Wellington Phoenix fans can rest assured that their team will be pulling out all the stops to get back on the winning trail when they take on Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.
If the fans were disappointed by the 2-0 loss to Central Coast Mariners in Gosford last week the players were devastated, not just because they had been beaten but more so the manner of the loss.
The first thing I saw in the dressing room at Gosford was the hurt in their eyes. They knew they had let their supporters and themselves down.
It was the only game this season in which so many players were off key.
Once they had digested what had just happened the reaction was that they would make sure it didn’t happen again.
Since arriving back at the team’s base for the week in Bondi there has been time to reflect on where the team is at and why they were so disappointed.
This is a team with the thinnest squad in terms of numbers, handled by the smallest management team.
Given the off-field dramas of the close season they were picked by many pundits on both sides of the Tasman to finish bottom, and after six weeks were written off completely.
That they turned things around is a credit to the character within the group and there is a determination to finish as high as possible and to ensure finals football for the third successive year.
What performances on the field so far have done, along with the growing stability of the club off it, is encourage key players to re-sign and made Wellington attractive to those considering a move from other clubs.
Now they are determined not to waste what was gained by that four-game winning streak, including three on the trot away from home, by taking three points home from Sydney.
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