Soccer: Phoenix in need of a lucky break

Wellington Phoenix player Carlos Hernandez. Photo / Paul Taylor

It looks like the Wellington Phoenix A-League soccer side are having a terrible season. Four draws, five losses and no wins don't make pretty reading for a team who are one spot off the bottom of the ladder only because they edge the Melbourne Heart on goal difference.

But you'd also struggle to find a team who have played better soccer in recent seasons and have nothing to show for it.

Wellington have been their own worst enemies at times this season, with their finishing the main concern, but they've created a stack of chances.

Unfortunately for coach Ernie Merrick, the draw brings little Christmas cheer for the side.

They have a catch-up game against the Central Coast Mariners on Thursday before they host Sydney FC on Sunday.

The Mariners are a notoriously tough team to break down but Sydney must loom as a game Wellington will believe they can win, given the way they stumbled past the Heart 2-1 last Sunday.

If they don't find joy in the next two games it may not come in the third, given they head to Melbourne to meet the Heart on December 27.

In 15 games in Victoria, the Phoenix have lost 10 and drawn five. They've never won in Melbourne.

Merrick has this team on the right track - the Phoenix are playing an attractive brand of soccer that should help fill a stadium but need the results to match. Only 6374 people came through the gates of Westpac Stadium on Saturday evening, which should worry the people at Phoenix HQ.

The game was a home fixture on a sunny day against the league-leading Brisbane Roar.

But when Wellington were dealt a 2-1 loss you had to feel sorry for Merrick who must feel like a broken record in the changing sheds.

This team are playing well enough to earn victories. They just need a few things to fall their way.

They were awarded a penalty via what looked like little short of a dive from Kenny Cunningham - Carlos Hernandez did the rest - and when Glen Moss saved Besart Berisha's effort from the spot in the second half it looked like the tide was turning.

Then, against the run of play, the Phoenix conceded the winner to Ivan Franjic for the second time this season.

After Saturday's loss, Merrick cut a frustrated figure.

"We are on the right track," he insisted. "We are doing a lot of things right. Just because we aren't finishing doesn't mean we are not doing things right. But it's tough when things fall like they did today."

The law of averages would suggest things won't keep falling against the Phoenix.