Wellington coach Ufuk Talay admits he's facing a player shortage after captain Alex Rufer limped off in Saturday's 2-1 A-League Men loss to Brisbane Roar at Moreton Daily Stadium.
Goals from Rahmat Akbari and Henry Hore secured a much-needed win for the Roar after three straight away defeats with Gary Hooper's 72nd-minute goal not enough to prevent the Phoenix's seven-game unbeaten run ending.
Adding to Talay's frustration, Rufer had to be substituted late in the first half after injuring his left knee in a challenge with Akbari for which the Phoenix midfielder was also booked.
Talay said the 25-year-old will undergo scans on Monday but said his condition was "not good" after the game.
English forward David Ball also picked up a fifth yellow card of the season in the loss, meaning he'll be suspended for next Friday's trip to Newcastle.
It's exactly the outcome Talay didn't want from Saturday's game, given four players - Oli Sail, Clayton Lewis, Ben Old and Ben Waine - are flying out to Qatar on Sunday after being called up for New Zealand's World Cup qualifiers.
"We'll have a look. We've got a few boys going away, question marks over Rufer and Bally actually will be suspended, five yellows, so he will be suspended for the next match," Talay said.
"We'll have a look at the week and see what we end up putting on the park."
Back on home soil after their back-to-back-to-back defeats on the road, the Roar made the perfect start when Akbari celebrated his selection for the Afghanistan national team by heading home his second goal of the season in the eighth minute.
On-loan Japanese forward Ryo Wada, making his first appearance for the Roar, delivered an inch-perfect cross to the far post which split the Phoenix defence and allowed Akbari to nod home from close range.
The game took a sudden turn in the 72nd minute when Roar captain Tom Aldred was penalised for a trip on Jaushua Sotirio just outside the box.
Lewis's free-kick smashed off the post and despite Sotirio failing to put the rebound into an empty net, Hooper flicked home the resulting corner to level the scores.
Brisbane responded almost immediately, however, when substitute Hore combined with impressive midfielder Jesse Daley in the box before he smashed home his third goal of the season after Sail had saved his initial effort.
"Massive three points ... we needed to win so it's really important for us but the performance for me wasn't quite where it needed to be," Roar coach Warren Moon said.
"We can be better but I think we've been good at times and lost games this year so I'm not going to complain."
Brisbane's will look to claim their first road win of the season next weekend when they head west to face Perth.
