Ben Old (R) of the Phoenix and Thomas Aquilina of the Newcastle Jets compete for the ball. Photo: photosport
The Wellington Phoenix's unbeaten start to the men's A-League season came to a shuddering halt with a 3-0 home loss to the Newcastle Jets.
The Phoenix also slipped to second, behind Macarthur FC, after a blunt attacking performance in Wellington on Saturday.
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos scored early in each half, while Clayton Taylor found the back of the net shortly before halftime as Newcastle notched just their second win in seven games.
Wellington came into the game with four wins and two draws under their belt but they struggled with their finishing, with Jets goalkeeper Ryan Scott proving unpassable.
Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano regretted their lack of cutting edge.
"We could have played another two or three hours and we wouldn't have scored. That kind of sums up the whole theme of the game," he said.
"We created chances, I just never believed that we were going to score tonight.
"It was more my intuition than a stat. I think we had 16 or 17 shots, it's quite a number of shots and we had quite a number of good chances.
"We were in the right places, but when it came to that second phase… where we needed a bit more application mentally, we weren't good."
Italiano was also disappointed with how Wellington conceded the three goals.
"We defended quite poorly especially in crucial moments; the first five minutes of the first half, the end of the first half, the last five minutes, and the sucker punch was giving away the penalty at the beginning of the second half."
It is also his first defeat as an A-League head coach.
"I'm been very fortunate. This is the first time that's happened, and it won't be the last," he said.
"I just have to make sure the group understands the process is more about the performance than the result.
"I don't want them to put their head down or not believe in what we're doing. That's the most important part of the messaging."
Giancarlo Italiano made just one change to the XI which started the previous week's 1-0 win over Western United, with fit-again striker Oskar Zawada returning up front in place of David Ball.
However, Zawada didn't finish the game, having seemingly suffered another niggle which the club will closely monitor.
The Phoenix next face Macarthur FC in Sydney on December 18.