The Wellington Phoenix have fallen to another heavy defeat in the women's A-League.
Chloe Knott of the Phoenix. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Phoenix were beaten 4-0 by Melbourne City in Melbourne on Sunday night after falling behind 3-0 at half-time.
The hosts took almost half an hour to break the deadlock, but scored a further two goals late in the first half to all but end Wellington's hopes of picking up the second point of the maiden season.
It was hard result to stomach for Phoenix head coach Gemma Lewis.
"I think we played more positively today, which sucks to still walk away with a four-nil loss," Lewis told media post-match.
"I think for the most part we had a bit more about us. We were a bit more relentless out of possession, we were turning over second ball, we were getting in their face, we were trying to be positive going forward, we were getting our fullbacks joining up, we were trying to get attacking numbers in the box.
"I was happy with how we performed in the first-half, but three-nil down at halftime is so hard to come back from.
"I felt like we had a good first half but then we made that mistake and conceded a soft second goal and then conceded just before we go into halftime from a corner," Lewis said.
"We just have to really work on stopping those soft goals because that really changed the game to be honest.
"I felt like we had really good moments in that first half, where we were pushing them. Obviously, we're still struggling with that attacking threat, but I felt like we had more attacking options."
Lewis made just the one enforced change to the XI which started the 5-0 defeat to Sydney FC on December 30. Talitha Kramer replaced the injured Saskia Vosper at left back.
The Phoenix return to Wollongong next Sunday for their seventh round match against the Brisbane Roar.
