Wellington Phoenix women have suffered an A-League reality check, suffering a 5-1 defeat to Newcastle Jets in their second outing in the Australian competition.
But even as the scoreline mounted against them, the plucky newcomers still created a piece of history, finding the net for the first time at this level.
In the 82nd minute, striker Eva Pritchard's name enter the record books as the club's first A-League scorer, edging the ball past Jets keeper Georgia Boric in a goalmouth scramble.
After their gutsy debut draw with Western Sydney Wanderers, the young Phoenix squad were desperate for their first victory and hung tough for much of the opening half.
Playing with a strong wind at their backs, the Jets peppered the goal area, creating several chances that came to nothing.
Kirsty Fenton missed an early sitter, when Aussie international Emily Van Egmond floated a ball into the box and her striker somehow nodded a header past the far post.
Newcastle enjoyed an element of luck, when they eventually opened their account, as Fenton made a useful run down the left flank and fired hopefully towards goal, finding Wellington keeper Lily Alfeld off her line, as the ball drifted inside the far post.
Turning with the wind at halftime, the Phoenix may have hoped for a change of fortunes, but fell another goal behind, when Kate Taylor muffed a clearance and Norwegian Marie Dølvik pounced, firing her shot off the right upright.
Newcastle were momentarily down to 10 players, after Fenton hobbled off with an ankle injury, but back to full strength, Van Egmond almost scored, when she hit the crossbar.
The third goal came from a Van Egmond corner, headed home by the Jets' leading all-time scorer, Tara Andrews, who added another within seconds, as the Phoenix defence was caught napping from the kickoff.
Within seconds of replacing Dølvik, Sophie Harding scored her first A-League goal - Newcastle's fifth of the night.
But with victory now well beyond them, Wellington pressed forward, looking for their milestone goal. Pritchard, Grace Wisnewski and Chloe Knott all went close, before Pritchard's nervous prod found the net.
"It was a pretty amazing feeling, but really, the girls did all the hard work - I just had to tap it in at the end of the day," she says. "We'll give most of the credit to them.
"It was kind of instinct, just tap it in. I knew that my back was to goal and I'd practiced my messy finishing, so it paid off.
"Obviously, we were hoping to build on our performance from last week and I think we let down our defending a little bit, but we put it all out there. We'll keep building on this and take some learnings from it."
Wellington's next chance will come on Sunday, December 19, when they take on Sydney, who handled Newcastle 3-1 in their season-opener.
