2007–08 Wellington Phoenix season

The 2007–08 A-League season was the inaugural season for the Wellington Phoenix, who replaced the New Zealand Knights.

Wellington Phoenix FC

2007–2008 season
CEO	Tony Pignata
Manager	Ricki Herbert
A-League	8th
Preseason Cup	6th
Top goalscorer	S. Smeltz - 9
Highest home attendance	18,345 v Adelaide United on 30 November 2007
Lowest home attendance	8,032 v Perth Glory on 7 December 2007
Home colours Away colours
2008–09 →

Contents 1 Season review 2 Players 2.1 First team squad 2.2 Transfers 2.2.1 In 3 Matches 3.1 2007 Pre-season Cup fixtures 3.2 2007–08 Hyundai A-League fixtures 3.3 Exhibition Match 3.4 Ladder 4 Statistics 4.1 Appearances and goals 4.2 Goal scorers 4.3 Goal assists 4.4 Disciplinary record 4.5 Club End of Season Awards 5 References

Season review

Of the 21 rounds, Wellington Phoenix FC played 10 home games.

In its first match of its A-League campaign it drew 2–2 against Melbourne Victory. Scoring two late goals in the last 7 minutes from Brazilian import Daniel and Shane Smeltz. A crowd of 14,421 was produced which set a record, at that time, for the highest attended club football (soccer) match in New Zealand.

Wellington's first A-League win was a 2–1 defeat of Sydney FC at Sydney Football Stadium on 14 September 2007. Its first home win was its 4–1 defeat of Perth Glory on 30 September 2007.

On 1 December 2007, Wellington Phoenix played a friendly match against United States MLS club Los Angeles Galaxy.^[1][2] In the contract to secure the friendly, David Beckham had to play a minimum of 55 minutes. Wellington was beaten by a 1–4 scoreline. David Beckham played the entire match and scored from the penalty spot in the second half. The attendance of 31,853 was a record for any football match in New Zealand.^[3] David Beckham played the full 90 minutes with a broken rib which he sustained in a tackle in the previous match.^[4]

The previous evening, 30 November 2007, 18,345 had attended the A-League match against Adelaide United. This is the largest crowd to watch a competitive club football match in New Zealand.

Wellington officially ended its 2007–08 finals chances when it lost 2–0 to Sydney FC on 4 January 2008.

On the last day of the regular season, the Phoenix had lost a 2–0 away match to the Central Coast Mariners leaving it with 20 points along with Perth Glory. However, due to a poorer goal difference, the Phoenix finished the season in 8th place.

Players

First team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Mark Paston 2 DF Jeremy Christie 3 DF Tony Lochhead 4 DF Cleberson 5 DF Karl Dodd 6 MF Tim Brown (Vice-Captain) 7 DF Ross Aloisi (Captain) 8 FW Vaughan Coveny 9 FW Shane Smeltz 10 MF Michael Ferrante 11 MF Daniel 12 MF Richard Johnson

No. Position Player 13 DF Steven Old 14 DF Steven O'Dor 15 MF George 16 DF Kristian Rees 17 MF Vince Lia 18 DF Ahmad Elrich 19 FW Greg Draper 20 GK Glen Moss 21 MF Felipe 22 FW Royce Brownlie 23 FW Kosta Barbarouses 30 GK Jacob Spoonley

Transfers

In

Squad #	Position	Player	Transferred from	Notes
1	GK	Mark Paston	New Zealand Knights	Free
2	DF	Jeremy Christie	Perth Glory	Free
3	DF	Tony Lochhead	New England Revolution	Free
4	DF	Cleberson	Cabofriense
5	DF	Karl Dodd	Falkirk FC
6	MF	Tim Brown	Newcastle Jets
7	DF	Ross Aloisi	Adelaide United	Free
8	FW	Vaughan Coveny	Newcastle Jets	Free
9	FW	Shane Smeltz	Halifax Town
10	MF	Michael Ferrante	Melbourne Victory	Free
11	MF	Daniel	Madureira
12	MF	Richard Johnson	New Zealand Knights	Free
13	DF	Steven Old	Newcastle Jets	Free
14	DF	Steven O'Dor	New Zealand Knights	Free
15	MF	George	Carabobo
16	DF	Kristian Rees	Whittlesea Zebras	Short-term contract
17	MF	Vince Lia	Melbourne Victory	Free
18	MF	Ahmad Elrich	Fulham FC
19	FW	Greg Draper	Canterbury United	Free
20	GK	Glen Moss	Dinamo Bucharest	Free
21	MF	Felipe	Hajduk Split
22	FW	Royce Brownlie	Swindon Town
23	FW	Kosta Barbarouses	Team Wellington	Free
30	GK	Jacob Spoonley	Auckland City FC	Free

Matches

2007 Pre-season Cup fixtures

See Also: 2007 A-League Pre-Season Cup

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	BP
Central Coast Mariners	10	3	2	1	0	6	1	3
Queensland Roar	6	3	1	2	0	3	2	1
Wellington Phoenix	5	3	1	0	2	4	4	2
Sydney FC	1	3	0	1	2	0	6	0

Round 1 14 July 2007	Central Coast Mariners	2 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
	A. Wilkinson  3' A. Kwasnik  30'	Report		Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Srebre Delovski

Round 2 22 July 2007	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 0	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	S. Smeltz  13'  89' (pen) M. Rudan  14' (o.g.)	Report		Attendance: 6,039 Referee: Peter O'Leary

Round 3 27 July 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 2	Queensland Roar	Queen Elizabeth II Park, Christchurch
	S. Old  46'	Report	40' S. Lynch  48' S. Ognenovski	Attendance: 4,081 Referee: Michael Hester

Play-offs 4 August 2007	Melbourne Victory	1 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
	K. Dodd  34' (o.g.)	Report	53' S. Smeltz  87' Daniel	Attendance: 4,100 Referee: Kevin Docherty

5th Place Play-off 10 August 2007	Wellington Phoenix	0 : 0	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
		(2 - 4 pen) Report		Attendance: 5,174 Referee: Michael Hester

2007–08 Hyundai A-League fixtures

26 August 2007	Wellington Phoenix	2 : 2	Melbourne Victory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 1	Daniel  79' Smeltz  84'	(0:1) Summary	Muscat  19' (pen) Allsopp  60'	Attendance: 14,421 Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

31 August 2007	Central Coast Mariners	3 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
Round 2	Mrdja  7'  34' Kwasnik  13'	(3:0) Summary		Attendance: 9,052 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

9 September 2007	Wellington Phoenix	0 : 1	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 3		(0:0) Summary	Thompson  77'	Attendance: 11,478 Referee: Peter O'Leary (New Zealand)

14 September 2007	Sydney FC	1 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Round 4	Casey  6'	(1:2) Summary	Felipe  8' Daniel  29' (pen)	Attendance: 11,491 Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)

22 September 2007	Wellington Phoenix	2 : 2	Adelaide United	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 5	Felipe  64' Smeltz  87'	(0:0) Summary	Diego  69' Djite  78'	Attendance: 12,127 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

30 September 2007	Wellington Phoenix	4 : 1	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 6	Aloisi  13' Smeltz  41' Coveney  56' Lochhead  83'	(2:1) Summary	Celeski  10'	Attendance: 10,127 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

5 October 2007	Queensland Roar	2 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Round 7	Zullo  4' Kruse  45+1'	(2:0) Summary	Smeltz  90+5'	Attendance: 12,458 Referee: Craig Zetter (Australia)

14 October 2007	Newcastle Jets	2 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
Round 8	Holland  16' Griffiths  40'	(2:0) Summary	Old  90+4'	Attendance: 11,947 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

21 October 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 2	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 9	Elrich  24'	(1:1) Summary	Heffernan  16' Petrovski  90+1'	Attendance: 10,562 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

28 October 2007	Adelaide United	4 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
Round 10	Giraldi  5' Burns  45+3' Pantelis  49' Spagnuolo  75'	(2:1) Summary	Smeltz  3'	Attendance: 11,740 Referee: Simon Przydacz (Australia)

2 November 2007	Perth Glory	0 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
Round 11		(0:1) Summary	Daniel  3'	Attendance: 7,105 Referee: Simon Przydacz (Australia)

11 November 2007	Queensland Roar	3 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Round 12	Reinaldo  66' (pen)  79' Marcinho  82'	(0:0) Summary		Attendance: 13,808 Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)

17 November 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 13	Aloisi  28'	(1:0) Summary	Talay  90+3' (pen)	Attendance: 8,206 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

24 November 2007	Melbourne Victory	1 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Round 14	Allsopp  42'	(1:0) Summary	Lia  58'	Attendance: 20,938 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

30 November 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 2	Adelaide United	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 15	Daniel  69' (pen)	(0:1) Summary	Agostino  9' Pantelis  79'	Attendance: 18,345 Referee: Craig Zetter (Australia)

7 December 2007	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 0	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 16	Smeltz  29' (pen)  71' Felipe  71'	(1:0) Summary		Attendance: 8,039 Referee: Srebre Delovski (Australia)

14 December 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	Queensland Roar	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 17	Smeltz  25'	(1:1) Summary	Reinaldo  5'	Attendance: 9,384 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

30 December 2007	Newcastle Jets	2 : 3	Wellington Phoenix	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
Round 18	Bridge  29' (pen) Tunbridge  81'	(1:1) Summary	Smeltz  16' Ferrante  49' Rees  51'	Attendance: 15,107 Referee: Srebre Delovski (Australia)

4 January 2008	Wellington Phoenix	0 : 2	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Round 19		(0:0) Summary	McFlynn  79' Brosque  83'	Attendance: 14,228 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

11 January 2008	Melbourne Victory	3 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Round 20	Hernandez  31' Ward  35' Patafta  88'	(2:0) Summary		Attendance: 25,489 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

19 January 2008	Central Coast Mariners	2 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
Round 21	Aloisi  52' Kwasnik  90+4'	(0:0) Summary		Attendance: 9,849 Referee: Kevin Docherty (Australia)

Exhibition Match

1 December 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 4	Los Angeles Galaxy	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	R. Aloisi  7'		17' C. Mathis  45' L. Donovan  48' C. Pavón  77' (pen) D. Beckham	Attendance: 31,853 Referee: Michael Hester

Ladder

#	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Central Coast Mariners	21	10	4	7	30	25	+5sm=n	34
2	Newcastle Jets	21	9	7	5	25	21	+4sm=n	34
3	Sydney FC	21	8	8	5	28	24	+4sm=n	32
4	Queensland Roar	21	8	7	6	25	21	+4sm=n	31
5	Melbourne Victory	21	6	9	6	29	29	0sm=n	27
6	Adelaide United	21	6	8	7	31	29	+2sm=n	26
7	Perth Glory	21	4	8	9	27	34	-7sm=n	20
8	Wellington Phoenix	21	5	5	11	25	37	-12sm=n	20

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Nat	Pos	Player	Total		A-League		Finals
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1		GK	Mark Paston	1	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
2		DF	Jeremy Christie	16	0	12+4	0	0+0	0
3		DF	Tony Lochhead	18	1	18+0	1	0+0	0
4		DF	Cleberson Souza Santos	3	0	3+0	0	0+0	0
5		DF	Karl Dodd	19	0	19+0	0	0+0	0
6		MF	Tim Brown	11	0	8+3	0	0+0	0
7		MF	Ross Aloisi	13	2	12+1	2	0+0	0
8		FW	Vaughan Coveny	18	1	11+7	1	0+0	0
9		FW	Shane Smeltz	19	9	19+0	9	0+0	0
10		MF	Michael Ferrante	18	1	16+2	1	0+0	0
11		MF	Daniel	17	4	14+3	4	0+0	0
12		MF	Richard Johnson	14	0	10+4	0	0+0	0
13		DF	Steven Old	12	1	9+3	1	0+0	0
14		DF	Steven O'Dor	13	0	11+2	0	0+0	0
15		MF	George	4	0	0+4	0	0+0	0
16		DF	Kristian Rees	9	1	9+0	1	0+0	0
17		DF	Vince Lia	13	1	13+0	1	0+0	0
18		MF	Ahmad Elrich	13	1	11+2	1	0+0	0
19		FW	Greg Draper	2	0	0+2	0	0+0	0
20		GK	Glen Moss	20	0	20+0	0	0+0	0
21		MF	Felipe	17	3	14+3	3	0+0	0
22		FW	Royce Brownlie	8	0	0+8	0	0+0	0
23		FW	Kosta Barbarouses	3	0	1+2	0	0+0	0
30		GK	Jacob Spoonley	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0

Goal scorers

Rank	Player	Goals per Round																					Total
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1	Shane Smeltz																x2						9
2	Daniel																						4
3	Felipe																						3
4	Ross Aloisi																						2
5	Steven Old																						1
	Tony Lochhead																						1
	Vaughan Coveny																						1
	Ahmad Elrich																						1
	Vince Lia																						1
	Michael Ferrante																						1
	Kristian Rees																						1

A goal was scored from a penalty kick

Goal assists

Rank	Player	Assists per Round																					Total
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1	Vaughan Coveny																						4
	Daniel						x2																4
3	Shane Smeltz																						3
4	Vince Lia																						2
	Tony Lochhead																						2
6	Ross Aloisi																						1
	Tim Brown																						1
	Jeremy Christie																						1
	Karl Dodd																						1
	Ahmad Elrich																						1
	Felipe																						1
	Michael Ferrante																						1
	George																						1
	Steven O'Dor																						1

Disciplinary record

Rank	Player	Cards per Round																					Total
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1	Daniel																						7
2	Ross Aloisi																						3		1
	Karl Dodd																						6
4	Ahmad Elrich																						3		1
5	Tim Brown																						5
	Vince Lia																						5
7	Jeremy Christie																						4
	Richard Johnson																						4
	Tony Lochhead																						4
10	Steven Old																						1	1
	Shane Smeltz																						3
12	Vaughan Coveny																						2
	Felipe																						2
	Michael Ferrante																						2
	Glen Moss																						2
	Kristian Rees																						2
17	Cleberson																						1

Club End of Season Awards

See also List of Wellington Phoenix FC End of Season Awards

• Sony Player of the Year: Shane Smeltz
• Players’ Player of the Year: Shane Smeltz
• Media Player of the Year: Shane Smeltz
• Golden Boot: Shane Smeltz – 9 goals

References

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A-League Champions ·  Records ·  Foreign players ·  Players Seasons 2005–06 ·  2006–07 ·  2007–08 ·  2008–09 ·  2009–10 ·  2010–11  ·  2011–12 Grand Finals 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 2011–12 Clubs Adelaide United · Brisbane Roar · Central Coast Mariners · Gold Coast United · Melbourne Heart · Melbourne Victory · Newcastle Jets · Perth Glory · Sydney FC · Wellington Phoenix Former Clubs New Zealand Knights · North Queensland Fury Associated competitions W-League · National Youth League · A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup (defunct) · AFC Champions League · FFA Cup (proposed)

Wellington Phoenix FC Players · Records and statistics · Club Awards · ASB Phoenix Challenge History History Home stadium Westpac Stadium Training ground Newtown Park League A-League Seasons (4) 2007–08 ·  2008–09 ·  2009–10 ·  2010–11 ·  2011–12 Championships (0) Nil Premierships (0) Nil Managers Ricki Herbert (2007-) Captains Ross Aloisi (2007-2008) · Andrew Durante (2008-) website: www.wellingtonphoenix.com.au

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