Heart stun Phoenix in 5-0 thumping

The loss of Albert Riera in midfield was obvious for Wellington this time around as the Phoenix went down to Melbourne Heart 5-0 in one of their worst results of the season.

With Vince Lia stepping into the defensive midfield position usually covered by Riera, Carlos Hernandez was left to cover his usual role of attacking midfielder.

However, with Melbourne Heart's defence performing second to none recently, they all but ruled Hernandez out of the game, leaving Lia with the task of defending as well attempting to feed the ball through to the strikers.

This broke down the game plan that had been working so well for the Phoenix and in the ninth minute Heart managed to utilise some technical and passing errors the Phoenix made to come through with their first goal of the game.

Their second goal came less than 10 minutes after the first with Glen Moss caught high with a well placed shot from David Williams hitting the post, bouncing off Moss's back and heading into the goal.

The Phoenix had minimal chances in front of goal in the first-half with most of their passes failing to make contact with their strikers and a lot of ball going straight up the middle of the pitch into Heart's defenders

The second half did not see any improvement in the Phoenix's play with badly placed passes and almost no attacking chances.

Heart started to get under their skin, coming in strong on every player that had possession of the ball.

Even though they were given plenty of cards for it this seemed to pressure the Phoenix into throwing faster and therefore more inaccurate passes.

Things just went from bad to worse after this with fans watching in horror as Heart managed to get not one, not two, but three more goals past Moss to give them a 5-0 lead and the much-needed three points for the win.

Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick said the game had clearly been a disappointment, with nothing going right.

"Well I certainly am not going to blame... it's one of those things where everyone had a rough day... nothing went right we couldn't get a good passing game together.

"Credit to Heart, they shut Carlos down."

With the Phoenix only just securing their sixth place slot on the table this loss could see them move back down to seventh, with their next few games really being make or break for the season.

Next week's fixture will see them face the Central Coast Mariners in an away game with the Phoenix yet to beat the Mariners in a match, while the Heart head back to Melbourne and meet with the out-of-sorts Brisbane Roar.



Wellington Phoenix: 1. Glen MOSS, 2. Manny MUSCAT, 5. Michael BOXALL, 9. Kenny CUNNINGHAM, 10. Stein HUYSEGEMS, 11. Jeremy BROCKIE, 15. Jason HICKS, 17. Vince LIA, 18. Ben SIGMUND, 21. Carlos HERNANDEZ, 22. Andrew DURANTE, SUBS: 3. Reece CAIRA, 12. Tyler BOYD, 19. Hamish WATSON, 20. Lewis ITALIANO, 23. Matthew RIDENTON


Melbourne Heart 1. Andrew REDMAYNE, 3. Robbie WIELAERT, 4. Orlando ENGELAAR, 6. Patrick GERHARDT, 7. Iain RAMSAY, 8. Massimo MURDOCCA, 15. David WILLIAMS, 16. Aziz BEHICH, 17. Jason HOFFMAN, 23. Mate DUGANDZIC, 24. Patrick KISNORBO SUBS: 19. Ben GARUCCIO, 20. Tando VELAPHI, 21. Stefan MAUK, 22. Nick KALMAR, 27. Luke O'DEA