Phoenix ready, pumped and in great Heart

The Wellington Phoenix have finally blown their cover.

Surprise back-to-back wins in Australia have lifted Ricki Herbert's unfashionable mob to the dizzying heights of third and observers across the Tasman are finally taking notice.

It is unfamiliar territory for the Phoenix, who have thrived on a "nobody believes in us" mentality throughout their brief existence as New Zealand's sole professional football team.

Chris Greenacre, the veteran English striker, embodies that attitude, a consummate professional and team man who is as happy doing the donkey work as he is scoring goals.

With nine games to go, starting at home to Melbourne Heart tomorrow, the Phoenix are in the box seat to finish in the top four and secure a home final at their beloved Westpac Stadium.

They are not quite top of the league, but Greenacre is feeling on top of the world.

"We've defied everyone's expectations. No-one gave us any chance of getting any points on the road and that was our inspiration really," he said.

"We wanted to just show people what we were about and, thankfully, we picked up six points with two big performances.

"It keeps us close together and we thrive on that underdog status," he said.

"We've gone under the radar a little bit and people are making big things about what's going on at Victory and Adelaide and Gold Coast and so on.

"We've gone under the radar and I think it might be a surprise to one or two people to see us in third position.

"We'll let the other teams have all the limelight and we'll just plod along and keep picking points up."

There are likely to be one or two changes to the Phoenix 11, with right back Manny Muscat an unlikely starter as he awaits the birth of his first child in Melbourne.

Vince Lia, whose bruised knee made it through training yesterday, has re-emerged as an option, while Kiwi teenager Cameron Lindsay is the other possibility.

Herbert may also reward Leo Bertos for his spark off the bench and start him in place of Nick Ward, who continues to battle niggling injuries.

Whatever the case, Greenacre – whose duties now extend to some coaching work around the attacking third of the pitch – has taken great satisfaction from the fact the club's goalscoring list this season includes defenders Muscat and Ben Sigmund.

"Yeah it's good, it ... doesn't relieve the strikers, but it means we're a threat from all angles.

"We're a threat from set-pieces, we're a threat from Browny [Tim Brown] making late runs into the box, we've got fullbacks now popping up and scoring goals, and, obviously, the strikers are there or thereabouts anyway.

"So it's good and it means that other teams have to be fully focused on defending against us because we're able to score from anywhere."

Tomorrow shapes as an interesting tussle between the hard-headed experience of the Phoenix and a young, talented, but inconsistent Heart side sitting one rung below them.

"They're quick on attack and young teams kind of play off the cuff. But it's always difficult with young teams, getting that consistency week-in and week-out," Greenacre said.

"You have a good spurt and then things flatten off a little bit. Suddenly the pressure takes a little bit of a toll so, hopefully, we can gain an edge on that experience front and get three points."

- © Fairfax NZ News