Wellington Phoenix 0-1 Perth Glory
By Denise Duffy (18/3/23)
Above: Cyera Hintzen (right) and Hana Lowry celebrate after the American striker scored Perth Glory’s winner. Photo: Perth Glory FC
Wellington Phoenix suffered their sixth 1-nil defeat of the Liberty A-League season at the hands of Perth Glory, with American striker Cyera Hintzen scoring an early goal to secure the win.
A strong first 20 minutes by the visitors was all they needed to secure a goal and hold a lead. The winning strike came from Cyera Hinzten, whose impressive finish after a build up of crisp passing completed a move of quality from the Western Australian side.
Despite dominating possession and creating several scoring opportunities, the Phoenix were unable to convert their plethora of chances into goals, and remain bottom of the ladder. The team’s head coach, Natalie Lawrence, expressed her frustration at their inability to score despite playing attacking football.
“So it’s something that we’ve got to keep working on improving is our composure. We had 11 shots inside the box. There were 24 shots in total. We had similar 28 crosses that’s 60% possession, when you look at those stats, you can’t lose those games. Especially with how tight it is at the bottom.”
Despite the loss, Lawrence was proud of her team’s performance and believes that they are making progress.
“We feel that we’ve shown massive progression from last year and from the beginning of the season. So we’ll keep working really, really hard. Right into the last game for the season.”
Although the Phoenix responded well to going behind, with Paige Satchell causing problems down the flank, they were unable to score despite having 24 shots to the Glory’s eight and delivering 28 crosses into the Perth box. Sarah Langman, the Glory goalkeeper, made several saves to keep a clean sheet, denying multiple Phoenix players. Despite making substitutions and pushing for an equalizer, the Phoenix were unable to find the back of the net and ultimately fell to another narrow defeat.
Perth Glory coach Alex Epakis was a proud man after the game, and recognised the efforts of Wellington Phoenix as well.
“Look, what I would say is that credit has to go to Wellington, I believe we came out and started off the blocks really quickly, in the first 15-20 minutes, we looked really crisp with the ball.
“We got rewarded with a nice goal for that. But then after that, they just sort of took control of the game a little bit. And, you know, they played really well. The way that the team’s evolving and progressing, credit to the staff. But ultimately, what we did show was that relentless desire to just find a way to win, even when you don’t play well, for 90 minutes. And I think that’s the trait of a healthy team.”
The win keeps Perth’s finals hopes mathematically alive, while the Phoenix must regroup before their next game against the Jets.
Teams: WELLINGTON PHOENIX (4-3-3): Edwards, Foster, Taylor, Van der Meer, Barry, Knott(c), Hassett, Wisnewski, Robertson, Rolston, Satchell. Substitutes: Candy, Pritchard, McMeeken, Whinham, Clegg, Cicco.
PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Langman, Carroll, Rigby, Anton, Lowery, Sakalis, Blake, Hintzen, Lawrence, Foletta, Mastrantonio. Substitutes: Aquino, Koulizakis, Cain, Green, Jancevski.
Scorer: Hintzen 10′.
Referee: Isabella Libri.
Attendance: 850.
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