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04Feb22
Wellington Errors Hand Melbourne Victory
by Jeremy Ruane
Goals inside the first quarter of their Liberty A-League encounter at WIN Stadium on 4 February earned reigning champions Melbourne Victory a 2-0 triumph over winless Wellington Phoenix, whose quest to win a game in their maiden campaign continues unrewarded after this, their ninth successive defeat.
Melbourne, playing their first match in three weeks, made the early running, but it was the bottom-placed side which enjoyed the first opening in the contest, Ava Pritchard drilling a shot narrowly past the post from twenty yards after Isabel Gomez's long-range free-kick wasn't cleared.
Soon afterwards, a vital tackle by Claudia Bunge - hers was an immense individual display against her countrywomen - thwarted Pritchard inside the area after Talitha Kramer, Grace Jale and Alyssa Whinham had combined on the left, the last-mentioned's exquisite pass engineering the opportunity.
The resulting corner was delivered by Chloe Knott, and how Wellington failed to open the scoring Lord alone knows. The ball arced right into the heart of the goalmouth, with Jale flicking it on towards the far post and Zoe McMeeken, off whose back the ball ricocheted past the upright - had she been facing the goal, she would surely have scored!
Alas, such are the fine margins when you're down on your luck, as Wellington undoubtedly have been in recent weeks. A stray pass invited Melbourne to attack in the ninth minute, with Maja Markovski feeding Mindy Barbieri, whose lobbed effort arced past the post.
Back came Wellington, Kate Taylor's cross picking out Pritchard ghosting in off the right flank. The volley was on, but the youngster was struck square amidships by the ball, which was grabbed greedily by Casey Dumont as Pritchard slumped to the ground, winded.
She recovered, but by the time that happened Melbourne were a goal to the good. An Alana Murphy corner was headed out by Taylor to Barbieri, who returned the ball to the corner-taker, inviting her to have another go.
Murphy duly obliged, this time with a cross, a wicked delivery from Melbourne's left which exploited the wind coming in off the Tasman Sea to completely deceive Lily Alfeld, the 'keeper only able to palm the ball into her net to gift the title-holders the lead in the thirteenth minute.
Stunned by that blow, Wellington looked to get back on level terms quickly, but their efforts to do so were well contained by a well organised Melbourne side whose efforts were overseen by someone very familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the vast majority of the opposition's players.
Gareth Turnbull, Melbourne's assistant coach, was Gemma Lewis' predecessor as coach of NZ Football's Future Ferns Development Programme squad, the source of many of Wellington's players in their debut A-League campaign.
Indeed, Lewis was Turnbull's assistant during his tenure, so the home team went into this match knowing they'd have to come up with something extra special to get a result from this contest, given the "inside knowledge" Melbourne enjoyed.
Those prospects weren't aided by the concession of a second goal in the 23rd minute. A stray pass from Taylor was pounced on by Matildas international Alex Chidiac, who worked a one-two with Barbieri before delivering an angled low cross which was deftly turned home by Tiffany Eliadis - 2-0.
It took the home team a while to recover from that double blow, but they showed signs that they were getting back on their feet in the 36th minute, when a Kramer cross was headed out by Bunge to Isabel Gomez, whose thumping twenty yard drive cannoned to safety off Amy Jackson.
Two minutes later, Knott uncorked a gem of a cross which Jale met with a looping header which Dumont had to tip over the bar. The resulting corner came to nought, unlike a Melbourne raid two minutes later which saw Kramer clearing off the line to deny Bunge a goal following another Murphy corner.
Chasing the game, Wellington were the more dominant team in the second spell, so much so that
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they could afford to give reserve goalkeeper Brianna Edwards ten minutes' game-time, so little did Alfeld have to do after the interval.
In the 53rd minute, Knott and Jale combined, the latter lofting a delightfully weighted ball over the defence for Pritchard to home in on. Said ball lured Dumont out of her penalty area in order to partially clear it, only as far as Whinham, whose attempted chip into the empty net was blocked by the seemingly ubiquitous figure of Bunge.
Three minutes later, Gomez and Hannah Jones - good prospect, this lass. A pity she's a West Islander! - linked with McMeeken, who threaded a pass through for Pritchard to pursue. Once again, Dumont darted off her line, this time to save at the feet of the flank player, who was off and running again moments later.
This time, it was in response to another opportunity engineered by Knott and Jale. The Football Fern set off on an angled run before releasing an angled pass which rewarded Pritchard's right-to-left run into the penalty area, from where she drilled a low drive into the side-netting.
Just after the hour, Knott turned up on the right flank, and delivered a cross which fell nicely for freshly introduced substitute Mona Walker. With her first touch, she scuffed her shot from eight yards - a great chance to halve the deficit, one which she would likely have taken had she been up to speed.
Halfway through the second spell, Gomez linked with McMeeken on the right. The fullback instantly looked to pick out Knott's darting run towards the near post, and would have done so had you-know-who not read the situation superbly and intervened once more - Bunge had a brilliant game.
Wellington kept at it, an uncleared Saskia Vosper cross inviting Pritchard to chip the ball goalwards. Dumont grabbed this effort, and ignited a counter-attack which foundered on Mackenzie Barry's superb block tackle in the area which stopped Markovski in her tracks.
The ball broke for Murphy, whose shot was blocked, prompting a Wellington counter-attack led by Jones. Knott and Walker were swiftly brought into play, along with substitute Charlotte Lancaster, whose cross-shot arced beyond the far post.
Twelve minutes from time, Melbourne captain Lia Privitelli won the ball on halfway and stormed down the left flank, powering into the penalty area before drawing a smothered save from Alfeld, her only contribution of note to the second spell.
When Privitelli repeated the move in stoppage time, she left Barry among those trailing in her slipstream. Edwards was the obstacle in her path this time, and the flying fullback fired the ball at her near post, the sphere slamming into the upright before rebounding to safety.
In between times, Wellington had twice gone close to halving the deficit. Walker and Vosper worked an opening through the inside left channel, the overlapping fullback picking out Pritchard with a delivery which allowed the striker time to control the ball before letting fly.
Dumont parried her attempt, but Pritchard was swiftly onto the rebound, only to be denied this time by Bunge, her last act in a fine display. Melbourne's new recruit, Brooke Hendrix, stepped into the breach when Wellington next attacked, Taylor inviting Pritchard to stretch her legs once more. The American's intervention ended the home team's hopes of a goal on this occasion.
Victory keeps Melbourne in the play-off positions, and with seven games still to play, their destiny is very much in their hands. Wellington, however, have just four fixtures remaining in their quest to score a maiden A-League win, and will be confident of recording it given their performance against the reigning champions - but for two errors, this could well have been a draw.
Wellington: Alfeld (Edwards, 81); McMeeken, Barry, Taylor, Kramer (Vosper, 62); Whinham (Walker, 62), Jones, Gomez (booked, 54); Pritchard, Knott (Martin, 81), Jale (Lancaster, 62)
Melbourne: Dumont; Doran, Bunge (Robers, 88), Jackson, Privitelli; Barbieri, Murphy (Zols, 86), Chidiac; Eliadis (Hendrix, 74), Markovski, Iermano
Referee: Caitlin Williams
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