But in football, there is no hiding from a result like 5-1. No amount of spin that can dress up the losing side's performance.
The Wellington Phoenix crumbled badly in the second half of the game against the Brisbane Roar at Dunedin's new stadium on Saturday night. Time and again, the Roar proved too slick and too quick for the "home side", cutting swathes through the Phoenix defence with speed and neat passing.
It was a relatively even first half, the Roar getting its first goal right on the break, but the Australians completely dominated the second spell.
Classy operators Mitch Nichols, Nicholas Fitzgerald and Thomas Broich completely bossed one end of the pitch.
Still, it is pre-season. Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert is still looking for four players to complete his squad, and he saw no point getting too disturbed by the one-sided result.
"Not a lot, really," Herbert said when asked what he got out of the game.
"I just think, in the context of where we're at, we were probably a little more aggressive in going forward tonight.
"In light of what we're trying to do ... players that we're trying to find are probably in that front third of that pitch.
"I thought we were reasonably tidy in the first half. I think they had one shot, probably should have had a penalty and should have scored.
Herbert expected Brisbane, the defending A-League champion, to pose plenty of problems.
But as an occasion, and as a trial, he could not complain about the value of the game.
"We had boys we wanted to see in action. We're looking for players at the moment that can be better than what we've got.
"We brought the A-League champions to Dunedin to play in this stadium for the first time. And we got 15,000 people to come and see us.
"The result is really irrelevant to me at the moment. We're looking for players."
There were some good early signs for the Phoenix, with a period of nice ball movement leading to an early chance for Paul Ifill.
But the Roar soon settled into its work. Fitzgerald looked exceptionally lively, Nichols had two good looks at goal and captain Shane Stefanutto guided a composed defence.
The Phoenix responded with a couple of nice runs by Leo Bertos and some deft Ifill touches. But there were some ominous gaps in midfield, and young fullback Jimmy Downey looked out of his depth and was receiving regular lectures from team-mates.
A 0-0 halftime score seemed certain when Broich blazed wide following a bad mistake from Paston. But then Nichols produced an exquisite through ball for James Meyer to score in the last minute.
The second spell featured a series of simple Roar attacking moves that could probably have resulted in seven or eight goals.
Nichols tapped in after just three minutes, then nine minutes later Broich curled in a dazzling free kick.
The Phoenix got on the board through Maceo Rigters, but then Broich got his second and Meyer completed the rout with a stroll into the net in stoppage time.
"We opened ourselves up a lot in the second half and started chasing things," Phoenix captain Andrew Durante said.
"The first half was very organised and exactly to the game plan that Ricki wanted. In the second half, we probably got caught out too easy at the back. We'd probably be a little more cautious in a proper A-League game. We tried to press higher and got exposed."
The Phoenix now heads to Australia to play the Heart in Shepparton, 200km northeast of Melbourne, on Friday.
The scores -
Pre-season football
• Brisbane Roar 5
Thomas Broich 2, James Meyer 2, Mitch Nichols
• Wellington Phoenix 1
Maceo Rigters
• Halftime: Roar 1-0
• Crowd: 15,037
