2009–10 Wellington Phoenix season

The 2009–10 season is the Wellington Phoenix's third season of football in the Hyundai A-League, making it the longest running New Zealand team in the competition, surpassing the defunct New Zealand Knights.

Wellington Phoenix FC

2009-10 season
CEO	Tony Pignata
Manager	Ricki Herbert
A-League	4th
Top goalscorer	League: P. Ifill - (12) All: P. Ifill - (13)
Highest home attendance	32,792 v Newcastle Jets on 7 March 2010
Lowest home attendance	4,115 v Newcastle Jets on 4 November 2009
Home colours Away colours
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

Contents 1 Season summary 2 Key dates 2.1 Pre Season 2.2 Hyundai A-League 2.2.1 August 2.2.2 September 2.2.3 October 2.2.4 November 2.2.5 December 2.2.6 January 2.2.7 February 2.2.8 March 2.3 Club End of Season Awards 3 Players 3.1 First Team Squad 3.2 Transfers 3.2.1 In 3.2.2 Out 4 Club 4.1 Technical staff 4.2 Kit 5 Matches 5.1 2009-10 Pre-season Friendly fixtures 5.2 2009-10 Hyundai A-League fixtures 5.3 2009-10 A-League Finals Series 5.4 League table 6 Statistics 6.1 Appearances and Goals 6.2 Leading scorers 6.3 Assists 6.4 Disciplinary record 7 References 8 External links

Season summary

Wellington Phoenix kept existing manager Ricki Herbert to continue his services to the club after a promising campaign in the previous season. High hopes rested on the Phoenix after Herbert brought in seven players in the season break including three attacking based players in Paul Ifill from Crystal Palace, Chris Greenacre from Tranmere Rovers and Diego Walsh form Adelaide United.

Herbert's attacking imports proved themselves worthy with Ifill and Greenacre scoring four between them in the first four games. The Phoenix inability to finish games was costly for the club, ultimately placing it in last place contention in mid-October after an Hyundai A-League record of six consecutive draws and not one win in eight games. The Phoenix then surprised all football fans by defeating first placed Gold Coast United 6 - 0 in Wellington. This result lifted the Wellington players as they went on to win three of there next five matches.

In-form player Paul Ifill soon became the centre of attention as many A-League clubs tried to sign him up on a contract, Ifill then to the relief of many Phoenix supporters committed himself for a further three seasons. At this time of the season, Wellington had not lost a match at home. Playing for the A-League record in Palmerston North, Wellington could not overcome Sydney FC and fell to a 1 - 0 defeat.

In the final stages of regular season, Wellington was fighting for sixth place with a chance of getting fourth and securing New Zealand's first ever home play-off. The Phoenix suffered a major setback to its ambitions when goalkeeper Mark Paston suffered a season ending knee injury. Manager Ricki Herbert quickly recruited unsettled Liam Reddy from Brisbane Roar. Reddy played the remainder of the Phoenix's regular season fixtures in goal and only conceded a total of nine goals in nine games. In those nine games the Phoenix recorded six wins which saw it placed fourth at the end of the regular season.

The Wellington Phoenix prevailed 4 - 2 in a tense penalty shootout in its first ever finals match against Perth Glory after the scores were locked 1 - 1 at full time. A goal from Chris Greenacre in the 37th minute put the Phoenix ahead until the 67th minute when Scott Neville headed one in for Perth. Liam Reddy was the hero for the Phoenix, saving two penalties in the shootout, while the Phoenix netted home all of its attempts. The Wellington Phoenix won its minor Semi-final against the Newcastle Jets 3 - 1 after extra time in front of record crowd of 32,792 fans at Westpac Stadium. This was the third time in the season that the record had been broken. Tim Brown brought the Phoenix back from behind when he found the net in the 33rd minute. The scores remained 1-1 at full time and at the end of the first period of extra time Paul Ifill put the Phoenix ahead, which was followed up by another goal in the second period of extra time by Eugene Dadi to round out the victory. The Phoenix's finals run comes to an end after a hard fought 4 - 2 loss to Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium. Goals from Andrew Durante and Eugene Dadi weren't enough for the Phoenix as it couldn't match the pace of Sydney. The match was marred by a controversial goal from Chris Payne who deflected Sydney's second goal into the net using his arm, a fact missed by the referee.

The Phoenix were rewarded for its impressive season with the FFA granting it a long awaited 5-year license extension.

Key dates

Pre Season

• 21 April 2009: Wellington sign English striker Chris Greenacre from Tranmere Rovers on a two-year deal.^[1]
• 21 July 2009: Wellington announce free-agent released by Crystal Palace F.C. and Barbados international Paul Ifill has signed a two-year deal.^[2]
• 25 July 2009: The Phoenix complete a successful pre-season campaign with a 0 - 0 draw against Central Coast Mariners. The Phoenix finished pre-season with 1 win, 1 loss and 4 draws. Troy Hearfield, Chris Greenacre, Andrew Durante, Tim Brown and Ben Sigmund all scored a goal for the Phoenix.
• 5 August 2009: Chinese under-23 international striker Jiang Chen signs a season-long loan deal from Tianjin Teda.^[3]

Hyundai A-League

August

• 9 August 2009: New signing Chris Greenacre scores on debut in the opening round of the 2009-10 season in a 3-2 away loss to the Newcastle Jets.
• 16 August 2009: The Phoenix grab their first win of the season, a 2-1 win over Perth Glory in Round 2 at home in front of a 10,024-strong crowd.
• 23 August 2009: Chris Greenacre scores his second goal in three games against Brisbane Roar. The Phoenix ended up drawing the match 1-1.
• 30 August 2009: New reserve goalkeeper Reece Crowther makes his starting debut for Wellington in a 2-0 loss away to Sydney FC.
• 31 August 2009: Wellington Phoenix secure the services of championship-winning attacking midfielder Adrian Caceres for the remainder of the season from Central Coast, after being released through mutual consent.^[4]

September

• 13 September 2009: 17-year-old Marco Rojas makes his first competitive appearance for the Phoenix, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute against Melbourne Victory in a 1-1 draw.

October

• 1 October 2009: Leo Bertos signs a new three-year contract, keeping him in Wellington until at least the end of the 2012-13 season.^[5]
• 17 October 2009: Wellington set a new A-League record for the most consecutive draws after a 1-1 result away to North Queensland in Round 11; their sixth draw in a row.^[6]
• 20 October 2009: Andrew Durante, Vince Lia and Manny Muscat all sign new contracts to keep them with the Phoenix until the end of the 2012-13 and 2011-12 seasons respectively.^[7]
• 25 October 2009: Wellington's most-capped player Tony Lochhead earns his 50th cap for the Phoenix against Gold Coast United. Lochhead has missed only 3 competitive league games since joining the new club in 2007.^[8]
• 25 October 2009: The Phoenix match the record for the biggest win in A-League history by thrashing Gold Coast United 6-0 at home.^[9]

November

• 1 November 2009: Sydney ended Wellington's seven-match unbeaten run with a convincing 3-1 win at the Sydney Football Stadium.^[10]
• 4 November 2009: It is announced that the Phoenix will field a youth team in either NZFC or the A-League National Youth League in the 2010/2011 season.^[11]
• 6 November 2009: Wanted by many other A-League clubs, Paul Ifill extends his contract with the Phoenix until the end of the 2011-12 season, with an option for another year.^[12]
• 22 November 2009: Wellington end a frustrating eleven-match run without an away win (stretching back a 2-1 win over Sydney FC on 7 November 2008 at Sydney Football Stadium) with a 1-0 win over the Newcastle Jets in stifling heat.
• With only one defeat in eleven matches, the Phoenix were looking to claim their first win over the Brisbane Roar. After going 1-0 down early on, Chris Greenacre equalised just before the break. However after conceding at the start of the first half, right-back Manny Muscat was shown a red card for elbowing Brisbane winger Tommy Oar in an off-the-ball collision. The loss of a man proved costly as Brisbane ran riot to run in two more goals to ensure a comfortable 4-1 victory.

December

• 8 December 2009: Wellington Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund is handed a three-match suspension after being cited for punching Melbourne Victory's Adrian Leijer in an off-the-ball incident in the round 17 1-1 draw at Westpac Stadium.
• 10 December 2009: It is revealed that Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Mark Paston suffered a knee injury which was to keep him sidelined for at least four to six weeks. The injury, sustained in a clash with captain Andrew Durante in training prior to the Round 16 game against Brisbane fractured Paston's tibia and was thought to simply be a hematoma at first. Paston played unknowingly with the fracture against the Melbourne Victory which turned out to be his final game of the season.^[13]
• 12 December 2009: At the Phoenix's home away from home, the Nix were looking to set a new record for going 15 matches unbeaten at home. Against an in-form Sydney side with whom they currently shared the record with, a first-half Steve Corica penalty was enough to seal the points for the away side and mean that the home unbeaten record (of 14 matches) was still shared.
• 16 December 2009: The Phoenix sign Brisbane Roar goalkeeper Liam Reddy as an injury replacement for the Mark Paston for the rest of the season.^[14]
• 29 December 2009: On-loan Chinese striker Jiang Chen is released by the Phoenix at the conclusion of his loan deal.
• 31 December 2009: The Phoenix win for the first time in over a month and secure their 2nd away win of the campaign as Paul Ifill scores both goals in 0-2 win over the Central Coast Mariners.

January

• 4 January 2010: Former Ivory Coast and Perth Glory striker, Eugene Dadi signs for the Phoenix on a short-term contract for the rest of the season.
• 9 January 2010: Eugene Dadi makes an immediate impact for his new club, scoring twice in the second-half in a 3-1 win over the Brisbane Roar. The win extends the Phoenix's unbeaten streak at their usual home ground (Westpac Stadium) to 15 matches, and ensures that they will enter the last part of the regular season holding a top-6 spot.
• 19 January 2010: The Phoenix announce talented utility player Troy Hearfield along with goalkeepers Mark Paston and Reece Crowther have signed contract extensions through to the conclusion of the 2010-11 A-League season.^[15]
• 30 January 2010: The Phoenix were forced to play in the South Island due to an AC/DC concert in Westpac Stadium, however the Nix played in front of a club record 19,258 fans at the newly revamped AMI Stadium where they returned to their winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Adelaide United.

February

• 6 February 2010: After Brisbane Roar lost 2-0 to Adelaide United, the Wellington Phoenix's play off spot was confirmed. The Phoenix will now participate in the Hyundai A-League Final Series for the first time in their history.
• 21 February 2010: The Wellington Phoenix prevailed 4-2 in a tense penalty shootout in their first ever finals match against Perth Glory after the scores were locked 1-1 at full time.

March

• 1 March 2010: The FFA grants the Phoenix a 10-year license extension, subject to approval from FIFA and the AFC.^[16]
• 7 March 2010: The Wellington Phoenix win their minor Semi-final against the Newcastle Jets 3-1 after extra time in front of another record crowd of 32,792 fans at Westpac Stadium.
• 13 March 2010: The Phoenix's finals run comes to an end after a hard fought 4-2 loss to Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium.
• 18 March 2010: Star defender Jon McKain agrees to a 2 year contract extension which will ensure he will remain with the club until at least the end of the 2012-13 season.^[17] Meanwhile, midfielder Michael Ferrante and right-back David Mulligan have not had their contracts renewed with the club.
• 26 March 2010: Goalkeeper Liam Reddy signs a 3 year contract with Sydney FC

Club End of Season Awards

See also List of Wellington Phoenix FC End of Season Awards

• Sony Player of the Year: Andrew Durante
• Members’ Player of the Year: Paul Ifill
• Players’ Player of the Year: Paul Ifill
• Media Player of the Year: Paul Ifill
• Golden Boot: Paul Ifill - 12 goals
• Under-23 Player of the Year: Troy Hearfield

Players

First Team Squad

No.	Name	Nationality	Position	Date Of Birth (Age)	Notes
Goalkeepers
1	Mark Paston		GK	13 December 1976 (aged 32)
20	Reece Crowther		GK	28 November 1988 (aged 20)	Youth
40	Liam Reddy		GK	8 August 1981 (aged 27)	Short-term injury replacement
Defenders
2	Manny Muscat		RB	7 December 1984 (aged 24)
3	Tony Lochhead		LB	12 January 1982 (aged 27)
4	Jon McKain		CB	21 September 1982 (aged 26)
16	David Mulligan		RB	24 March 1982 (aged 27)
13	Troy Hearfield		RB/AM	31 October 1987 (aged 21)	Youth
18	Ben Sigmund		CB	3 February 1981 (aged 28)
22	Andrew Durante		CB	3 May 1982 (aged 27)	Captain
Midfielders
5	Diego		CAM	8 December 1979 (aged 29)
6	Tim Brown		CM	6 March 1981 (aged 28)	Vice-captain
7	Leo Bertos		RW	20 December 1981 (aged 27)
10	Michael Ferrante		CM	28 April 1981 (aged 28)
11	Daniel		LW	12 December 1979 (aged 29)
14	Adrián Cáceres		LW	10 January 1982 (aged 27)
17	Vince Lia		CDM	18 March 1985 (aged 24)
21	Marco Rojas		AM	5 November 1991 (aged 17)	Youth
Strikers
8	Paul Ifill		FW	22 October 1979 (aged 29)
9	Chris Greenacre		ST	23 December 1977 (aged 31)
15	Eugene Dadi		ST	20 August 1973 (aged 35)	Short-term contract
23	Costa Barbarouses		ST	19 February 1990 (aged 19)	Youth

Transfers

In

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
20	GK	AUS	Reece Crowther	20	Non-EU	Queens Park Rangers	Transfer	Winter	March 2012	Free	sydney morning herald
9	FW	ENG	Chris Greenacre	31	EU	Tranmere Rovers	Transfer	Winter	March 2012	Free	wellington phoenix
15	FW	Ivory Coast	Eugene Dadi	36	Non-EU	Perth Glory	Transfer	Summer	March 2011	Free	thewest.com.au
40	GK	AUS	Liam Reddy	28	Non-EU	Brisbane Roar	Transfer	Summer	March 2011	Free	wellington phoenix
5	MF	BRA	Diego	29	Non-EU	Adelaide United	Transfer	Winter	March 2012	Free	four four two
21	MF	NZL	Marco Rojas	17	Non-EU		Transfer	Winter	March 2013	Free
8	FW	BAR	Paul Ifill	29	EU	Crystal Palace	Transfer	Winter	March 2012	Free	wellington phoenix
19	MF	CHN	Jiang Chen	23	Non-EU	Tianjin Teda	Loan	Winter	March 2010	Free	wellington phoenix
14	MF	AUS	Adrian Caceres	27	Non-EU	Central Coast Mariners	Transfer	Summer	March 2011	Free	wellington phoenix

Last updated: 8 July 2010

Out

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
20	GK	NZL	Glen Moss	26	Non-EU	Melbourne Victory	Transfer	Winter	Free
5	DF	AUS	Karl Dodd	28	Non-EU	North Queensland Fury	Transfer	Winter	Free
2	DF	NZL	Jeremy Christie	26	Non-EU	{{fb team Waitakere United|oc=NZL }}	Transfer	Winter	Free
12	MF	AUS	Richard Johnson		Non-EU		Retired	Winter
8	FW	NZL	Vaughan Coveny		Non-EU	South Melbourne FC	Released	Summer	Free
9	FW	NZL	Shane Smeltz		Non-EU	Gold Coast United	Transfer	Winter	Free
15	FW	AUS	Adam Kwasnik		Non-EU	Central Coast Mariners	Transfer	Winter	Free
19	FW	AUS	Greg Draper		Non-EU	{{fb team Melbourne Knights FC|oc=NZL }}	Transfer	Winter	Free
21	MF	CHN	Leilei Gao		Non-EU		Released	Summer

Last updated: 8 July 2010

Club

Technical staff

• First team Coach: Ricki Herbert
• Goalkeeping Coach: Jonathan Gould
• Technical Analyst: Luciano Trani
• First team Physiotherapist: Adam Crump
• Masseur: Dene Carroll
• Strength & Conditioning Coach: Ed Baranowski

Kit

The team kit for the 2009-10 season was produced by Reebok. The home kit was changed to a black and yellow vertically striped shirt with black shorts and socks. The away kit features black sleeves with yellow trim on a white background, while the shorts are white with a yellow and black side trim, with white socks. Sony renewed its contract with the Wellington Phoenix and remained the club's major sponsor.^[18]

Supplier: Reebok
Sponsor(s): Sony

Home	Away	Goalkeeper home	Goalkeeper away

Matches

2009-10 Pre-season Friendly fixtures

May 2009	Wellington Phoenix	2 : 0	Western Suburbs	Porirua Park, Porirua

27 June 2009	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	Melbourne Victory	Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown
17:30 NZST	Hearfield  77'

5 July 2009	Cantebury Mainland XI	1 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Queen Elizabeth II Park, Christchurch
14:00 NZST

18 July 2009	Tianjin Teda F.C.	2 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	TEDA Football Stadium, Tianjin
			Brown  15' Sigmund  36'

21 July 2009	Guangzhou Pharmaceutical F.C.	3 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	Zhuzhou
			Greenacre  56' Durante  81'

25 July 2009	Central Coast Mariners	0 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Apex Oval, Dubbo

2009-10 Hyundai A-League fixtures

9 August 2009	Newcastle Jets	3 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	Energy Australia Stadium
17:30 AEST	Hoffman  12'  22' Naidovski  84'	Report Summary	Sigmund  26' Greenacre  43'	Attendance: 6,654 Referee: Chris Beath

16 August 2009	Wellington Phoenix	2 : 1	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium
19:30 NZST	Ifill  24' Bertos  85'	Report Summary	SIkora  4'	Attendance: 10,024 Referee: Peter O'Leary

23 August 2009	Brisbane Roar	1 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Suncorp Stadium
	van Dijk  10'	Report Summary	Greenacre  85'	Attendance: 7,082 Referee: Chris Beath

30 August 2009	Sydney FC	2 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium
17:00 AEST	Gan  77' Aloisi  81'	Report Summary		Attendance: 11,718 Referee: Srebre Delovski

4 September 2009	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	Adelaide United	Westpac Stadium
17:30 AEST	Ifill  35'	Report Summary		Attendance: 7,523 Referee: Michael Hester

13 September 2009	Melbourne Victory	1 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Etihad Stadium
17:00 AEST	Brown  30'	Report Summary	Hernandez  5'	Attendance: 17,644 Referee: Craig Zetter

20 September 2009	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	North Queensland Fury	Westpac Stadium
13:00 AEST	Bertos  6'	Report Summary	Grossman  90+4'	Attendance: 9,713 Referee: Peter Green

27 September 2009	Wellington Phoenix	0 : 0	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium
14:00 AEST		Report Summary		Attendance: 6,796 Referee: Michael Hester

2 October 2009	Gold Coast United	0 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Skilled Park
20:00 AEST		Report Summary		Attendance: 4,209 Referee: Gerard Parsons

17 October 2009	North Queensland Fury	1 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Dairy Farmers Stadium
19:30 AEST	Fowler  84'	Report Summary	Brown  6'	Attendance: 6,191 Referee: Chris Beath

25 October 2009	Wellington Phoenix	6 : 0	Gold Coast United	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 NZST 15:00 AEST	Daniel  29'  53' Brown  48' Greenacre  54' Ifill  59' Hearfield  82'	Report Summary		Attendance: 6,571 Referee: Chris Beath

1 November 2009	Sydney FC	3 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium
17:00 AEST	Barbarouses  81'	Report Summary	Bridge  15'  53' Corica  31'	Attendance: 10,653 Referee: Gerard Parsons

4 November 2009	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 0	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium
17:00 AEST	Brown  26' Greenacre  55' Ifill  90'	Summary		Attendance: 4,115 Referee: Ben Williams

8 November 2009	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium
15:00 AEST	Ifill  82'	Summary	Srhoj  69'	Attendance: 6,930 Referee: Matthew Gillett

22 November 2009	Newcastle Jets	0 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Energy Australia Stadium
17:00 AEST		Summary	Ifill  13'	Attendance: 4,239 Referee: Peter Green

29 November 2009	Brisbane Roar	4 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Suncorp Stadium
18:00 AEST	Reinaldo  17'  56' van Dijk  79' Dodd  90+1'	Summary	Greenacre  27'	Attendance: 4,239 Referee: Peter Green

4 December 2009	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1	Melbourne Victory	Westpac Stadium
19:30 AEST	Brown  57'	Summary	Vargas  86'	Attendance: 8,206 Referee: Michael Hester

12 December 2009	Wellington Phoenix	0 : 1	Sydney FC	FMG Stadium
17:30 AEST		Summary	Corica  16' (pen)	Attendance: 6,459 Referee: Michael Hester

18 December 2009	Adelaide United	1 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Hindmarsh Stadium
19:30 AEST	Alemao  57'	Summary	Galekovic  77' (o.g.)	Attendance: 9,070 Referee: Craig Zetter

31 December 2009	Central Coast Mariners	0 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium
18:00 AEST		Summary	Ifill  47'  81' (pen)	Attendance: 11,137 Referee: Matthew Breeze

9 January 2010	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 1	Brisbane Roar	Westpac Stadium
17:30 AEST	Brown  26' Dadi  56'  62'	Summary Highlights	van Dijk  88'	Attendance: 8,927 Referee: Peter O'Leary

15 January 2010	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 0	North Queensland Fury	Westpac Stadium
17:30 AEST	Dadi  47' Ifill  79' McKain  90'	Summary Highlights		Attendance: 7,727 Referee: Peter Green

22 January 2010	Perth Glory	2 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Members Equity Stadium
21:30 AEST	McBreen  22' Howarth  41'	Summary		Attendance: 9,368 Referee: Ryan Shepheard

26 January 2010	Melbourne Victory	4 : 0	Wellington Phoenix	Etihad Stadium
18:30 AEST	Brown  16' (o.g.) Thompson  50' Hernandez  65' Kemp  87'	Summary		Attendance: 18,819 Referee: Chris Beath

30 January 2010	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 0	Adelaide United	AMI Stadium
17:30 NZST	McKain  22'	Summary Highlights		Attendance: 19,258 Referee: Peter O'Leary

7 February 2010	Gold Coast United	0 : 1	Wellington Phoenix	Skilled Park
18:00 AEST	Ifill  45+2' (pen)	Summary Highlights		Attendance: 4,202 Referee: Matthew Breeze

12 February 2010	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 0	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium
17:30 NZST	Brown  15' Ifill  78'  80'	Summary Highlights		Attendance: 14,327 Referee: Chris Beath

2009-10 A-League Finals Series

Semi Final 4 v 5 21 February 2010	Wellington Phoenix	1 : 1 (a.e.t.)	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
17:00 NZST	J. McKain  32', 105' C. Greenacre  37' E. Dadi 118'	(4:2 pen.) Report Summary	21' S. Srhoj 31'  67' S. Neville 60' A. Todd 72' J. Burns	Attendance: 24,278 Referee: Strebre Delovski

Minor Semi Final 7 March 2010	Wellington Phoenix	3 : 1 (a.e.t.)	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
16:00 NZST	T. Brown  33' A. Durante 98' P. Ifill  105' M. Muscat 112' E. Dadi 115'	(1:1) Report Summary	20' M. Thompson 35' A. D'Apuzzo 45+1' J. Wheelhouse 88' A. Abbas	Attendance: 32,792 Referee: Matthew Breeze

Preliminary Final 13 March 2010	Sydney FC	4 : 2	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
20:00 AEST	C. Payne  22'  31' A. Brosque  63' M. Bridge  71'	(2:1) Report Summary	27' A. Durante  81' E. Dadi	Attendance: 13,196 Referee: Peter Green

League table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sydney FC	27	15	3	9	35	23	42+12	48
2	Melbourne Victory	27	14	5	8	47	32	45+15	47
3	Gold Coast United	27	13	5	9	39	35	34+4	44
4	Wellington Phoenix	27	10	10	7	37	29	38+8	40
5	Perth Glory	27	11	6	10	40	34	36+6	39
6	Newcastle Jets	27	10	4	13	33	45	18−12	34
7	North Queensland Fury	27	8	8	11	29	46	13−17	32
8	Central Coast Mariners	27	7	9	11	32	29	33+3	30
9	Brisbane Roar	27	8	6	13	32	42	20−10	30
10	Adelaide United	27	7	8	12	24	33	21−9	29
11	Melbourne Heart	0	0	0	0	0	0	300	0
12	Sydney Rovers	0	0	0	0	0	0	300	0

Rules for classification:1^st points; 2^nd goal difference; 3^rd goals scored.

Statistics

Appearances and Goals

No.	Nat	Pos	Player	Total		A-League		Finals
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1		GK	Mark Paston	13	0	13+0	0	0+0	0
2		DF	Manny Muscat	26	0	22+1	0	3+0	0
3		DF	Tony Lochhead	28	0	25+0	0	3+0	0
4		DF	Jon McKain	18	2	16+0	2	2+0	0
5		DF	Diego	12	0	5+5	0	0+2	0
6		MF	Tim Brown	27	8	24+0	7	3+0	1
7		MF	Leo Bertos	30	2	22+5	2	3+0	0
8		FW	Paul Ifill	30	13	27+0	12	3+0	1
9		FW	Chris Greenacre	24	6	20+1	5	3+0	1
10		MF	Michael Ferrante	6	0	3+3	0	0+0	0
11		MF	Daniel	22	2	14+6	2	0+2	0
12		FW	Jiang Chen	2	0	0+2	0	0+0	0
13		MF	Troy Hearfield	29	1	13+13	1	3+0	0
14		MF	Adrian Caceres	19	0	6+12	0	0+1	0
15		FW	Eugene Dadi	10	5	5+2	3	0+3	2
16		DF	David Mulligan	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
17		DF	Vince Lia	26	0	20+3	0	3+0	0
18		DF	Ben Sigmund	20	1	18+0	1	1+1	0
20		GK	Reece Crowther	6	0	5+1	0	0+0	0
21		MF	Marco Rojas	4	0	0+4	0	0+0	0
22		DF	Andrew Durante	30	1	27+0	0	3+0	1
23		FW	Costa Barbarouses	12	1	3+9	1	0+0	0
40		GK	Liam Reddy	12	0	9+0	0	3+0	0

Leading scorers

Rank	Player		Goals per Round
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	F1	F2	F3	F4	Total
1		Paul Ifill		1			1						1		1	1	1					2		1				1	2		1			13
2		Tim Brown						1				1	1		1				1				1						1		1			8
3		Chris Greenacre	1		1								1		1			1												1				6
4		Eugene Dadi																					2	1							1	1		5
5		Daniel											2																					2
		Leo Bertos		1					1																									2
		Jon McKain																						1			1							2
8		Ben Sigmund	1																															1
		Troy Hearfield											1																					1
		Costa Barbarouses												1																				1
		Andrew Durante																														1		1

	A goal was scored from a penalty kick
	2 were scored from penalty kicks

Assists

Rank	Pos.	Player	Total
1	FW	Paul Ifill	9
2	MF	Leo Bertos	8
3	MF	Daniel	4
4	DF	Manny Muscat	3
5	DF	Andrew Durante	2
	FW	Kosta Barbarouses	2
	DF	Tony Lochhead	2
8	MF	Tim Brown	1
	FW	Chris Greenacre	1
	MF	Diego Walsh	1
	MF	Vince Lia	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	22	23	24	25	26	27	F1	F2	F3
1	Manny Muscat																															6		1
	Vince Lia																															9
3	Tim Brown																															7
4	Jon McKain																															4	1
5	Andrew Durante																															5
6	Leo Bertos																															4
	Troy Hearfield																															4
8	Paul Ifill																															3
	Tony Lochhead																															3
10	Eugene Dadi																															2
	Michael Ferrante																															2
	Ben Sigmund																															2
13	Jiang Chen																															1
	Daniel																															1
	Chris Greenacre																															1
	Liam Reddy																															1

References

External links

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