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17Mar24
Unmarked Vine Leads Sydney Into Play-Offs
by Jeremy Ruane
Matildas star Cortnee Vine made Wellington Phoenix pay for leaving her unmarked on two occasions at Jerry Collins Stadium on March 17, scoring twice to lead Sydney FC to a 4-2 victory and a place in the end-of-season play-offs in the Liberty A-League.
The visitors set out their stall early, Vine charging down a Rylee Foster clearance just 26 seconds into the contest. The goalkeeper gathered the rebound, but Wellington was clearly on notice, something they clearly heeded via a couple of Michaela Robertson raids in the next five minutes, neither of which bore fruit.
Sydney threatened again in the seventh minute, Caley Tallon-Henniker and Vine working a one-two which resulted in the former's shot being parried by Foster in front of Mackenzie Hawkesby, who was unable to capitalise on the opportunity.
Three minutes later, the visitors were dealt a blow when feisty fullback Kirsty Fenton went down after being wrong-footed by Robertson. Her knee appeared to give way under her - heaven forbid she's not another ACL victim, but so frequent have these become in the women's game that whenever a player goes to ground clutching at their knee, you immediately fear the worst.
Once play resumed, Robertson pounced on a stray Taylor Rae pass, and raced past two opponents before seeing her shot blocked. She then copped an earful from Mariana Speckmaier, who was far better placed to open the scoring, only for Robertson to go for glory and fail.
Sydney stormed downfield, Tiana Jaber forced to hook the ball over her own crossbar as the pace of Vine created an opening on the right, from where she delivered a dangerous cross into the goalmouth in the seventeenth minute.
The resulting corner saw the scoreboard altered, but quite what Wellington's defenders were doing Lord alone knows! Hawkesby picked out the unmarked figure of Vine twelve yards out, and she sent an unerring first-time volley flying past Foster into the far corner of the net - 1-0 Sydney, but why oh why had their star player been left completely unmarked at a corner?
The next twenty minutes saw to and fro aplenty, as a bit of an arm wrestle unfolded in front of the gathered throngs. During this period, the well-performed Hope Breslin pinged a ball forward which allowed Speckmaier to brilliantly turn Jordan Thompson and set sail towards goal, only to be thwarted by two covering defenders, off one of whom the striker's shot ricocheted through to Jada Whyman.
That 28th minute raid was followed within a minute by another Hawkesby set-piece delivery, this time a free-kick which picked out Vine, whose header was turned round the post by Foster. Wellington survived this corner, but in the 42nd minute saw the deficit doubled.
Thompson pinged the ball downfield to Vine, who spread play wide to Tallon-Henniker. The youngster delivered a low cross into the near post zone which Hawkesby, with a well-timed run from deep, just failed to get on the end of. Tracking her run was Jaber, who could do nothing as the ball ricocheted off her into the net for an "oggie" - 2-0 Sydney.
Fenton's premature departure from the fray meant there was plenty of first half stoppage time to be played, and no shortage of scoring opportunities materialised in the extra minutes. A timely Mackenzie Barry tackle thwarted Vine in the area for the first of them, while after thwarting Shea Connors, Michaela Foster cleared the ball to Vine soon after.
She invited Hawkesby to let fly, but her shot deflected through to Rylee Foster, who was relieved to see another Vine shot fly past the post after another Hawkesby corner had been cleared, but not before Wellington had spurned two opportunities to halve the deficit.
The first saw the dynamic duo, Macey Fraser and Alyssa Whinham, combining to present Breslin with a shooting chance. Her thirty-yard was spilled by Whyman, but no one in black was following in. Whinham then snatched at another opportunity after Fraser's initial delivery into the penalty area wasn't cleared.
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The start of the second spell mirrored the first - Sydney in the ascendancy from the get-go. A Jaber back-pass was pounced on by Vine, who worked a one-two with Connors before inviting Hawkesby to let fly once more, only for Rylee Foster to block her effort at close quarters.
Connors then went down under a well-timed challenge from Barry in the penalty area, prompting referee Bec Mackie to wave play on. Wellington responded to this initial onslaught via Fraser, whose twenty-five yard drive was directed straight at Whyman in the fiftieth minute, and Speckmaier, who dragged a shot on the run past the post four minutes later after Whinham had engineered the opening.
Sydney's response? A third goal in the 56th minute which was a near carbon copy of the opener. This time, it was a free-kick which undid Wellington, with Hawkesby's delivery picking out the unmarked figure of Vine, who headed home from six yards … not good enough, Wellington, not good enough!
Changes were inevitable, and Isabel Cox and Kate Taylor soon made their marks on proceedings. The former was very swiftly involved, Michaela Foster sending Cox down the left on the hour, from where she cut inside past two opponents before delivering a low cross which would have found Whinham arriving on cue had Abbey Lemon not intercepted it.
Seconds later, super work by Fraser on the right saw her get the better of two opponents before delivering a cross which arced just beyond Cox. Robertson, following in on the far post, forced a corner from which the home team reduced the deficit.
Fraser's initial delivery was cleared back to her. This time round, she delivered a pinpoint cross which saw Cox rise above Whyman to head home into the far corner of the net - 3-1 after 62 minutes, much to the delight of the vocal locals, whose number exceeded one thousand.
Back came Sydney, Barry once more intervening at Vine's expense, this time blocking a shot from the speedster immediately after the kick-off. Cue a string of Hawkesby set-piece deliveries which had Wellington in all sorts of bother.
They survived them, and struck back with interest to reduce the deficit still further in the 71st minute. Cox was the creator this time, giving Thompson the slip before delivering a lofted cross from the by-line which saw Robertson - all five foot nothing of her - contesting possession with Whyman in the air. The surprised goalkeeper failed to gather the sphere cleanly and paid a heavy price, with Speckmaier latching onto the loose ball and slamming it into the net from six yards.
3-2 became 4-2 three minutes later, Sydney responding in fine style as they clinched victory via yet another Hawkesby set-piece. Her free-kick wasn't cleared by Robertson, and Lemon instantly pounced on the opportunity before setting up Thompson to lash the ball home beyond the unsighted figure of Rylee Foster.
Wellington never gave up, with Whyman producing a double-save to deny efforts from Robertson and Helena Errington in the 76th minute, before smothering a twenty-yarder from Cox - what a difference she made to the home team's lacklustre efforts! - eight minutes later.
The goalkeeper also kept out a long-range free-kick from Fraser before parrying another effort by Errington before the final whistle, the rebound from which saw Cox produce an impromptu back-heeled attempt which flashed across the face of goal.
Sydney's win propelled them to the top of the Liberty A-League table with two rounds to play, while Wellington, who face Adelaide United at this venue in three days time, must win their last three matches if they are to join their conquerors in this match in the play-offs phase of the competition.
Wellington: R. Foster, Jaber, Barry (booked, 55), M. Foster; Whinham (Errington, 69), Brazendale (Taylor, 59), Breslin, Fraser; Robertson (McMeeken, 78), Speckmaier, Elliott (Cox, 59)
Sydney: Whyman; Tumeth, Thompson (booked, 85), McLean, Fenton (Connors, 14 (Saveska, 90)); Chauvet, Ray (Malone, 90), Hawkesby; Tallon-Henniker (Keane, 63), Vine, Lemon
Referee: Bec Mackie
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