Kate Taylor Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Wellington Phoenix have produced the upset of the women's A-League season.
The bottom of the table Phoenix have stunned league leaders Sydney FC 1-0 in Sydney, thanks to a first-half goal from centre back Kate Taylor.
It was nothing less than the Nix deserved as they outplayed the perennial title contenders for most of the match.
Head coach Natalie Lawrence was bursting with pride after the final whistle.
"I feel so proud and happy for the girls," Lawrence said post-match. "They've worked so hard and they've kept the belief.
"We've had the message the whole season that this team is going to do go things and I think this result was coming.
"We knew we were going to win more games and beating top of the league makes it that little bit more special and gives us even more belief.
"It wasn't just the win, it was how we did it. We out possessed them, we got more shots than them and we got into the box more than they did.
"There's a brand of football we've been trying to play all season and we're now starting to reap the rewards of it."
Lawrence only re-joined the squad in Sydney on Friday night, having spent the week in Auckland starting her pro coaching licence.
"There was no impact from me being away. As a head coach I look at that and look at the culture we're creating at this club and I can be nothing but proud.
"If you can leave and nothing changes, the standards stay high, the messages are the same and the work continues to build, then you're on to a pretty good thing."
It is Wellington's second win of the season and moves them just a point behind second-to-bottom Newcastle Jets with a game in hand.
They are hungry for more victories over the remaining four rounds.
"We want more points. We've got the feeling and the feeling's good, and we want to continue that, but we have to keep to our process and we have to do it better than anyone else.
"We've now got more points than we did last season, but we now want to get even more and we want to get off the bottom of the league and we want to do it in style."
Natalie Lawrence made two changes to the XI, which started last week's 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar, with Emma Rolston and Paige Satchell coming into the side in place of Ava Pritchard and Milly Clegg.
Pritchard and Clegg were named amongst the substitutes, which also included the returning Georgia Candy and Zoe McMeeken. Candy had missed the past two matches with concussion.
