Phoenix roadshow hits another speed bump

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FIRST TO THE BALL: Phoenix defender and goalscorer Ben Sigmund gets in a clearance ahead of Perth midfielder Mile Sterjovski last night.

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The Wellington Phoenix remain lost on the road and are drifting off the A-League pace after a 2-1 loss to the impressive Perth Glory.

A Ben Sigmund goal in the 72nd minute gave the Phoenix some hope of snatching a draw but the reality is they were again outplayed away from home in Perth last night.

After five rounds the Phoenix are eighth, seven points off the pace being set by Perth and Adelaide United.

The Phoenix had lost their previous three games in Perth without scoring a goal and they would have been relieved to go into halftime just 1-0 down.

Wellington shaded the possession battle in the first half but Perth were far more effective with the ball and opened the scoring through a brilliant counter-attack in just the sixth minute.

Former Liverpool superstar Robbie Fowler showed supreme vision to pick out Todd Howarth with a long-range pass that caught fill-in right back Troy Hearfield out of position. Howarth composed himself and played veteran midfielder Mile Sterjovski in for the simplest of finishes.

Paul Ifill had a chance to equalise soon after but his goal-bound shot was cleared by Naum Sekulovski.

It was end-to-end, frenetic football with Fowler fluffing two golden chances that in his prime he would have buried with his eyes closed.

The Phoenix were struggling to get a foothold in the match and had two quality Mark Paston saves to thank for keeping them alive.

Daniel, who won a surprise start in midfield ahead of Leo Bertos, was a mixed bag, some dangerous passing marred by indiscipline and a yellow card.

Ricki Herbert clearly wasn't impressed by the opening 45 minutes and the Phoenix coach switched from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-3 in the second half.

Tim Brown and Dylan Macallister, ineffective in the first half, made way for new signing Nick Ward and Mirjan Pavlovic and things did start to improve.

But the Glory struck a dagger blow in the 61st minute as Sterjovski turned provider, his looping left-foot pass finding the head of Fowler, who made it third time lucky.

Herbert emptied the bench by bringing Bertos on for Daniel and the Phoenix breathed life into the contest through Sigmund's header, the defender allowed too much freedom while contesting a corner.

But Perth hung on for a deserved victory in front of 10,844 appreciative fans.

Elsewhere, Central Coast Mariners beat Melbourne Victory 2-0, Adelaide won 3-1 against Sydney FC, Melbourne Heart scored their first A-League victory, 1-0 against North Queensland Fury, and Newcastle Jets drew 0-0 with Brisbane Roar.

The Phoenix host Sydney on Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News