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150325
Last-Gasp Sydney Winner Sinks Wellington
by Jeremy Ruane
A last-gasp winner from Princess Ibini-Isei propelled Sydney FC to an undeserved 2-1 Ninja A-League Women's win over a gallant Wellington Phoenix at Leichhardt Oval on March 15, with the visitors having been reduced to ten after the dismissal of Tiana Jaber for two bookable offences five minutes from time.
Paul Temple's charges took the game to their bottom-placed opponents from the outset, drawing two fine saves from rookie Sydney goalkeeper Jasmine Black inside the first five minutes.
She dived to her left to turn Manaia Elliott's twenty-five yard curler away from the far corner of the net, before flying to her right sixty seconds later to deny the same player, this time from the edge of the penalty area after Emma Main and Alyssa Whinham had carved their opponents' left flank open.
Wellington continued to enjoy the ascendancy after their lively start, but Sydney gradually got back into the match, the first threat they mustered coming in the fourteenth minute when Tori Tumeth's raking ball forward was chased by Mackenzie Hawkesby, forcing Carolina Vilao to hurtle well out of her penalty area and clear the ball off the charging midfielder's toes.
That was one of the very few occasions when Sydney managed to find a way through Wellington's defence, in which makeshift central defender Maya McCutcheon was imperious - if she doesn't get the club's Player of the Year award this season, there is something chronically wrong, as she has been simply immense almost every week without fail.
Lara Wall, Jaber and Alivia Kelly also contributed significantly to the challenge of rebuffing Sydney at every turn. Indeed, it was hard to find fault with anyone wearing yellow - it was one of the most complete team efforts Temple's side has produced this season, so for them to end up getting no reward for their efforts was tough for the team to take. They deserved better.
After Kelly blocked a Maddie Caspers shot on the half-hour, Wellington threatened again, this time via Whinham. The gifted playmaker, who later nutmegged Indiana dos Santos to put her Sydney equivalent firmly in her place, and twice extricated herself from the clutches of two opponents with a sharp turn to leave them wondering where she'd gone, set sail for goal in the 37th minute, her thirty yard run culminating in a twenty-yarder which Black dived to keep out.
The home team responded through Abbey Lemon two minutes later, the flank player latching onto Lucy Johnson's through ball before lashing it across the face of goal, something which didn't happen in the shadows of the half-time whistle when Sydney next attacked.
Dos Santos spread play wide to Caley Tallon-Henniker, who engineered the space from which to deliver a cross beyond the far post. Arriving on cue was Caspers, who celebrated her birthday by tucking home beyond Vilao to open the scoring.
They could have had a second goal seconds later, Vilao dashing out to deny the goalscorer after Johnson split the defence with a through ball. But in a match frequently punctuated out of necessity by drinks breaks - another Ninja A-League Women's fixture in Sydney this weekend was called off because of the forecast temperatures - the home team went to the dressing rooms much the happier, with Wellington now pondering how they could come from behind.
They looked to do so via Olivia Fergusson five minutes into the second spell, the striker slipping as she let fly from twenty-five yards, affording Black her most comfortable save of the contest.
Sydney responded ten minutes later, another intervention by Kelly preventing Tallon-Henniker from capitalising on a Hawkesby break. Seconds later, Caspers and Hawkesby worked a neat one-two, the return pass playing the birthday girl in on goal with just Vilao to beat. Caspers went for the unselfish option, however, only to pass the ball straight to Kelly - chance blown!
Wellington introduced Grace Jale to the fray, and the fit-again Football Fern reignited the visitors' fortunes almost instantly. In the 66th minute, she flicked on a clearance which Fergusson pursued at breakneck pace.
Spotting the danger, Black hurtled out of goal … collision … no penalty, said referee Mikayla Ryan,
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deeming that the goalkeeper had just got to the ball first as the striker went to ground. You've seen them given …
Unperturbed, Wellington came again, Annalie Longo doing Lemon a treat on the right-hand side of the penalty area before unleashing an acute-angled shot which beat Black all ends up, only to curl agonisingly across the face of goal and just past the far post.
Sydney cleared their lines, but only as far as Jale, who stormed down the left past two opponents before picking out Elliott from the by-line. Her shot was tipped onto the bar by Black, with Main volleying the rebound narrowly over the woodwork.
Twenty minutes from time, Zoe McMeeken worked an opening down the right which allowed her to fire a cross into the heart of the penalty area. Fergusson met it with a downward header which bounced into Black's grateful gloves.
Four minutes later, Longo fired in a free-kick which Jale headed into the goalmouth, Fergusson her target. She swiftly found herself the meat in a Sydney sandwich, Black and Shay Hollman making life uncomfortable for the striker, who needed treatment before play could continue.
When it did, Wellington scored the equaliser their efforts richly deserved. Longo, inevitably, was central to proceedings, cutting a swathe through the middle of the park before slipping an inch-perfect pass into Elliott's stride. Without hesitation, she sent the ball arrowing past Black and into the bottom far corner of the net - 1-1.
Back came Sydney, Shea Connors - what a player to bring on as a substitute! - announcing her entry to the fray with a barnstorming run past two opponents before sending a shot screaming narrowly past the top far corner of the net.
Cue the moment which ultimately led to Wellington's undoing. Jaber had been her usual uncompromising self throughout proceedings - her passion is infectious - but in doing so, had already captured the attention of referee Ryan, who had booked her and must have considered dismissing her on a subsequent occasion. So when Jaber caught Connors late on halfway, there was only going to be one outcome - Wellington down to ten in the 85th minute.
Initially, the team with superior numbers was in the ascendancy, Natalie Tobin thundering a twenty-yarder past the post following a Hawkesby free-kick. But the ten women hit back with a vengeance, a concerted spell of attacks suggesting that they would be the team to clinch a late winner.
McCutcheon went desperately close with a rising flick from a Mebae Tanaka corner, with the substitute picking out Main with a cross soon after. Her volley on the turn was parried by Black, allowing Sydney to avert the danger, as they did from a string of Longo corners in the dying minutes.
From one of these, a hefty clearance was launched downfield, merely to relieve the intense pressure Wellington was piling on. Connors thought otherwise, however, her willing running creating an opportunity which was only snuffed out by McCutcheon.
Sydney weren't done, however, and with their next attack, in the eighth minute of stoppage time, clinched the points. Ibini-Isei, whose entry to the fray saw her enter the top six of A-League Women's appearance-makers, secured possession on the left and worked a slick one-two with Lemon before curling the ball around Vilao and into the far corner of the net to clinch a 2-1 win for the home team, which lifted them off the bottom of the table.
It was a cruel blow for Wellington, who would have climbed into the play-off spots with victory. They can still realise that ambition, however, with Brisbane Roar, Canberra United, Western United and their next opponents, Central Coast Mariners, their rivals in the race for the remaining places still being contested.
Sydney: Black; Tumeth, Thompson, Tobin, Lemon; Hollman, Hawkesby, Johnson (Farrow, 81); Tallon-Henniker (Connors, 70), dos Santos, Caspers (Ibini-Isei, 81)
Wellington: Vilao; Jaber (booked, 56, 85 - sent off), McCutcheon, Kelly, Wall; Whinham (Jale, 64), Brazendale (McMeeken, 64), Longo; Main, Fergusson (Ingham, 86), Elliott (Tanaka, 83)
Referee: Mikayla Ryan
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