In the wake of two of the biggest defeats in the club's history, Wellington Phoenix are staying positive in their bid to break into the A-League men's top six, goalkeeper and stand-in captain Oli Sail says.
Missing nine players through a combination of injury and illness, the Phoenix's last two games have seen them handed a club record-equalling 6-0 loss to Melbourne City, before a 5-0 defeat to Central Coast Mariners on Tuesday.
And things won't get any easier for the Phoenix either. Thanks to scheduling woes caused by COVID-19 and weather cancellations, the Phoenix will finish the A-League's regular season with 11 matches in 44 days.
Despite the on-field struggle though, reality sees the Phoenix just one point outside of A-League finals contention with three games in hand over sixth placed Sydney FC, and two up their sleeve over Adelaide United in fifth.
But the depleted Phoenix squad still needs to win those games in hand if they're to play finals football this year.
For Sail though, the off-field setbacks aren't enough to see the team drop their collective heads, eyeing a return to winning ways against Western United on Saturday.
"It's obviously never a nice place to be, especially when you're losing football games - especially by those margins," Sail said.
"But it was an opportunity to reflect and possibly face some harsh truths on Wednesday morning.
"Everyone's still positive looking forward. We're still a point outside the playoffs with games in hand.
"The group's still really positive and obviously we've got the carrot at the end of the stick of playoffs football and in the meantime going home to play in front of the fans.
"There's still plenty of positivity in the group. There's certainly belief in this group, we know we've got the quality to play finals football - and do some damage while we're there."
Sail added it was also the responsibility of the senior players in the squad to continue to put up a positive front, with so many younger players stepping up in the absence of their absent teammates.
"It's an interesting one, especially with so many young players," he continued. "It's important to brush off those results and not let them get too down on it, maybe let the senior players and others, Ufie [coach Ufuk Talay] and the coaching staff, shoulder the burden of those kinds of performances and protect those young boys a little bit and keep them positive moving forward."
