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16Jan22
Late Spot-Kick Success Sees Brisbane Sink Wellington
by Jeremy Ruane
Brisbane Roar scored a stirring come-from-behind 3-2 Liberty A-League victory at a piping-hot WIN Stadium over Wellington Phoenix on January 16, after the bottom-placed side had found themselves in unfamiliar territory after 24 minutes, at which point they led 2-0.
The opening stages of play were decidedly disjointed from both teams, with neither side able to string together a series of passes to any great extent. A classic example of this was in the sixth minute, when Isabel Gomez caught Katrina Gorry in possession halfway inside Brisbane's half and proceeded to turn defence into attack by quickly linking with Alyssa Whinham.
Gomez went for the return pass, and the right ball would have put her in on goal with just Georgina Worth to beat. But Whinham's radar was well off-beam, passing the ball behind the midfielder to squander a great chance for the home side.
Sixty seconds later, Brisbane responded via their Brazilian, Mariel Hecher, who cut inside off the right flank into the penalty area, only to lose control at the vital moment. In her eagerness to offset her error, she then played the ball behind any incoming team-mates - the visitors' first chance duly went for a Burton!
Brisbane were afforded an even better chance to open the scoring on the quarter hour. Zoe McMeeken was caught out of position on the right, and Shea Connors was swift to take advantage, scooting down the flank before delivering a delicious cross to the edge of the penalty area.
Talitha Kramer allowed it to bounce, and paid the price seconds later as her subsequent tussle for possession with Hecher saw the attacker upended inside the penalty area. Referee Rebecca Mackie had no doubt, and in her notebook harshly added Kramer's name under that of Grace Jale, whom she had booked two minutes prior.
Larissa Crummer stepped up to take the spot-kick, but was brilliantly denied by Lily Alfeld, who plunged to her left to parry the effort, then swiftly recovered to keep out Gorry's bid to belt home the rebound. The ball fell to Ayesha Norrie, whose two attempts to turn the ball home were both blocked, the first inadvertently by Hecher, then by Grace Wisnewski.
Wellington's goalkeeping captain was engulfed by her team-mates, understandably so. When you're bottom of the league, and on a run of five straight defeats, moments such as this one can do wonders for a struggling team's morale, confidence and self-belief.
It was certainly the case with Wellington, and just how much it meant to them would be revealed inside the next ten minutes, via the scoring of not one goal, but two!
Four minutes after the penalty, Ava Pritchard found herself in space on the right and played the ball inside to Wisnewski. She was unable to make much progress with it, courtesy solid Brisbane defensive work, but Whinham, following up, enjoyed far better fortune.
Turning away from two opponents, the fleet-footed midfielder turned back towards goal seconds later and uncorked a chipped effort which deceived Worth, who got her fingertips to the ball but was unable to keep out this nineteenth minute effort.
Cue one of those golden moments in life which we can enjoy forever more thanks to the presence of the television cameras! The disbelief on Whinham's face as she realised she had given Wellington the lead was priceless - and so pure!
There was no sense of theatre in her reaction - it really was the visual equivalent of, "Oh my God! I've scored! I don't believe it! This doesn't happen to me! I've scored! What do I do now?" At which point she was buried under an avalanche of delighted, celebrating team-mates ... yes, Alyssa, that's what you do!
The first time Wellington's women have taken the lead in a football match will forever be one of the most unforgettable moments in the brief history of this fledgling football team. By contrast, doubling their advantage five minutes later seemed like the most natural thing in the world to occur.
Wellington had continued to press after opening the scoring, and earned a corner. Chloe Knott's delivery was exquisite, right on the 'keeper and right under the crossbar. All it needed was the merest of touches, and Grace Jale duly obliged with a glancing header from all of two feet out - 2-0, a goal acknowledged by the merest of waves, as if swatting away a fly!
She was certainly applauding Knott in the 27th minute, after the enterprising number seven delivered the best pass so far this season by a Wellington player. Whinham and Pritchard combined to find Knott, who picked out Jale ten yards out from goal with a sublimely weighted buffet ball beyond the last defender - "Help yourself to that, GJ!"
Jessie Rasschaert's timely block prevented an almost certain third goal, and sparked a Brisbane revival. Jamilla Rankin cleverly beat McMeeken on the left on the half-hour and sent Connors spearing into the space vacated by the fullback, from where the flank player delivered a cross-shot which Alfeld grabbed eagerly.
Sixty seconds later, Hecher released Gorry on the right, from where the playmaker unselfishly picked out Crummer with a pass in behind the defence which left the striker one-on-one with Alfeld. That the Matilda failed to hit the target was embarrassing enough, but that she did so from an offside position, when Gorry could just as easily have bore down on goal herself …
And this after missing a penalty earlier in the contest. Little wonder Crummer isn't in the frame for Australia's Asian Cup squad! But when makeshift central defender Mona Walker - in for the injured Mackenzie Barry - gifted her possession just outside the penalty area in the 34th minute, Crummer made amends for her misses with a pass
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which put Hecher in on goal with just Alfeld to beat, a feat she accomplished with aplomb - 2-1.
That was the trigger for Brisbane to get back into the contest and set about levelling the scores with a vengeance. A stray Knott pass four minutes later allowed Hecher to send Connors down the left again, her cross cannoning off Walker's chest to safety - she really felt that one!
Right on half-time, Alfeld produced a superb flying save to her right to turn a twenty-five yarder from Gorry to safety. And immediately after the interval, the visitors were rewarded for their pressure with the equaliser, 55 seconds after the second half kicked off.
Gorry's inch-perfect thirty yard pass into the stride of half-time substitute Cannon Clough was every bit as good as Knott's first half buffet ball, in terms of technical prowess. The newcomer was surging into the penalty area, and duly delivered a first-time cross towards Hecher.
McMeeken's intervention prevented her from turning the ball home, but Crummer was lurking with intent, and from eight yards, despatched the equaliser beyond the diving figure of Alfeld - 2-2.
Suddenly, there was only one team which looked like winning the contest, and Wellington found themselves increasingly under the pump as Brisbane pounded away in their efforts to take the lead for the first time in the match.
Gorry caught Gomez in possession in the 49th minute and promptly let fly from twenty-five yards. Alfeld grabbed this greedily, and was relieved to see Hecher's shot from similar distance fly narrowly past her right-hand post five minutes later.
Kate Taylor - she was massive at the heart of Wellington's rearguard - produced a timely tackle to deny Connors in the act of shooting in the 58th minute, after the winger had combined with Norrie and Crummer to open up the home team's defence.
Seconds later, a twenty-five yard missile from Gorry cannoned off the crossbar, and Hecher, following in as all good strikers should, couldn't believe her eyes as her ten yard header crept past Alfeld's right-hand post once more, with the 'keeper scrambling desperately across her goal after diving in vain to deny the Matildas' veteran.
In the 64th minute, Hecher brilliantly turned between two opponents on the left and delivered a cross which Connors and Crummer somehow contrived to leave for each other - a great chance spurned.
Brisbane were beginning to encounter another opponent, however - the humidity, which was punishing players of both teams. Rasschaert twice needed treatment in the final fifteen minutes of the match because she was enduring breathing difficulty due to the challenging conditions, on the first occasion going down following an incident for which the offender should have been booked.
If the innocuous challenges which resulted in Jale, Kramer and the largely anonymous Wisnewski making the acquaintance of referee Mackie as she booked them, pray tell why what amounted to an assault on Saskia Vosper by fellow half-time substitute Nathalie Tathem escaped any punishment other than a free-kick!
Wellington's fullback landed square on her shoulder after Tathem clattered into her from behind in front of the dugouts, and thankfully was able to continue after treatment. But why is such a glaringly obvious double-standard being employed in Wellington's games by the match officials?
Had the roles been reversed, you can guarantee Vosper would have been added to the list of Wellington players in Ms Mackie's notebook. So why did Tathem escape like punishment for this violent challenge? It was the worst foul in the match, by some distance. At the very least, it merited a stern word of caution. But there wasn't even a "Don't do it again!" uttered by the referee … unbelievable!
The break in play allowed Brisbane to regroup and refocus their efforts on turning the match around completely, and in the final ten minutes, Wellington's goal again came under siege. Connors - she had a fine game - led the charge, turning McMeeken once more before seeing her shot cannon off Walker for a corner.
Gorry's delivery of the set-piece was punched out by Alfeld to the edge of the penalty area, where Connors unleashed a goalbound volley which would have found the corner of the net had Vosper not headed the effort to safety.
Five minutes from time, it was Rankin's turn to expose McMeeken on Wellington's right. The fullback duly invited Connors to deliver a cross to the near post which was inch-perfect for Clough, who was denied the winning goal by Alfeld's splendid save at her feet.
The Kiwi captain more than played her part in ensuring the home team were within sight of a welcome point as the game entered its last few minutes. But disaster was to befall the Wellingtonians four minutes from time, as Pritchard felled Rasschaert near the penalty spot in the aftermath of a Gorry corner.
Given what occurred earlier in the contest, only one player was going to take this spot-kick, and Gorry duly sent Alfeld the wrong way from twelve yards to clinch a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 victory for Brisbane over a Wellington side which is getting closer by the week to earning at least another point in their maiden Liberty A-League campaign.
Wellington: Alfeld; McMeeken, Walker, Taylor, Kramer (booked, 14) (Vosper, 46); Whinham, Gomez (Jones, 86), Wisnewski (booked, 61); Pritchard, Knott, Jale (booked, 11) (Jasnos, 64)
Brisbane: Worth; Margraf (Tathem, 46), Rasschaert, Haffenden, Rankin; Kitano (Clough, 46), Norrie, Gorry (Stamatopoulos, 90); Hecher (Palmer, 85), Crummer, Connors
Referee: Rebecca Mackie
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