Football: Wellington Phoenix celebrate record-breaking A-League season amid 'weird' wait for premiership fate

While Wellington Phoenix are forced to wait until Wednesday night to learn their ultimate fate, there were still plenty of reasons to celebrate after Saturday's brilliant 3-0 win over Macarthur FC.

Playing in front of 15,428 rabid fans at Sky Stadium - most of whom were also frantically refreshing their phones to keep tabs on the crucial result between premiership rivals Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets - the Phoenix emphatically upheld their end of the bargain in their final regular season contest.

The Mariners' 3-1 victory means they now sit a point shy of the Phoenix, with their final match of the season against Adelaide United on Wednesday now carrying the highest of stakes - the Premiers Plate.

But premiership or not, the campaign has already been record-breaking for first-time head coach Giancarlo Italiano.

Saturday's win was the Phoenix's 15th of the season, the most the team have recorded in a campaign, and takes Wellington’s points haul to 53 - seven more than their previous best.

"This probably won't sink it for a while with me," Italiano said after the match.

"I'm very proud of everyone that's worked here. From day one we've always had big obstacles placed in front of us.

"We have a good club structure, good people [and] we've just got on with it.

"It's been no nonsense and the fact that we've come so far is testament to everyone."

The Phoenix ensured there'd be no nervous sweats from their vocal faithful. Kosta Barbarouses clinically finished after a sumptuous ball from Nicholas Pennington for the opening goal in the 22nd minute, before Tim Payne's header gave them breathing room just seven minutes later. Oskar Zawada's penalty in stoppage time put the finishing touches on a memorable night.

Central Coast need just a draw from their final regular season match against Adelaide United on to claim the premiership and given their recent form, Italiano isn't holding his breath that they'll slip up against eight-placed Adelaide United.

"It leaves a bit of a weird feeling," he said. "I don't know what it is.  

"I'll watch the game but I'm not going to go into the game with high expectations.

"I'm not going there thinking Adelaide are going to do us a favour, it's just whether the Mariners have the discipline to finish the season with a win.  

"I don't see any evidence that suggests they're not going to win. Once we conceded late to them a couple of weeks ago, I thought that was the title."

After Wednesday night's result, the Wellington Phoenix will also await the outcome of the elimination finals next weekend to determine who their semi-final opponent will be.

"I'm more focused on training now for the semi-finals," Italiano added.

"We have our awards night on Tuesday. It'll be a celebration of the club, of the achievements we've done this year [and] a good time to get together.

"And then Wednesday I guess everyone will be watching where they're comfortable. It's going to be a late kick-off as well.  

"I want the players in bed early so we can train [the next day]."

While Wellington Phoenix are forced to wait until Wednesday night to learn their ultimate fate, there were still plenty of reasons to celebrate after Saturday's brilliant 3-0 win over Macarthur FC.

Playing in front of 15,428 rabid fans at Sky Stadium - most of whom were also frantically refreshing their phones to keep tabs on the crucial result between premiership rivals Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets - the Phoenix emphatically upheld their end of the bargain in their final regular season contest.

The Mariners' 3-1 victory means they now sit a point shy of the Phoenix, with their final match of the season against Adelaide United on Wednesday now carrying the highest of stakes - the Premiers Plate.

But premiership or not, the campaign has already been record-breaking for first-time head coach Giancarlo Italiano.

Saturday's win was the Phoenix's 15th of the season, the most the team have recorded in a campaign, and takes Wellington’s points haul to 53 - seven more than their previous best.

"This probably won't sink it for a while with me," Italiano said after the match.

"I'm very proud of everyone that's worked here. From day one we've always had big obstacles placed in front of us.

"We have a good club structure, good people [and] we've just got on with it.

"It's been no nonsense and the fact that we've come so far is testament to everyone."

The Phoenix ensured there'd be no nervous sweats from their vocal faithful. Kosta Barbarouses clinically finished after a sumptuous ball from Nicholas Pennington for the opening goal in the 22nd minute, before Tim Payne's header gave them breathing room just seven minutes later. Oskar Zawada's penalty in stoppage time put the finishing touches on a memorable night.

Central Coast need just a draw from their final regular season match against Adelaide United on to claim the premiership and given their recent form, Italiano isn't holding his breath that they'll slip up against eight-placed Adelaide United.

"It leaves a bit of a weird feeling," he said. "I don't know what it is.  

"I'll watch the game but I'm not going to go into the game with high expectations.

"I'm not going there thinking Adelaide are going to do us a favour, it's just whether the Mariners have the discipline to finish the season with a win.  

"I don't see any evidence that suggests they're not going to win. Once we conceded late to them a couple of weeks ago, I thought that was the title."

After Wednesday night's result, the Wellington Phoenix will also await the outcome of the elimination finals next weekend to determine who their semi-final opponent will be.

"I'm more focused on training now for the semi-finals," Italiano added.

"We have our awards night on Tuesday. It'll be a celebration of the club, of the achievements we've done this year [and] a good time to get together.

"And then Wednesday I guess everyone will be watching where they're comfortable. It's going to be a late kick-off as well.  

"I want the players in bed early so we can train [the next day]."

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.