Wellington Phoenix remain at the bottom of the A-League Women's table, after falling to their fifth straight defeat, losing on the road 4-0 to Melbourne City.
The young Kiwi side delivered their best performance so far in their inaugural season and looked the better side for the first half hour of play, until the hosts broke the deadlock.
City midfielder Kaityn Torpey opened the scoring from the edge of the penalty area in the 29th minute, gliding past Phoenix captain and goalkeeper Lily Alfeld.
Football Ferns striker Hannah Wilkinson continued her hot form, sealing Melbourne’s second goal and notching her eighth in just three games.
The hosts picked up another before half-time to leave the Phoenix trailing 3-0 at the break.
Wellington Phoenix head coach Gemma Lewis says the loss is a tough pill to swallow.
“I think we played more positively today, which sucks to still walk away with a 4-0 loss,” she says.
“I think for the most part we had a bit more about us. We were a bit more relentless out of possession."
“I was happy with how we performed in the first half, but 3-0 down at halftime is so hard to come back from.”
City captain Emma Checker put the game beyond doubt late in the second half, scoring the host's fourth goal 12 minutes from fulltime, after the Phoenix failed to clear from a corner.
Wellington couldn't capitalise on their opportunities, failing to beat City goalkeeper Melissa Babieri.
“I felt like we had really good moments in that first half, where we were pushing them,” says Lewis. “Obviously, we’re still struggling with that attacking threat, but I felt like we had more attacking options."
The Phoenix will return ‘home’ to Wollongong in search of their maiden victory, when they face Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
Melbourne City 4 (Torpey, Wilkinson, Heatley, Checker) Wellington Phoenix 0
