Soccer: Big start key to season, say Phoenix

With last year's A-League soccer wooden spooners Newcastle in disarray, the Wellington Phoenix have a golden opportunity to get their season off to a winning start tomorrow.

The Phoenix have the statistical upper hand over Newcastle - in six meetings since the Phoenix started in the league two seasons ago, they have beaten them three times, lost twice and shared one draw.

The last time the teams met was in January in Wellington when the Phoenix won 3-0.

An overhauled squad and plenty of injuries leave Newcastle in an unsettled state entering the new season.

They also have a new coach in Branko Culina after the shock departure of Gary Van Egmond.

Injured and out of consideration for their season-opener are Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Ben Kantarovski, Donny De Groot and Jobe Wheelhouse.

However, Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert is preaching caution despite Newcastle's troubles.

"I watched them last week in Sydney and they looked good in the second half of their match when they put on some trial players.

"I don't think it matters who you get, it'll be tough."

Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante and winger Leo Bertos are both haunted by last year's failure to make the playoffs.

"Last season we got off to a poor start and it cost us at the end so definitely we are looking to pick up three points at Newcastle - they are a little bit underdone and have a lot of injuries in the side," Durante said.

"Everyone is saying they are going to be easybeats but I know they are going to really unite in front of their vocal home crowd and they have a lot to prove too."

Bertos, in his second season with the Phoenix, said excitement levels at the club were high.

There had been two good signings in strikers Paul Greenacre and Paul Ifill, who had lengthy experience in the English league, to replace former marksman Shane Smeltz who had moved to the Gold Coast.

"It's going to take a couple of weeks to get the combination spot on but we have done a lot of work on the attack side in training and it feels good."

With a settled back four of Tony Lochhead, Durante, Ben Sigmund and Manny Muscat and Jon McKain playing in front of them, the attackers in the side could now look to concentrate on doing their jobs, Bertos said.

"We want to get points on the board early as we don't want to let everyone run away from us," Bertos added.

The squad as a whole looked a little bit better than last year's, Bertos said.

"There's a lot of competition for starting places and that's only good for us."

For Durante, the recipe for success is simple.

"We want to get out there and have a really good season and prove people wrong because there's a lot of them out there already doubting us and we haven't kicked a ball yet."

The Phoenix announced yesterday that Sony New Zealand is back as major partner.

- NZPA