Soccer: Phoenix rising too slowly

The Wellington Phoenix can be thankful no side has yet made a break from the pack because progress up the A-League table is slow.

Ricki Herbert's side claimed their fifth straight draw on Friday night in the 0-0 encounter with Gold Coast United. Once again, they were the better side but they need to translate that into results.

The Phoenix moved into eighth on the table but only six points separated first and ninth.

The defence, led by skipper Andrew Durante and Ben Sigmund, were excellent against the Gold Coast and contained the combined threats of Shane Smeltz, Jason Culina and Joel Porter. But it's at the other end where problems remain.

Wellington have scored just four goals in their last seven games and only eight in total for the season.

"Wins will come," Herbert said. "We've just got to keep things going and aim to consistently improve. We're playing very well and we have deserved more from a lot of games, but things haven't dropped our way.

"No one is denying we've had the chances and that we might've done better with those, so the onus remains on us. We have to take our chances, sometimes you only get a couple in tight games and they make the difference."

The Phoenix have a bye next weekend. Herbert, Sigmund, Bertos, Tim Brown, Mark Paston, David Mulligan and Tony Lochhead are away with the All Whites for the first leg of their World Cup playoff with Bahrain while Manny Muscat is on international duty with Malta.

RICKI HERBERT is launching a football academy in Queenstown with former Wellington Phoenix midfielder Richard Johnson in January.

The All Whites and Phoenix coach is setting up the academy in the deep south, known as the 82 Football Academy, with Johnson overseeing the operation as head coach.

Herbert's commitments will prevent him from having a day-to-day involvement but he will be the academy director.

"It's exciting," he said. "It will be across the country but the base will be in Queenstown."

Johnson ran a four-day programme for 98 children in Christchurch last week and will run another one in Wellington this week. Wellington is the initial base but the plan is to move into Queenstown where four-day camps will be held.

A handful of Queenstown businessmen were able to convince Herbert to use the holiday destination as the base for elite coaching.NEW ZEALAND defender Abby Erceg's professional deal with Espanyol was short-lived with the 19-year-old returning home after just four days.

She had signed to play professionally with the Spanish giants for one year but decided it wasn't right for her.