Striker Jeremy Brockie was again to the fore as the Wellington Phoenix completed their pre-season with a 7-1 win over Young Heart Manawatu in Palmerston North today.
The All White netted a first-half hat-trick to take his pre-season goal tally to 18 before being substituted to allow others valuable game time.
He opened the scoring in the seventh minute and added further goals in the 33rd and 40th minutes, the third with a vicious trademark volley.
Teenager Louis Fenton, who had an outstanding 45 minutes before being rested in the second half, scored his team's second goal in the 12th minute, while Belgian Stein Huysegems netted his first Phoenix goal right on halftime to give his side a 5-0 lead.
The Phoenix were rocked within minutes of the restart when Hamish Watson, who is about to become part of the Phoenix's football school of excellence but was loaned to Manawatu for the game, scored with a stunning strike.
Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert made several changes at halftime, including introducing Paul Ifill in place of Fenton, and it disrupted the side's rhythm for a while. They still managed to add goals to Panamanian Ricardo Clarke, who showed some lovely touches and impressive speed, and 17-year-old Tyler Boyd who displayed composure to net the seventh.
Herbert was pleased with his team's final hit-out and was particularly impressed by Fenton, Huysegems and Clarke.
"Louis [Fenton] was outstanding, Stein could have had two or three more than the one he scored and was impressive in his movement and touch.
"Ricardo [Clarke] is still settling in but looked good on the ball and took his goal superbly.
"For me, the most important thing was to get more minutes under the belt for everyone, including the young players, and now we can look toward Saturday's opening A-League game against Sydney."
