Wellington Phoenix celebrate their goal against Wrexham. Photo: Marty Melville/www.photosport.nz
A youthful Wellington Phoenix team have handed Wrexham AFC a shock loss to end their Down Under Tour.
The Phoenix won the pre-season friendly 1-0 in Wellington in front of just over 25,000 fans.
Phoenix academy centre forward Luke Flowerdew, 19, gave the home side the lead just after halftime to leave the newly promoted English Championship side chasing the game against their A-League opposition.
Lead by stand-in captain import Kazuki Nagasawa, the home side relied on young players for their first game in two months, with the academy team taking the field for the second half, when Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano made 10 changes.
Wrexham also rang the changes in the second half, as they looked ahead to two more warm-up games before the Championship kicks off.
The Phoenix have previously beaten touring teams, with victories over Argentinian Boca Juniors in Wellington in 2010 and English Premier League club West Ham in 2014 in Auckland, and now they have added Hollywood-backed Wrexham to their list of scalps.
This was the Phoenix's first match of a long pre-season campaign and half a dozen first-team players were unavailable, including captain Alex Rufer, fellow All White Tim Payne, defender Corban Piper, experienced midfielder Paulo Retre, goalkeeper Alby Kelly-Heald and young forward Nathan Walker, who were out due to injuries or a lack of match fitness, while new signing Ifeanyi Eze was yet to arrive in Wellington.
Wrexham's newest signing - All White Libby Cacace - did not play, as he is yet to join up with the squad that begin the English Championship against Southampton next month.
Saturday evening's game at Sky Stadium was the final leg of the Red Dragons' Down Under Tour. Wrexham beat A-League side Melbourne Victory 3-0 last week, before they were stunned 2-1 by a young Sydney FC team on Tuesday night.
The Phoenix continue their pre-season with an Australia Cup game against Perth Glory on 27 July.
See how it unfolded:
