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10Dec21
Reallity Check For Wellington As Newcastle Go Nap
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix endured a Liberty A-League reality check at McDonald Jones Stadium on 10 December, and while they had their maiden goal in the competition to celebrate, it was Newcastle Jets who were by far the happier team come the final whistle, having hammered the league newcomers 5-1.
With Matilda Emily Van Egmond having signed up during the week, the home team went into the contest sporting the favourites tag, and wasted little time in living up to that billing, bossing possession and territory from the outset.
Just four minutes into the contest, they carved out their first opportunity, Elizabeth Hunt-Eddy releasing Van Egmond down the right, from where she picked out Lucy Johnson with a cross which the hard-working midfielder headed past the post.
Two minutes later, however, Wellington mounted a raid, led by the indefatigable Chloe Knott - the amount of ground she covers during a game, often in the pursuit of ultimately lost causes, defies logic!
On this occasion, her pursuit of the ball allowed her the best seat in the house to see Newcastle goalkeeper Georgia Boric handle it just outside her penalty area. Referee Isabella Blaess and her assistant saw things differently, however, but knowing Knott for as long as this writer has, she wouldn't have appealed for a free-kick had no offence taken place.
The natives threatened again in the ninth minute via Van Egmond, after Hannah Brewer and Cassidy Davis had combined on the right to good effect. Mackenzie Barry's timely intervention thwarted her more experienced opponent this time round, and prompted a counter-attack in which Grace Jale took on two rivals before bringing Ava Pritchard into play.
She was promptly flattened by the uncompromising Kirsty Fenton, who next featured at the other end of the ground in the thirteenth minute. Unlike the free-kick Fenton's foul had prompted, that delivered by Van Egmond on this occasion was a gem, beautifully flighted and weighted towards the far post.
Timing her run to meet it while coming in round the back was Tara Andrews, one of the league's most prolific markswomen over the years. On this occasion, however, Fenton rose in front of her, but guided her header just past the post when scoring seemed the easier option.
Wellington's rearguard was soon facing a thorough examination, and the athleticism of Zoe McMeeken, in particular, was frustrating the home team's efforts no end. But the visitors weren't aiding their own cause by swiftly frittering away hard-earned possession via either wayward or aimless kicks of the ball - to describe these efforts as attempted passes would be unjust!
Consequently, Newcastle didn't have long to wait before they were back on the attack, and threatening to score. Marie Dolvik's first time volley, in the 29th minute after Johnson and Sunny Franco had combined, gave Lily Alfeld plenty of cause for concern, while the 'keeper was relieved to see Franco's acute-angled drive sizzle across the face of goal sixty seconds later.
After Van Egmond had dispatched a dipping thirty yarder onto the roof of Wellington's net, the goal the home team had sought for so long finally materialised in the 33rd minute. Fenton loomed up on the left in support of Dolvik, and the fullback was duly supplied with a pass inviting her to deliver a cross.
The wind at Newcastle's backs decided to reveal its hand at this point, guiding the ball over the head of Alfeld and into the net behind her - 1-0 Newcastle, courtesy a goal fortuitous in its execution, although it had certainly been coming.
Six minutes before half-time, Alfeld blocked at her near post to deny Dolvik after she had got in on the left and been picked out by another precise pass from Johnson, whose influence on proceedings was every bit as strong as that of Van Egmond - how Wellington could have done with securing the services of someone as experienced as the Matildas' centurion to help guide their youngsters through their maiden Liberty A-League campaign.
There was only one team in it in the early stages of the second half, and it wasn't wearing a change kit of blue! McMeeken made a dreadful hash of clearing a Brewer free-kick, much to the delight of Andrews, whose delight promptly turned to dismay as she dragged her snapshot past the post in the 49th minute.
Two minutes later, Alfeld denied Dolvik. Fenton went over her ankle under pressure in her own
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penalty area soon afterwards, and it would not surprise in the slightest if the game's first goalscorer is out of action for anywhere up to eight weeks with this injury - it didn't make for great viewing on a replay, that's for sure.
While down to ten, Newcastle was gifted a second goal in the 55th minute. Looking to play the ball out of defence, Kate Taylor presented it on a plate to Dolvik some twenty-five yards out from goal, and she took a couple of steps before battering a low drive beyond Alfeld and into the net via her left-hand post.
After Van Egmond had hit the bar via an acute-angled free-kick, and Pritchard had penalty appeals turned down by referee Blaess after Brewer's uncompromising challenge in the area thwarted a rare Wellington raid, two goals in as many minutes just after the hour mark killed off the visitors' remote hopes of getting back into the contest.
Andrews bagged both of them, soaring over Jale to head home a pinpoint Van Egmond corner, before picking her spot after Van Egmond and Dolvik had combined to prise open the visitors' porous rearguard.
Angered by this double-blow, not to mention her own contribution to the second goal, Taylor took the bull by the horns and led a 67th minute assault out of defence which culminated in her letting fly from distance, her attempt being deflected to safety.
Sixty seconds later, Wellington nearly opened their account via an unlikely source. Knott charged down an attempted clearance, the ball ricocheting off her and only just past the far post - a real let-off for Newcastle, who suddenly found themselves under pressure from the resurgent visitors.
Substitute Alyssa Whinham once again made an instant impact upon emerging from the bench, deftly beating two opponents before feeding the overlapping figure of Talitha Kramer, for whom this was her Wellington debut.
Her cross picked out Grace Wisnewski at the near post, where she evaded a challenge before being denied by the legs of Boric, who grabbed a twenty-yarder from Pritchard in the 72nd minute after Saskia Vosper - a strong performance in a well-beaten team - and Knott had combined to good effect.
Boric promptly sparked a counter-attack from which Newcastle went nap. Johnson and substitute Ashlee Brodigan worked a one-two which culminated in the former chipping the ball over the top for speedster Jemma House to latch onto.
She drew Alfeld out of goal before lobbing the ball across the goalmouth to fellow replacement Sophie Harding, who gleefully tucked it home with her first touch as Wellington's defenders looked on in disbelief, not for the first time in this contest.
They managed to repel Newcastle's remaining attempts to heap further misery on the league's newcomers, however. Taylor blocked a Van Egmond effort, while Harding hammered one just past the post in the 83rd minute after Barry, who had initially been beaten by House, made a terrific recovering tackle.
Three minutes later, House lobbed one into the wind which gave Alfeld all sorts of problems, dropping further away from goal than she would have preferred. Johnson was the beneficiary of this, but stabbed her shot just past the post.
The 'keeper redeemed herself by plucking the ball off the head of Lauren Allan in the 89th minute, following good work by Harding, before producing a fine save to her right to deny House as the game entered stoppage time, nine minutes after Pritchard had carved her name into Wellington Phoenix folklore.
They earned an 81st minute corner, which Knott delivered into the danger zone. Taylor directed it forward - she cared not how - and Pritchard, who had plonked herself in front of Boric at the set-piece, promptly pounced, pummelling the ball into the net from close range to score Wellington's maiden Liberty A-League goal, one of the game's few plus points for the visitors on a day they were given a harsh reality check by a well-performed Newcastle side.
Newcastle: Boric; Hunt-Eddy, King, Brewer, Fenton (Brodigan, 56); Van Egmond, Davis; Franco (Allan, 68), Johnson, Dolvik (Harding, 72); Andrews (House, 68)
Wellington: Alfeld; McMeeken (Martin, 80), Barry, Taylor, Vosper; Knott, Gomez (Walker, 80), Wisnewski; Pritchard, Jale (Whinham, 70), Jasnos (Kramer, 63)
Referee: Isabella Blaess
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