1 Jul 2015

Phoenix draw with Fiji

10:06 am on 1 July 2015

The Wellington Phoenix have drawn 2-2 with Fiji in the second game of their football pre-season tour in Ba.

Fiji goalkeeper Akuila Mateisuva playing against Wellington Phoenix.

Fiji goalkeeper Akuila Mateisuva playing against Wellington Phoenix. Photo: Fiji FA Media

The Phoenix dominated possession, while Fiji created the best chances.

The Phoenix striker Roy Krishna, who played and captained Fiji, set up the first chance for the homeside after just 2 minutes.

Krishna was named man of the match for the second successive game, and his pace and touch were a constant threat to the Phoenix defence and was at the heart of Fiji's best moves.

The Phoenix two goals both came in the first half, the first to full back Justin Gulley in the 12th minute and the second just four minutes later to Kwabena Appiah.

Krishna scored after 80 minutes for the home side with the equaliser coming 3 minutes later.

The Phoenix won the first game 2-1 on Saturday.

Head Coach Ernie Merrick was satisfied with the result saying it was good to play only three or four days after their last game and after only a week's preparation.

He said they played really well in the first half and could have got a third goal, but in the second half Fiji took over and they scored two goals and he thought they were unlucky not to win the game.

Merrick said they ran out of legs and ran out of players.

He said they had four sixteen year olds on at the end, but that's all good for pre-season so they got out of it what we wanted and it's a credit to the Fijian side they pushed a full time professional outfit all the way to the wire and should have stolen the game at the end.

In the earlier match, the Wellington Phoenix Academy/Premiers side ran out 3-1 winners over the Fiji U23 side.

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