Wellington quickly found themselves 2-0 down before fighting back to level by half-time. It was the Jets who scored the decisive goal though to leave Herbert's men with nothing to show for their efforts.

"To be honest I think we would have been a bit lucky (to get a draw) but as the game progressed it looked like it might go that way," said Herbert.  "But we didn't start well, two poor goals and away from home it is going to be difficult to come back from there."

The coach was happy to see one of his new boys get off the mark with Chris Greenacre opening his account for the club.

"It was good to Chris score and that will get him out of the shadow of Shane Smeltz on his debut," said Herbert.  "I'm delighted for him but it is about winning football matches this year and I am very disappointed with that match."

Herbert agreed there were some encouraging things to be taken out of the match, particularly the performance of Leo Bertos, who troubled the Jets defence with his runs through midfield and helped set up both of Wellington's goals. But overall he said his side looked tentative.

"You can look at a few things but at the end of the day the score line says 3-2 and that is what we need to address," he said.

"We have spoken about how we are going to be tighter at the back this year and deal with things more efficiently but we were a bit tentative.

"Whether that is first match syndrome or not - I have seen it with a few the sides this weekend - I don't know."

Herbert will use the next few days to assess what went wrong and look for a reaction when Phoenix step out in round two.

He added:  "We can build from this but we're all extremely disappointed.

"It's about a complete performance; once you get that everything takes care of itself. We have to set the bar higher and this week. We'll have the chance to reflect on what needs to be done."