May 9, 2026 • 8 mins
The Wellington Phoenix women are under no illusions how important the second leg of their A-League semifinal against Brisbane Roar is for the entire organisation.
They must overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit this afternoon but coach Bev Priestman has underlined her belief that her team can lift.
Wellington Phoenix women goalkeeper Vic Esson joined Piney to discuss further.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb stream of the Wellington Phoenix women's team is just
an hour away. They play the second leg of their
A League Women's semi final against Brisbane raw Potty to
a Park two thirty this afternoon. Brisbane won the first
leg two to one in Brisbane last Weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Fifteen side by Miller turns Scott Brisbane. I'm for proud
how they have turned it on from one mill down
to lead the semi and it's their talented.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Teenage striker who has got that job done.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
There.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So two to one, but the job's only half done.
Rarely this is a two legged semifinal and so it
is the aggregate score across the two legs, no away
goals counting for more or anything like that. Basically, it
is halftime and the Phoenix are two to one down
and about to embark on the second half of the
(01:03):
tie on home soil. I spoke on Friday with Wellington
Phoenix and Football Firms goalkeeper Vic Essen and asked to
first of all, what was the feeling like in the
side after the narrow two one first leg loss.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It was a disappointing result for us and in a
slightly disappointing performance, although there was elements of greatness within it.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
But look, it's half time.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It's halftime of a big game, a semi final game,
and we'd get another shot at it. So I think
everyone's mooring to go for Sunday and this whole week.
You know, we're tied on the screw on things in
training for sure, but yeah, we're really looking forward to
getting out there on Sunday and just.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, seeing what we can do, anything specific that came
out of the first leg that's been focused on in
the second or is it really a clean slate as
you look towards a one off game perhaps on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
We always look to learn, of course, So we watched
the game back the next day and saw, you know,
things where we probably came away from us a little bit.
So we're looking to make sure that we do us first.
You know. It's Brisbane did cause us problems, of course,
and that's what happens in football. You try and choke
the other team and force them to do things that
(02:15):
they want to do so and at times they did
that well. But we started off the game fantastically. I think,
you know, for us, it's about how we can continue
that on So that's what we're going to look towards
doing on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
How important is it that you start well? I mean
you're a goal behind and that goal could come at
any time or two the three goals could come at
any time. But is a fast start, a good positive start,
a pretty important part of this.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, definitely. I think the Phoenix have shown that if
we can score early, then we can be pretty lethal.
I think the exciting thing about us is sometimes we
can we can have great games and we can score many,
but the main focus for us is that we need one.
We realistically need one to keep ourselves in the game
(02:56):
and give us a chance to go through. So the
main goal is to not concede to get one, and
then we'll see how the rest of the game goes.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Just zooming out on the season as a whole, it's
been a terrific defense season by the team across the
regular season, and I guess a big part of that's
been consistency. You've played all but one game, The three
in front of you have started every game. How important
has that consistency been to your defense of excellence this season,
do you think.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think consistency is key. You know, it's not just
the center backs and the wing backs. You know, our
defense starts at the front, and we pride ourselves on,
you know, our press really and I think we're at
our best when our press is working and we've scored
goals off our press. So it does start from front
to back. But yeah, definitely like having multiple players, especially
(03:43):
in the back line, playing week in week out differentely
helps because you get a bit of a flow and
understanding of players tendencies and I definitely think that helps
with you know, stopping shots, blocking crosses, and of course
hopefully getting clean sheets.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
How do you assess your season personally or do you not?
Do you look at the team? Ash, I'm going to
ask you, how do you assess your season personally as
a you know, as a goalkeeper.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, I think it's a good question. It's not when
I've been asked, actually, but I think you know, I
came back from Europe and I hadn't had a lot
of game time, so for me, it was trying to
get up to speed as quick as possible. I think
we we started quite well as a defensive unit during
(04:28):
the start of the season, and although that's fantastic, I
probably wasn't tested quite as much earlier in the season
as maybe you would have liked. So I think it
was a bit of a slow build for me personally,
and I've probably gotten better, I think, because the season's
gone on. So you know, for me, it's about consistency
and trying to be as consistent as possible across the
(04:48):
whole course of the season. And you know, if I
come back next year, then it'll be hopefully be able
to pick up where I left off.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Do you take pride there in the game against Presman
because it could have been three one, four one, You've
made some terrific saves. Do you take personal pride in that?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah? I take personal pride in keeping the ball o
the back of my net, of course, and sometimes as
goalkeepers you can't save everything, but I want to at
least save the ones that I can, say, the ones
that I'm expected to save and that I know I
can save. So yeah, yeah, it's it's hard. You lose too,
you know, you lose two to one. You can't focus
(05:25):
too much on the goals conceded, although of course we're
going to learn from them, and I'm going to learn
from them as well. But think bigger picture. You know,
you get a little bit of confidence from making saves
as goalkeeper, coming out and taking crosses. Of course that
that all builds into it. But keepers, you know, everyone's
only as good as your last game. And I think
you've got to turn around really quick because you can't
(05:47):
focus on what you've done in the past. You've got
to focus on the future and turning the screw and
making sure that you know this this game, this game
for us is hopefully the best game I can have
all season.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh we are a couple of days out from it,
and here at Pottydoor Park you can see the extra
seats have gone and they're all sold, expecting over five
maybe six thousand here on Sunday. What's that prospect like
as a as a home team, as you try to
overturn a narrow difficuth like this, how much is that
going to help?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Immensely? You know, there's nothing like going to if I
think if the shoes on the other foot and I'm
going away to Brisbane. You know, when we played out
away leg in the regular season, there was quite a
lot of fans in the crowd because it was a
double hitter, and I think from the very first kick
in the warm up, I had fans giving up to
me behind me, and I thought, goly, gosh, this is
(06:36):
going to be a long day at the office. And
then you know, last week, actually the fans were pretty quiet.
They didn't cause me too much grief, and I thought, Okay,
you know, that's surprisingly nice. I was expecting a little
bit more, actually, But I do hot that our fans
can give them a little bit of grief, because you know,
that's what you get. A's the benefit of having home games,
(06:57):
and we're gonna have an extra I think maybe three
thousand or so hopefully in the crowd this week, and
I really do think that that noise. I hope it
will suffocate them really.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Just to finish this game, could finish one possible outcome
as a penalty shootout, that is one possible outcome, one
possible scenario. Are you ready for that if that transpires?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Absolutely? Yeah. Look, we've practiced the penalty process for weeks now,
and I can say that the team's definitely ready if
that is the case. So you know, he is hoping
that we can finish it a normal time, but look,
if it comes to penalties at the end, then I've
got full faith that our team will be able to
finish it off.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
In a positive note, all the best in your quest
to earn one more Monday, Vic, thanks for the chat.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Funny that is vic.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Essen, Wellington Phoenix and Football Fern's goalkeepers set to be
a big part of their quest to overturn this deficit,
first of all today and then to well either to
win at a normal time or extra time or even who knows,
a penalty shootout. That is what is lying ahead of
the Wellington Phoenix women this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Faine, listen live
to News Talks it B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb stream of the Wellington Phoenix women's team is just
an hour away. They play the second leg of their
A League Women's semi final against Brisbane raw Potty to
a Park two thirty this afternoon. Brisbane won the first
leg two to one in Brisbane last Weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Fifteen side by Miller turns Scott Brisbane. I'm for proud
how they have turned it on from one mill down
to lead the semi and it's their talented.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Teenage striker who has got that job done.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
There.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So two to one, but the job's only half done.
Rarely this is a two legged semifinal and so it
is the aggregate score across the two legs, no away
goals counting for more or anything like that. Basically, it
is halftime and the Phoenix are two to one down
and about to embark on the second half of the
(01:03):
tie on home soil. I spoke on Friday with Wellington
Phoenix and Football Firms goalkeeper Vic Essen and asked to
first of all, what was the feeling like in the
side after the narrow two one first leg loss.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It was a disappointing result for us and in a
slightly disappointing performance, although there was elements of greatness within it.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
But look, it's half time.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It's halftime of a big game, a semi final game,
and we'd get another shot at it. So I think
everyone's mooring to go for Sunday and this whole week.
You know, we're tied on the screw on things in
training for sure, but yeah, we're really looking forward to
getting out there on Sunday and just.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, seeing what we can do, anything specific that came
out of the first leg that's been focused on in
the second or is it really a clean slate as
you look towards a one off game perhaps on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
We always look to learn, of course, So we watched
the game back the next day and saw, you know,
things where we probably came away from us a little bit.
So we're looking to make sure that we do us first.
You know. It's Brisbane did cause us problems, of course,
and that's what happens in football. You try and choke
the other team and force them to do things that
(02:15):
they want to do so and at times they did
that well. But we started off the game fantastically. I think,
you know, for us, it's about how we can continue
that on So that's what we're going to look towards
doing on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
How important is it that you start well? I mean
you're a goal behind and that goal could come at
any time or two the three goals could come at
any time. But is a fast start, a good positive start,
a pretty important part of this.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, definitely. I think the Phoenix have shown that if
we can score early, then we can be pretty lethal.
I think the exciting thing about us is sometimes we
can we can have great games and we can score many,
but the main focus for us is that we need one.
We realistically need one to keep ourselves in the game
(02:56):
and give us a chance to go through. So the
main goal is to not concede to get one, and
then we'll see how the rest of the game goes.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Just zooming out on the season as a whole, it's
been a terrific defense season by the team across the
regular season, and I guess a big part of that's
been consistency. You've played all but one game, The three
in front of you have started every game. How important
has that consistency been to your defense of excellence this season,
do you think.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think consistency is key. You know, it's not just
the center backs and the wing backs. You know, our
defense starts at the front, and we pride ourselves on,
you know, our press really and I think we're at
our best when our press is working and we've scored
goals off our press. So it does start from front
to back. But yeah, definitely like having multiple players, especially
(03:43):
in the back line, playing week in week out differentely
helps because you get a bit of a flow and
understanding of players tendencies and I definitely think that helps
with you know, stopping shots, blocking crosses, and of course
hopefully getting clean sheets.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
How do you assess your season personally or do you not?
Do you look at the team? Ash, I'm going to
ask you, how do you assess your season personally as
a you know, as a goalkeeper.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, I think it's a good question. It's not when
I've been asked, actually, but I think you know, I
came back from Europe and I hadn't had a lot
of game time, so for me, it was trying to
get up to speed as quick as possible. I think
we we started quite well as a defensive unit during
(04:28):
the start of the season, and although that's fantastic, I
probably wasn't tested quite as much earlier in the season
as maybe you would have liked. So I think it
was a bit of a slow build for me personally,
and I've probably gotten better, I think, because the season's
gone on. So you know, for me, it's about consistency
and trying to be as consistent as possible across the
(04:48):
whole course of the season. And you know, if I
come back next year, then it'll be hopefully be able
to pick up where I left off.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Do you take pride there in the game against Presman
because it could have been three one, four one, You've
made some terrific saves. Do you take personal pride in that?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah? I take personal pride in keeping the ball o
the back of my net, of course, and sometimes as
goalkeepers you can't save everything, but I want to at
least save the ones that I can, say, the ones
that I'm expected to save and that I know I
can save. So yeah, yeah, it's it's hard. You lose too,
you know, you lose two to one. You can't focus
(05:25):
too much on the goals conceded, although of course we're
going to learn from them, and I'm going to learn
from them as well. But think bigger picture. You know,
you get a little bit of confidence from making saves
as goalkeeper, coming out and taking crosses. Of course that
that all builds into it. But keepers, you know, everyone's
only as good as your last game. And I think
you've got to turn around really quick because you can't
(05:47):
focus on what you've done in the past. You've got
to focus on the future and turning the screw and
making sure that you know this this game, this game
for us is hopefully the best game I can have
all season.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh we are a couple of days out from it,
and here at Pottydoor Park you can see the extra
seats have gone and they're all sold, expecting over five
maybe six thousand here on Sunday. What's that prospect like
as a as a home team, as you try to
overturn a narrow difficuth like this, how much is that
going to help?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Immensely? You know, there's nothing like going to if I
think if the shoes on the other foot and I'm
going away to Brisbane. You know, when we played out
away leg in the regular season, there was quite a
lot of fans in the crowd because it was a
double hitter, and I think from the very first kick
in the warm up, I had fans giving up to
me behind me, and I thought, goly, gosh, this is
(06:36):
going to be a long day at the office. And
then you know, last week, actually the fans were pretty quiet.
They didn't cause me too much grief, and I thought, Okay,
you know, that's surprisingly nice. I was expecting a little
bit more, actually, But I do hot that our fans
can give them a little bit of grief, because you know,
that's what you get. A's the benefit of having home games,
(06:57):
and we're gonna have an extra I think maybe three
thousand or so hopefully in the crowd this week, and
I really do think that that noise. I hope it
will suffocate them really.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Just to finish this game, could finish one possible outcome
as a penalty shootout, that is one possible outcome, one
possible scenario. Are you ready for that if that transpires?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Absolutely? Yeah. Look, we've practiced the penalty process for weeks now,
and I can say that the team's definitely ready if
that is the case. So you know, he is hoping
that we can finish it a normal time, but look,
if it comes to penalties at the end, then I've
got full faith that our team will be able to
finish it off.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
In a positive note, all the best in your quest
to earn one more Monday, Vic, thanks for the chat.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Funny that is vic.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Essen, Wellington Phoenix and Football Fern's goalkeepers set to be
a big part of their quest to overturn this deficit,
first of all today and then to well either to
win at a normal time or extra time or even who knows,
a penalty shootout. That is what is lying ahead of
the Wellington Phoenix women this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Faine, listen live
to News Talks it B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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