A depleted Phoenix side has suffered their second straight heavy loss in the A-League,m going down 5-0 to the Central Coast Mariners.
With nine squad members out due to injuries and Covid-19, the Phoenix followed up their 6-0 drubbing to Melbourne City from three days ago with another big loss on Tuesday.
The Mariners built a 2-0 at halftime in Gosford before scoring a second penalty shortly after the break to put the Wellington side in a serious hole.
Things only got worse from their for the Phoenix when the Mariners added a fourth goal midway through the second-half and completed the scoring with the last kick of the game.
Head coach Ufuk Talay said the back-to-back losses have exposed the Phoenix's lack of depth.
"Obviously a poor result. You can see that we're desperately in need of certain players coming back into the team," Talay said.
"I think we made life a lot more difficult when we concede a penalty in the eighth minute of the game and we concede from a set piece as well.
"At the end of the day we weren't good enough and it shows the lack of depth that we're struggling with at the moment."
Prior to the two heavy losses, the Phoenix were on a charge for a top four finish in the competition but now sit seventh one point outside the top six and a point above Central Coast.
Talay said the side will regroup to get their campaign back on track.
"The good thing is we have got an extra day before we play our next game," Talay said.
"The boys will recover tomorrow and then we'll get two actual sessions on the park where we can actually do some tactical work as well.
"The hardest thing with the games being so close together is we spend most of the time trying to recover and recoup and then get them back on the park at least fresh enough to play a game."
The Phoenix continue their season on Saturday when they play second-placed Western United in Ballarat.
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