Soccer: Defence gives Herbert headaches

New striker Paul Ifill (L) was off the pace in his first match for the Phoenix yesterday. Photo / Getty Images

NEWCASTLE - There is life at the Wellington Phoenix after Shane Smeltz, A-League soccer coach Ricki Herbert insists, but it is the other end of the pitch where his immediate concerns lie.

The Phoenix returned home to prepare for Perth Glory's visit on Sunday after an opening round 2-3 defeat at Newcastle yesterday thanks to an 84th-minute header by substitute Jason Naidovski.

Herbert fumed at his side's poor start as they trailed 0-2 after 22 minutes before a free kick header from Ben Sigmund, and a goal on debut from English striker Chris Greenacre, got it back to 2-2 at halftime.

That was a rare highlight for Herbert, whose 2008-09 golden boot winner Smeltz made an early mark for Gold Coast in their opening round win.

"It was great that Chris scored, that might get him out of the shadow of Shane Smeltz, so I was delighted for him," Herbert said.

"But it's about winning football matches this year so we're all very disappointed with that result."

Herbert felt his side did not deserve a draw after their early defensive struggles which gave Jets striker Jason Hoffman an easy double and handed control to last year's wooden spooners, under new coach Branko Culina.

"You could look for a number of positives, but the scoreline's 3-2 and that's what we need to address," he said.

"With the depth we've got, we're going to score goals this year and we've got to be tight and tidier at the back and deal with things more efficiently.

"That (defence) flows right throughout the side, we were a little tentative. Whether it's first-up syndrome, we're probably seen it in a few games over the weekend, but we don't want to be one of them."

The Phoenix drew their previous two A-League season openers and took six matches last season to register a win, against Sydney FC.

They will hope to bounce back on their beloved home turf against Perth, who lost 0-1 to Adelaide and face a marathon trip to Wellington.

Wellington's other new striker, Paul Ifill from Crystal Palace, looked in need of the run but Herbert was prepared to cut him some slack.

"Paul joined us late so that's the first time he's played in the team and with Chris. We're going to have to work on that partnership and it may take a little bit of time.

"There's only 26 games to go now, so the sooner the better."

In other results in the new extended 10-team league, Central Coast beat Melbourne 2-0, Sydney FC beat North Queensland 3-2 and Smeltz's goal helped new side Gold Coast beat Brisbane 3-1.

- NZPA