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04Mar22
Perth All But Condemn Wellington To Wooden Spoon
by Jeremy Ruane
Perth Glory all but condemned Wellington Phoenix to the wooden spoon in their inaugural Liberty A-League season on 4 March, overcoming the New Zealand entry 3-1 at WIN Stadium in what turned out to be the final fixture of the season for both teams.
The Western Australians had to win and hope results elsewhere went their way in order to make the top four play-offs, but while they fulfilled their part of the equation, Melbourne Victory earned the point they needed in a goalless clash with Canberra United to clinch a play-off spot on goal difference from Perth.
Wellington, meanwhile, brought winning form into this match, having come from behind to beat Western Sydney Wanderers 3-2 in a rearranged midweek fixture. Goals from Kate Taylor, Ava Pritchard and Grace Jale earned the points for Gemma Lewis' team, who drew level with Wests on points, but went into their final fixture three goals worse off than the team they conquered three days ago.
This defeat, however, leaves Western Sydney needing to avoid a five-goal defeat in their final game of the campaign against Melbourne City to retain their ninth placing on the table, ahead of Wellington on goal difference.
Perth enjoyed the better of the early exchanges against a Wellington team which was down to the bare bones. With Zoe McMeeken and Annabel Martin sidelined by injury, Talitha Kramer suspended and Grace Wisnewski having returned home due to her mental health concerns, Lewis' final team of the campaign largely picked itself.
Mackenzie Barry's timely tackle prevented Susan Phonsongkam from latching onto Cyera Hintzen's deft lay-off in the fifth minute, while Hana Lowry and Phonsongkam followed that up with long-range efforts inside the next four minutes, the latter's being grabbed by Lily Alfeld, who trod a fine line when grabbing the ball right on the edge of her penalty area in the tenth minute to deny the charging figure of Hintzen. One more step would have meant trouble!
Wellington produced the best move of the match thus far in the fourteenth minute when Isabel Gomez won the ball in midfield and fed Jale, who instantly linked with Chloe Knott. Her pass inside allowed Alyssa Whinham to evade two opponents before lashing a low drive narrowly past the post from the edge of the penalty area.
Two minutes later, Perth's Football Ferns defender, Liz Anton, was sold short by a team-mate's pass, which allowed Knott to swoop on the sphere and surge towards goal. But Anton wasn't having a bar of her old Lotto Northern Premier Women's League rival getting the better of her, and recovered well to prevent Knott from achieving her objective.
Gomez fired a thirty yarder wildly over the bar halfway through the first half, but found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time in the 23rd minute, as Perth opened the scoring from a corner which should never have been awarded.
Substandard officiating has been one of the most disappointing elements of Wellington's season, one of the things outside their control. Today's referee, Rachael Mitchenson, was originally appointed as the fourth official for this fixture, and her performance in the middle was ample proof that the sideline role is one to which she is far better suited.
She completely ignored a crude shove in the back by Hintzen on Mona Walker on this occasion, instead awarding a corner which Deborah-Anne De La Harpe delivered into the danger zone. Natasha Rigby flicked it on, and the ball ricocheted off Gomez and flew into the roof of the net - 1-0 Perth, from a corner wrongfully awarded.
The goal knocked the self-belief out of Wellington, who struggled to make their passes stick on attack, despite Whinham's best efforts to eke out an advantage. It was Perth who came close to scoring next, however, Gomez heading off the line on the half-hour after a teasing De La Harpe cross had deceived Alfeld, who recovered quickly to save at the feet of Lowry seconds later.
After Rigby's decisive challenge had thwarted Knott on the edge of the area, Saskia Vosper's enterprising raid down the left saw her nutmeg an opponent before delivering a cross from the by-line intended for Jale. Morgan Aquino's intervention prevented that prospect from becoming reality.
Back came Perth, Aideen Keane heading narrowly over from another De La Harpe corner, while Alfeld was right behind a close-range snap-shot from Lowry after Phonsongkam had made great in-roads off the left flank deep into Wellington's penalty area.
Successive De La Harpe corners into the goalmouth on the stroke of half-time tested Alfeld's resilience, the goalkeeper punching the first to safety before grabbing the second, matching Aquino's denial moments earlier after she smothered a Whinham through ball which looked to reward Jale's angled run in off the left flank.
Wellington began the second spell on the front foot, Gomez testing Aquino with a thirty-yarder before whipping in a free-kick from the right which Walker met with a glancing header which drifted past the far post.
Whinham then latched onto Barry's pass on the right and cut inside before cheekily trying to catch Aquino out at her near post with a subtle chipped effort. The side-netting came to the rescue of Perth, who were soon pressing for a second goal, only to find Taylor in "Thou shalt not pass" mode.
Their pressure eventually told, however, in the 61st minute. Rigby released the overlapping figure of Anton down the right, from where she delivered a
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gem of a cross to the near post. Darting in to meet it was Hintzen, whose exquisite first-time finish arrowed into the roof of the net, between Alfeld and the upright - 2-0.
Two minutes later, the game was up for Wellington, but only thanks to a mind-boggling piece of officiating by referee Mitchenson. A Perth player was fouled, but the referee didn't blow her whistle to acknowledge the fact, allowing play to continue. Meanwhile, Perth midfielder Sarah Cain literally grabbed the ball, put it down and took a quick free-kick - and the referee didn't so much as bat an eyelid!! A quite staggering piece of non-officiating!
It completely bemused Taylor, who, like many, was expecting the whistle to be blown for Cain's blatant ball-handling offence. As a result, she wasn't concentrating on where Cain's free-kick had got to, unlike Aideen Keane, who tore through on goal before belting the ball beyond Alfeld - 3-0, another goal which shouldn't have been awarded had the match official been doing her job!
It's been a tough inaugural season for Wellington in this competition. Living out of suitcases, and not being able to play any games in their homeland have been two of the prices they've paid to participate in a league in which they weren't even a contender until three months before the season kicked off, when the team's entry was confirmed. Save for the efforts of a small supporters' group, "The Little Corner of Yellow", they've been bereft of encouragement also.
Atop this, coach Lewis has had to endure restrictions faced by no other team with regard to player recruitment and player replacements as she's pieced a squad together. Then, come match day, in almost every game Wellington has played, they've had to endure refereeing decisions which reek of local bias - the two goals which were awarded but shouldn't have been in this match lead this week's case for the prosecution!
Football Australia should be, at the very least, embarrassed by the anti-Wellington decisions which their officials have regularly made throughout this W-League season. They won't be, however, instead looking on the situation as having done Wellington a favour by allowing them to finally join the competition in the first place!
Perth nearly scored a fourth goal in the 65th minute, via a splendid raid down the left featuring Cain, Phonsongkam and Hintzen, whose cross picked out Keane. She laid the ball off to Lowry, whose drive was parried to safety by Alfeld, who looked on seconds later as a twenty-five yard shot on the run from Lowry flew narrowly over the bar.
Wellington introduced Kelli Brown to the fray twenty minutes from time, and she made an instant impact, a slick turn and surge down the right culminating in a teasing cross which had Ava Pritchard as its intended target.
Aquino grabbed the ball greedily, and repeated the dose in the 77th minute as Vosper chased Hannah Jones' lobbed ball into the goalmouth, Knott and Whinham having combined with the midfielder following a short corner.
Perth responded via substitute Demi Koulizakis, who sent a shot on the turn skidding narrowly past the post following a Lowry corner. But Wellington weren't to be denied a final flourish in their inaugural campaign, and after Vosper had hit the crossbar with a dipping twenty-five yarder, following good work by Whinham and Jale, they were rewarded for their efforts.
The rebound from Vosper's close call landed at the feet of substitute Cushla Rue, who was promptly felled by an over-eager Perth defender in the 85th minute - not even referee Mitchenson could turn down Wellington's penalty claims on this occasion!
Having doubtless witnessed the penalty-taking masterclass which Liverpool produced to win the League Cup on Monday morning - every Redman scored from the spot, as did ten of their Chelsea opponents, Jale had plenty of scope to employ for potting her attempt from twelve yards. It was a close call - Aquino got her hand to it - but a relieved penalty taker registered her sixth goal of the season, and fifth in six games to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
Buoyed by the goal, Wellington pressed again before the final whistle, Knott picking out Jale with a corner. Her header was blocked by Leena Khamis, while Barry sent the rebound fizzing over the bar, before Aquino grabbed a header from unmarked substitute Charlotte Lancaster in stoppage time, the last act of a contest which concluded the campaign for both teams, with disappointment the obvious emotion come the final whistle.
In Perth's case, learning that they had missed out on the play-offs on goal difference, although when one considers this came just a season after they earned a solitary point in finishing last in 2020-21, they have made tremendous strides in twelve months.
Wellington have done so in half that time - six months ago, this team was still a rumour. They finish their campaign with two wins and a draw to their name, and may yet avoid the wooden spoon if Melbourne City batter Western Sydney Wanderers by at least five goals. Theirs has been a challenging inaugural season, but one in which they fully deserve the credit and respect they've earned for their efforts.
Wellington: Alfeld; Barry, Walker (Jasnos, 90), Taylor, Vosper (Lancaster, 90); Jones, Gomez (Brown, 67), Whinham; Pritchard (booked, 30 (Rue, 79), Knott, Jale
Perth: Aquino; Rigby, Anton, Carroll, De La Harpe; Lawrence (booked, 70), Lowry, Cain (Khamis, 73); Keane (Koulizakis, 73), Hintzen (De Vanna, 83), Phonsongkam (Green, 75)
Referee: Rachael Mitchenson
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