Phoenix players asked to enjoy semi second leg
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Wellington Phoenix head coach Bev Priestman wants her players to enjoy the biggest game in the team’s short history.
The Phoenix are playing host to Brisbane Roar in the second leg of their A-League semi-final at Porirua Park for a place in next week’s grand final.
The Roar lead 2-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg in Brisbane, but the Nix are undaunted about overturning the deficit.
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“I am convinced…if we settle into the game well, the game can be ours for the taking,” Priestman told media after training on Friday.
“We’re ready. I believe in the group. I look in their eyes and they’re excited. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for.
“I’ve been dreaming about the moment and then hopefully a grand final. Now it’s just go out there and enjoy yourself.
“If you can’t enjoy an occasion like this, we shouldn’t be playing the game.
“It’s a semi-final which we’ve earnt, it’s at home, it’s the moment we want to create and we’re going to go out and enjoy ourselves and…hopefully give Wellington a day to remember.”
It’s the same approach they took heading into their final round robin match in Adelaide last month when a semi-final berth was on the line.
“That Adelaide is a bit of a reference point for me. They felt tense before that and that game we just went out and ‘go on and do what we do and enjoy the game’.
“When it feels like the pressure’s on, it’s not.
“We’re at home. The reason we did this was to come home to play in front of our incredible fans.
“In many ways the pressure is on them. Did they put us away enough [in the first leg]? No. If I was them I would be kicking myself a little bit that it could have and should have been more.”
Up to six thousand fans are expected to pack out Porirua Park, more than three times the Phoenix’s highest attendance at the ground.
“I’ve been thinking about it all week and no doubt the players have been too. Everywhere I go at the moment people are talking about this team.
“It’s going to be a moment to remember, a game, a day to remember for this club…so it’s going to be a great day and I hope we can make it even greater.
“What is it 19 years we’ve been trying to get to a grand final? So, imagine being part of that. I think that would be immensely special.”
Priestman is well aware of the importance of being the first team to score on Sunday.
“To get the first goal, start back at nil-nil and we build in the game there, that’s the dream and that’s what we want.
“But we know that football doesn’t always give you what you want. It’s got bumps in the road.
“Finals football is for the team that responds to those bumps in the road on the day and gets the job done however that is done.
“We’ve got to be dialled in mentally. It’s not the football at this point.
“It’s about who wants it more, mentality and sometimes luck works in your favour, sometimes it doesn’t.
“All we can do is give it our best and if we give it our best sometimes the football gods reward you.”
The Nix are prepared for all scenarios including penalties.
“We couldn’t have done any more.
“Penalties in some ways is the mentality monster. When the pressure is on can the players step up and deliver.
“But we’ve done everything we can individually on processes, we have a team process and practice that, so we can’t do any more.
“If it goes to penalties, I’d back us. I absolutely would. Our penalties have looked very, very good.
“Unfortunately I’ve lived those moments and I’ve come out on the good and the bad, but we’re prepared.
“Helping players feel prepared is a big part of alleviating some of that pressure.”
Bev Priestman has named an unchanged 19-player squad for the second leg with fit-again Football Ferns forward Pia Vlok “definitely ready” to return to the starting XI after coming off the bench in Brisbane.
