2008–09 Wellington Phoenix FC season

The 2008–09 season was Wellington Phoenix's second season in the A-League.

Wellington Phoenix FC

2008–09 season
CEO	Tony Pignata
Chairman	Terry Serepisos
Manager	Ricki Herbert
A-League	6th
Preseason Cup	2nd
Finals	Did not qualify
Top goalscorer	Shane Smeltz 12 Goals
Highest home attendance	10,516 v Queensland 17 August 2008
Lowest home attendance	5,500 v Newcastle 23 November 2008
Home colours Away colours
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Players

First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NZL Mark Paston 2 DF  NZL Jeremy Christie 3 DF  NZL Tony Lochhead 4 DF  AUS Jon McKain 5 DF  AUS Karl Dodd 6 MF  NZL Tim Brown (Vice-Captain) 7 MF  NZL Leo Bertos 8 FW  NZL Vaughan Coveny 9 FW  NZL Shane Smeltz 10 MF  AUS Michael Ferrante 11 MF  BRA Daniel 12 MF  AUS Richard Johnson 13 MF  AUS Troy Hearfield

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 FW  AUS Adam Kwasnik 16 DF  NZL David Mulligan 17 MF  AUS Vince Lia 18 DF  NZL Ben Sigmund 19 FW  NZL Greg Draper 20 GK  NZL Glen Moss 21 MF  CHN Leilei Gao 22 DF  AUS Andrew Durante (Captain) 23 FW  NZL Kosta Barbarouses 25 DF  AUS Manny Muscat 26 MF  BRA Fred 30 GK  AUS Scott Higgins

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Player	From	Notes
4	DF	Jon McKain	FCU Politehnica Timişoara
7	MF	Leo Bertos	Perth Glory
13	MF	Troy Hearfield	Newcastle Jets
16	DF	David Mulligan	Port Vale
21	MF	Leilei Gao	MyPa
22	DF	Andrew Durante	Newcastle Jets
25	DF	Manny Muscat	Green Gully Cavaliers
26	MF	Fred	D.C. United	On loan
30	GK	Scott Higgins	Adelaide United	Short term injury cover

Out

No.	Pos.	Player	From	Notes
4	DF	Cleberson	America
13	DF	Steven Old	Macarthur Rams
14	DF	Steven O'Dor	South Melbourne
15	MF	George	Carabobo
16	DF	Kristian Rees	Adelaide City
18	MF	Ahmad Elrich	Central Coast Mariners
21	MF	Felipe	Wisla Krakow
22	FW	Royce Brownlie	Peninsula Power
26	MF	Fred	D.C. United	Loan expired
30	GK	Jacob Spoonley	Auckland City FC

Matches

2008 Pre-Season Cup fixtures

See also: 2008 A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup

Group B

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Wellington Phoenix	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advances to final
Central Coast Mariners	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
Sydney FC	3	1	0	2	4	7	−3	3
Queensland Roar	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Wellington Phoenix v Central Coast Mariners

20 August 2008 Group stage	Wellington Phoenix	1–0	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
16:00 NZST	Daniel 72'	(0:0) Report		Attendance: 4,853

Queensland Roar v Wellington Phoenix

27 August 2008 Group stage	Queensland Roar	1–1	Wellington Phoenix	Stockland Park, Sunshine Coast
15:00 NZST	S. van Dijk 18'	(1:0) Report	74' A. Kwasnik	Attendance: 3,832

Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix

2 September 2008 Group stage	Sydney FC	2–3	Wellington Phoenix	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
16:00 NZST	A. Brosque 16' I. Fyfe 39'	(2:0) Report	57' T. Hearfield 62' S. Smeltz 82' L. Gao	Attendance: 6,124

Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne Victory

6 August 2008 Final	Wellington Phoenix	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Melbourne Victory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
19:30 NZST		(7-8 pen) Report		Attendance: 9,208 Referee: Peter O'Leary
	Penalties
	S. Smeltz L. Bertos T. Hearfield V. Coveny Daniel M. Ferrante J. McKain R. Johnson K. Dodd		R. Vargas T. Pondeljak J. López N. Ward C. Hernandez S. Ryall D. Allsopp M. Kemp E. Berger

2008–09 Hyundai A-League fixtures

Wellington Phoenix v Queensland Roar

17 August 2008 Round 1	Wellington Phoenix	1–1	Queensland Roar	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	S. Smeltz 51' K. Dodd  52' Daniel  55' L. Bertos  56'	(0–0) Summary	46' C. Miller  65' D. Dodd  79' M. Zullo  90' M. McKay	Attendance: 10,561 Referee: Ben Williams

Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne Victory

24 August 2008 Round 2	Wellington Phoenix	2–4	Melbourne Victory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	S. Smeltz 29', 65' (pen.) A. Durante  73' M. Ferrante  81'	(1–2) Summary	16', 35' D. Allsopp  20' 47' N. Fabiano  56' E. Berger 68' (pen.) K. Muscat	Attendance: 6,110 Referee: Strebre Delovski

Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix

30 August 2008 Round 3	Adelaide United	3– 0	Wellington Phoenix	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
	L. Pantelis 15' Cristiano 49', 60'	(1–0) Summary	34' D. Mulligan  40' L. Gao	Attendance: 7,832 Referee: Matthew Breeze

Wellington Phoenix v Central Coast Mariners

14 September 2008 Round 4	Wellington Phoenix	0–0	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	R. Johnson  5' K. Dodd  18' T. Hearfield  45'	(0–0) Summary	50' J. Hutchinson  54' P. Bojic	Attendance: 6,928 Referee: Strebre Delovski

Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix

21 September 2008 Round 5	Perth Glory	1–0	Wellington Phoenix	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
	J. Harnwell  15' N. Topor-Stanley  38' E. Dadi 78' (pen.)	(0–0) Summary	27' R. Johnson  44' T. Lochhead  77' J. McKain	Attendance: 4,433 Referee: Strebre Delovski

Wellington Phoenix v Sydney FC

28 September 2008 Round 6	Wellington Phoenix	2–1	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	S. Smeltz 42' V. Coveny  48' M. Muscat  68' T. Brown 76' A. Kwasnik  84'	(1–1) Summary	20' A. Brosque  79' S. Musialik	Attendance: 6,729 Referee: Chris Beath

Newcastle Jets v Wellington Phoenix

6 October 2008 Round 7	Newcastle Jets	2–2	Wellington Phoenix	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
	N. Spencer  19' J. Håkansson  45' T. Elrich  49' 59' K. Patafta 68'	(0–0) Summary	52' (pen.), 89' (pen.) S. Smeltz	Attendance: 8,492 Referee: Craig Zetter

Central Coast Mariners v Wellington Phoenix

19 October 2008 Round 8	Central Coast Mariners	0–1	Wellington Phoenix	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
	M. Jedinak  18' M. Simon  60'	(0–0) Summary	53' K. Dodd  62' J. McKain  83' L. Gao	Attendance: 9,011 Referee: Ben Williams

Wellington Phoenix v Queensland Roar

26 October 2008 Round 9	Wellington Phoenix	0–1	Queensland Roar	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	T. Brown  24' L. Gao  41'	(0–1) Summary	30' D. Tiatto 40'J. McCloughan  51' S. van Dijk  81' D. Dodd  90' L. Reddy	Attendance: 6,543 Referee: Peter O'Leary

Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix

2 November 2008 Round 10	Perth Glory	2–0	Wellington Phoenix	Members Equity Stadium, Perth
	N. Rukavytsya 15', 70' N. Rizzo  88'	(1–0) Summary	39' K. Dodd	Attendance: 7,228 Referee: Chris Beath

Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix

7 November 2008 Round 11	Sydney FC	1–2	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
	S. Musialik 77'	(0–1) Summary	34' L. Bertos 89' (pen.) S. Smeltz	Attendance: 12,856 Referee: Craig Zetter

Wellington Phoenix v Newcastle Jets

23 November 2008 Round 12	Wellington Phoenix	2–0	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	T. Lochhead  53' K. Dodd  76' S. Smeltz 79' T. Hearfield 86'	(0–0) Summary	29' J. Griffiths  51' M. Milligan  54' A. Griffiths	Attendance: 5,500 Referee: Matthew Breeze

Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne Victory

28 November 2008 Round 13	Wellington Phoenix	2–1	Melbourne Victory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	T. Brown 22' J. McKain  23' S. Smeltz 58'  58' Fred  83'	(1–1) Summary	20' D. Allsopp  42' G. Brebner	Attendance: 7,953 Referee: Craig Zetter

Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix

5 December 2008 Round 14	Adelaide United	6–1	Wellington Phoenix	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
	S. Ognenovski 21' Cristiano 42', 74' Cássio 57', 70' T. Dodd 90'	(2–0) Summary	56' Fred  39' M. Ferrante  53' J. McKain  83' T. Hearfield	Attendance: 9,442 Referee: Matthew Breeze

Wellington Phoenix v Perth Glory

13 December 2008 Round 15	Wellington Phoenix	1–1	Perth Glory	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	T. Brown 83'	(0–0) Summary	76' E. Dadi	Attendance: 6,362 Referee: Strebre Delovski

Wellington Phoenix v Central Coast Mariners

19 December 2008 Round 16	Wellington Phoenix	1–0	Central Coast Mariners	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	Smeltz 2'  62' A. Durante  90' T. Brown  90'	(1–0) Summary	45' A. Caceres  49' B. Porter  52' D. Macallister	Attendance: 6,722 Referee: Chris Beath

Queensland Roar v Wellington Phoenix

28 December 2008 Round 17	Queensland Roar	3–2	Wellington Phoenix	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
	M. McKay 39' S. van Dijk 48' J. McCloughan  63' C. Moore  68' T. Oar 90'	(1–1) Summary	11' (o.g.) L. DeVere  37'  90' A. Durante  45' T. Brown 46' T. Hearfield  86' M. Muscat  87' J. McKain	Attendance: 13,115 Referee: Ben Williams

Wellington Phoenix v Newcastle Jets

4 January 2009 Round 18	Wellington Phoenix	3–0	Newcastle Jets	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	B. Sigmund  53' L. Bertos 62' S. Smeltz 67', 86' (pen.)	(0–0) Summary		Attendance: 7,524 Referee: Craig Zetter

Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix

11 January 2009 Round 19	Sydney FC	1–0	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
	T. McFlynn  24' A. Brosque  64' K. Danning 85'	(0–0) Summary	32' M. Ferrante  37' J. McKain  64' T. Hearfield  90' M. Muscat	Attendance: 9,605 Referee: Ben Williams

Wellington Phoenix v Adelaide United

18 January 2009 Round 20	Wellington Phoenix	1–1	Adelaide United	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
	J. McKain  14' T. Brown  28'  51' K. Barbarouses 31' L. Bertos  51'	(1–1) Summary	9' P. Reid  79' S. Jamieson  84' J. Salley  85' S. Ognenovski	Attendance: 8,241 Referee: Chris Beath

Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix

23 January 2009 Round 21	Melbourne Victory	2–0	Wellington Phoenix	Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
	D. Allsopp  25' K. Muscat 40' (pen.) N. Fabiano  82' A. Thompson 89'	(1–0) Summary		Attendance: 28,905 Referee: Strebre Delovski

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Ground	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	D	L	L	D	L	W	D	W	L	L	W	W	W	L	D	W	L	W	L	D	L
Position	2	8	8	7	8	7	7	7	7	8	6	6	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	6

Source: Matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Melbourne Victory (C)	21	12	2	7	39	27	+12	38	Qualification for 2010 AFC Champions League group stage and Finals series
2	Adelaide United	21	11	5	5	31	19	+12	38
3	Queensland Roar	21	10	6	5	36	25	+11	36	Qualification for Finals series
4	Central Coast Mariners	21	7	7	7	35	32	+3	28
5	Sydney FC	21	7	5	9	33	32	+1	26
6	Wellington Phoenix	21	7	5	9	23	31	−8	26
7	Perth Glory	21	6	4	11	31	44	−13	22
8	Newcastle Jets	21	4	6	11	21	39	−18	18

Source: ultimatealeague.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Statistics

See also: Wellington Phoenix records and statistics

Appearances

Rank	Player	Minutes played by round																					Total
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	App.	GS			Min.
1	Tony Lochhead	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	63	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	21	21	0	1	1,863
2	Shane Smeltz	90	90		90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	83	90	90	90	90	89	90	90	90	20	20	0	2	1,792
3	Michael Ferrante	90	90	90		90	21	24	26		23	90	90	81	90	73	75	61	77	80	10	90	19	14	5	6	1,181
4	Jon McKain	90	90	90	90	90			90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90		90	88	78	18	18	0	2	1,606
5	Karl Dodd	89		16	87		90	90	90	90	90	90	90			22	90	90	90	90	90	90	17	15	2	2	1,384
	Tim Brown				3	6	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	72	90	90	90	90	90	51		17	15	2	1	1,302
	Daniel	72	61	29	72	90		18		16	18		16	2	18	17	24		90	44	74	67	17	7	10	5	728
8	Andrew Durante	90	90	90	90	90		90	90	90	90			90	90	90	90	90		46		8	16	15	1	1	1,314
	Leo Bertos	90		90					10	44	72	89	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	16	14	2	2	1,125
10	Ben Sigmund				18	5	90	66	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	68			90		90	90	15	13	2	2	1,147
11	Manny Muscat	90	74				90					90	69	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	14	14	0	2	1,223
	Troy Hearfield	18	90	90	74	70						78	21	7	27	90	66	71	89	64			14	10	4	7	855
13	Glen Moss	90	90	90	90	90									44	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	13	12	1	0	1,124
14	Adam Kwasnik	90	90	55		20	90	72	80	46								19	1		16	23	12	7	5	4	602
15	Jeremy Christie		16				21	24						9			15	29	13	10	2	12	10	0	10	0	151
16	Mark Paston						90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	46								9	9	0	1	766
	Vaughan Coveny		29	35	90		69	66	64	74	66	1											9	6	3	5	494
18	Leilei Gao			61	16	90	69	90	90	90	67												8	7	1	3	573
19	Richard Johnson	1	90	74	90	84	90	90															7	6	1	2	519
20	Kosta Barbarouses										24	12							1		80	82	5	2	3	2	199
21	David Mulligan			90	90	85																	3	3	0	1	265
	Fred												74	88	90								3	3	0	2	252
23	Greg Draper																						0	0	0	0	0
	Vince Lia																						0	0	0	0	0

  Player started       Player subbed in       Player suspended       Player injured

Goal scorers

Rank	Player	Goals by 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	1	2				1	2				1	1	1			1		2				12
2	Tim Brown						1							1		1							3
3	Troy Hearfield												1					1					2
	Leo Bertos											1							1				2
5	Fred														1								1
	Karl Dodd								1														1
	Kosta Barbarouses																				1		1
	Own goal																	1					1

  Goal scored from penalty kick       2 goals scored from penalty kick    

Goal assists

Rank	Player	Assists by round																					Total
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1	Leo Bertos								1				1	1			1	1			1		6
2	Troy Hearfield												1						2				3
3	Daniel	1														1							2
	Tony Lochhead		1				1																2
	Jon McKain		1												1								2
6	Tim Brown											1											1
	Vaughan Coveny							1															1
	Leilei Gao							1															1
	Ben Sigmund																		1				1
	Shane Smeltz																	1					1

Discipline

Rank	Player	Cards by round																					Total
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1	Jon McKain																						7
2	Troy Hearfield																						2		1
	Tim Brown																						3	1
	Karl Dodd																						5
5	Andrew Durante																						2	1
6	Michael Ferrante																						3
	Leilei Gao																						3
	Manny Muscat																						3
9	Leo Bertos																						2
	Tony Lochhead																						2
	Richard Johnson																						2
	Shane Smeltz																						2
13	Vaughan Coveny																						1
	Daniel																						1
	David Mulligan																						1
	Ben Sigmund																						1
	Adam Kwasnik																						1
	Fred																						1

Goal times

Times in which goals have been scored in the 2008–09 season

nth Min.	Goals for Wellington Phoenix	Goals against Wellington Phoenix
01-05	1	0
06-10	0	1
11-15	1	2
16-20	0	3
21-25	1	1
26-30	1	0
31-35	2	1
36-40	0	3
41-45	1	1
46-50	1	4
51-55	3	0
56-60	2	3
61-65	2	0
66-70	1	4
71-75	0	1
76-80	2	3
81-85	1	1
86-90	4	3

Home attendance

Date	Round	Attendance	Opposition	Stadium
17 August 2008	Round 1	10,516	Queensland Roar	Westpac Stadium
24 August 2008	Round 2	6,110	Melbourne Victory
14 September 2008	Round 4	6,926	Central Coast Mariners
28 September 2008	Round 6	6,729	Sydney FC
26 October 2008	Round 9	6,543	Queensland Roar
23 November 2008	Round 12	5,500	Newcastle Jets
28 November 2008	Round 13	7,953	Melbourne Victory
14 December 2008	Round 15	6,362	Perth Glory
19 December 2008	Round 16	6,722	Central Coast Mariners
4 January 2009	Round 18	7,520	Newcastle Jets
18 January 2009	Round 20	8,241	Adelaide United
Total	79,122
Average	7,193

Club

Technical staff

• First team coach: Ricki Herbert
• Assistant coach: Stu Jacobs
• First team Physiotherapist: Adam Crump
• Masseur: Dene Carroll
• Strength & conditioning coach: Ed Baranowski

Kit

Supplier: Reebok
Sponsor(s): Sony

Home

Away

End-of-season awards

See also List of Wellington Phoenix FC end-of-season awards

• Sony Player of the Year: Leo Bertos
• Members' Player of the Year: Ben Sigmund
• Players' Player of the Year: Shane Smeltz
• Media Player of the Year: Shane Smeltz
• Golden Boot: Shane Smeltz - 12 goals