Football: Phoenix need to break goals drought against Mariners

Wellington Pheonix. Photo / Getty Images

The dam is about to burst for the Wellington Phoenix football side.

Ernie Merrick's side have been held scoreless in their past three matches and the drought needs to break tonight when they meet the Central Coast Mariners at Westpac Stadium in Wellington. There are only two games left in the A-League's regular season and the Phoenix could earn a top-two finish, which brings greater benefits in the playoffs, with wins over the Mariners and Sydney FC in their remaining games.

The match against the Mariners is something of a banana-skin fixture for the Phoenix who should comfortably beat a Central Coast side who are out of the playoffs and have little to play for. Winning tonight could set up a second-place shootout with Sydney in the capital next weekend but there's an array of other calculations in play. Here's what is simple, though: The Phoenix need to get back to scoring goals.

When they were tearing the league apart during the middle stages of the campaign they were scoring at will but the goals have dried up recently.

One of Merrick's key areas of improvement at training this week was engaging his attacking-minded midfielders Roly Bonevacia and Michael McGlinchey. "They're the ones that set up the goal-scoring opportunities or get through and take them themselves," Merrick said.

"If we get that right, it will work well for us."

Bonevacia, who arrived in Wellington from Dutch side Roda JC, has been one of the Phoenix's best this season but still slips in to his defensive habits of old where he drops back too far on the field. Merrick has worked on trying to ensure the 23-year-old continues to get involved and push forward to create havoc for the opposition.

Wellington have a range of potential goal-scorers, including strikers Nathan Burns and Roy Krishna who have combined for 22 goals this season. McGlinchey, who has played deeper behind those two as the season has progressed, has also scored five goals.

Tonight's game sets up as a contest where if the Phoenix were to get one goal, they could hammer home a few more as they've done frequently under Merrick.

"Football is a bit like that, the team that scores gets very confident and takes more chances going forward," Merrick said. "I know that we are capable of scoring more than one goal against any team in this competition."

The eighth-placed Mariners are still adjusting to life under new coach Tony Walmsley and Merrick said they would pose a strong challenge.

The Phoenix will be at full strength tonight with centre back Ben Sigmund back from injury. Goalkeeper Glen Moss (corked leg) and Vince Lia (hamstring) should be available for selection.