Wellington Phoenix captain Annalie Longo was so pumped after scoring on her A-League debut for the club, she thought of whipping off her shirt to celebrate in front of fans at Sky Stadium.
“I contemplated taking the shirt off and swinging that round, and then I thought (coach) Paul (Temple) would probably tell me off, a silly yellow card or something like that.
“I don’t know if it was the 80th minute but I thought I’d try and get the crowd behind us and roar us home for the last 10 minutes.”
The goal by the Football Ferns midfielder, in the 85th minute, gave her side a 2-0 lead against Brisbane Roar in Saturday’s Liberty A-League match.
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After a late Roar goal, the Phoenix won 2-1, securing their first-ever back-to-back wins in the A-League and went to the top of the table, at least till other weekend games got underway.
For Longo, her debut ended an 18-month period of frustration after missing last season through a serious knee injury.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for that moment. I kind of dreamed that kind of moment In my head — (I) kind of replayed it back, saying kind of what impact can I have?”
At her post-game interview, Longo expressed sympathy for teammate Grace Wisnewski who was helped off the pitch with what appears to be a significant injury.
“You never like to see players kind of go down in any games and, you know, certainly me coming back from injury, I know what that feels like so you know we’re all thinking of Grace.
“She’s a strong individual and she’s so positive and I’m glad we could get the win for her today, and we’ll be right behind her whatever the injury is.”
Longo said the nature of Wisnewski’s injury was not clear but she would have scans.
“In the next few days, we’ll probably find out what that looks like but we’ll be behind her all the way and the team wish her (the) best with her recovery and hopefully it’s not too long.”
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