Wellington Phoenix coach demands better after Mariana Speckmaier’s late miss

Wellington Phoenix coach Paul Temple admits his team must be more clinical in front of goal after import striker Mariana Speckmaier missed a sitter in the final minute of their 1-0 defeat to Sydney FC.

The Phoenix should have scored to draw with the reigning A-League Women champions when new signing Isabel Cox broke down the left and whipped in a cross for Speckmaier.

The Venezuela international had most of the goal to aim at and probably would have scored if she had just kept her header on target after Cox’s burst had drawn Sydney goalkeeper Jada Whyman to the near post.

But Speckmaier sent her header over the bar with the goal at her mercy.

It was her third bad miss in the past four games, having squandered great chances in their recent 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory and 2-1 defeat to Adelaide United.

Speckmaier looked to have put those earlier misses behind her when she converted a penalty and set up another goal in a sublime individual showing in last weekend’s 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets.

But she once again had her head in her hands, after blowing a gilt-edged chance to snatch a dramatic draw against Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Friday.

Temple demanded better and said the Phoenix have to make their chances count after suffering their third straight away defeat.

“It’s a goal that we should be scoring and there’s no hiding that,” Temple said.

“It’s a big chance that we missed and it’s a shame because the overall play and particularly that piece of individual play from Isabel deserved more.

“At the moment we’re just not clinical enough in the final third.”

The Phoenix created another great chance to score before Sydney broke the deadlock when Cox beat her defender down the right and cut inside.

But rather than back herself to score from a tight angle, Cox unselfishly squared the ball back for a teammate and misplaced the pass for Speckmaier.

Temple said he was prepared to cut the American some slack given she has only just joined the team.

“She’s young, it’s her second game as a professional, and she’s wanted to try and do the right thing.

“She can maybe be a little bit more selfish there, but equally, if the cut back is slightly more in front [of Speckmaier], everyone would be saying it was a great decision.

“That’s football. Attackers have to make split second choices and hers wasn’t quite right, but I was really happy with her contribution to the team and how she helped us change the game.

“There won’t be too many defenders looking forward to playing against her with her pace and power.”

The Phoenix would rue their misses when Sydney midfielder Taylor Ray picked out teenager Jynaya Dos Santos with a cross from deep.

The 18-year-old was outnumbered but leapt in between two Phoenix defenders to score the only goal of the game with a well-taken header in the 78th minute.

The Phoenix remain third but the defeat has left them seven points adrift of leaders Melbourne City.

“We’re being brave to get people into the box and being brave to really go at it, but at the moment we’re just not clinical enough,” Temple added.

“It hurt us in the last away game in Adelaide and there’s been other games this season where we had some big chances.

“You look back and think we could be sitting on a lot more points if we had taken those chances, but right now we’re not just doing that and as a team we’ve just got to improve.”