The Ufuk Talay era is over at the Wellington Phoenix, after a 2-0 defeat to Adelaide in the A-League elimination final on Friday night.

It continued a frustrating pattern for Talay’s team, who have fallen at the first playoff hurdle in three of the last four seasons.

After several months in the competition's top four, the Phoenix hit a five-match winless run from March, eventually only scraping into the top six.

Former All White David Chote told Adam Cooper the timing around departures of coach Ufuk Talay and players including Clayton Lewis and Oli Sail seemed to unnerve the team.

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