Football: Illustrious Eden Park clash beckons

Wellington Phoenix player Xavier Pratt in action for WaiBOP youth team last season. Photo / File

Eden Park is set to become the biggest stage in the careers of many of WaiBOP United's players tomorrow.

The ASB Premiership round-seven clash with high-flying Wellington Phoenix Reserves kicks off at 12.15pm on the famous turf in the curtain raiser to the A-League match between Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners.

If the iconic setting was not a big enough adjustment to make for the WaiBOP players after their last two games played at Mount Maunganui's more humble Links Ave, the match will screen live on Sky Sport 4.

Despite the hype surrounding the game, WaiBOP coach Peter Smith says they have enough experience in the group to not get carried away.

"It is a big game for them but we do have Chad Coombes and Aaron Scott who have played for the All Whites, and Liam Higgins has been to the under-20s World Cup," he said.

Smith was delighted with the effort shown by his players to recover from a horror week and a 1-0 deficit to draw 1-1 with Waitakere United last Saturday. An administrative blunder meant their only win of the season against Wanderers SC was reversed and a $2000 fine imposed two days before the game was played.

"It could have been easy for us to feel sorry for ourselves but we dug in deep, battled and scrapped to not lose the game," Smith said. "The last quarter of the game we were the stronger team and our resilience showed."

Wellington Phoenix are third in the league and in top form after beating Hawke's Bay 5-2 away in Napier last round.

They have two players who grew up in Tauranga in All Whites striker Tyler Boyd and midfielder Xavier Pratt.

Pratt, 19, who played his early football with Otumoetai and Tauranga City, was in WaiBOP's youth team last season but decided to try his luck in a fulltime professional environment.

"I wanted a more secure opportunity to play ASB obviously and I probably would have been in the youth squad with WaiBOP," Pratt said. "I get to train every day down here which is obviously what everyone wants to do. The quality of training and number of times I train was a major factor for me.

"I am looking forward to playing against some of the boys I know and grew up with, but am nervous though. It is a big event for me."