash for Brisbane to show any signs of life when they finally found the back of the net through a Stefan Mauk strike but it was too little, too late for the Roar who couldn’t find an equaliser, slumping to their third loss of the campaign.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6107913877001
And Fowler didn’t mince his words in the aftermath.
“If you don’t score goals, you don’t win games,” Fowler told Sky Sports post-match.
“I think we’re disappointed with the way we performed today after last week.
“I think (last week) we showed everything that was needed to win football games, but today it wasn’t there.
“The last thing you should do is question anyone’s desire, commitment or attitude, (but) I think we can maybe question a few of them today.”
After their sensational 4-3 comeback win over Melbourne City last weekend Brisbane had the chance to jump into the top six and close in on the top four with a win over Wellington.
Instead, they allowed the league’s bottom side to create a two-goal buffer through strikes from Steven Taylor and Ulises Dávila, which ultimately proved insurmountable for the Roar.
Brisbane were caught napping from a set play early in the game which led to the Taylor goal, and allowed Dávila far too much space to dribble to the edge of the box to score Wellington’s second of the afternoon in a display plagued by defensive errors.
After the disappointment of falling to the Phoenix at Westpac Stadium today, Fowler hopes his side make a swift response against Central Coast Mariners next weekend.
“We’ve got a home game next week, so obviously we’ll pick our chins up and we’ll go again,” Fowler said.
“I think our performances this year have been relatively good, a great win last week.
“Nothing will change in terms of what we do.
“We’ll prepare properly for Central Coast next week, it’s a chance for us to get (in front) of our home fans.
Download the MyFootball Live App now
“We’ve not played too many (home) games, but (the fans) will turn out and like always they’ll get right behind our boys and hopefully that will give us a massive lift as well.”
Brisbane host the Mariners at Suncorp Stadium next Saturday afternoon (5:00pm AEDT).
