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29Jan23
Wellington Defy The Odds To Earn Point In Brisbane
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix overcame travel issues, climate concerns and the dismissal of a player inside the opening half-hour to produce arguably their best-ever Liberty A-League performance as they earned a 3-3 draw with Brisbane Roar at AJ Kelly Park on 29 January.
And while they rode their luck - the home team hit the crossbar three times in the last twenty minutes, but for a dubious offside call in stoppage time, Wellington could well have won the contest, this after trailing 2-0 seconds after Kate Taylor's dismissal for a professional foul.
When their Friday flight to Queensland's capital was cancelled, in order to be at the ground in Redcliffe for Saturday's scheduled 2pm kick-off they had to travel via Christchurch. So a flight south was followed by an overnight stay in the airport, where upon waking they discovered their rescheduled flight wouldn't be departing until 10am.
This prompted a postponement of the match until 3pm on Sunday afternoon, a time when the heat in Brisbane is usually around the 30C mark - why games are being scheduled at such unhealthy times at the height of summer defies logic and common sense, but that's another issue!
After all this upheaval just to get to the venue, 'twas understandable that Brisbane hit the ground running in the early stages of the contest, with Brianna Edwards - who turned twenty on Friday - right behind a Katrina Gorry range-finder inside the opening two minutes of the contest.
Five minutes later, Shea Connors careered down the left past Marisa van der Meer before crossing to the near post for Larissa Crummer, who was prevented from opening the scoring by Taylor's timely intervention.
Three further minutes had elapsed when the charging figure of Football Fern Indiah-Paige Riley sent long-serving Matildas midfielder Gorry galloping through the inside right channel, only for Edwards to anticipate the danger well and save at her opponent's feet.
The goalkeeper would have no such joy on the quarter-hour, however, as Brisbane opened the scoring. Jamilla Rankin's ball forward was headed into the stride of Connors by Hollie Palmer. The speedy striker left Mackenzie Barry trailing in her wake before beating Edwards all ends up at her near post - 1-0.
The goal stirred the visitors into life, and they had a good spell after conceding, the highlight of which came in the eighteenth minute when Grace Wisnewski and Betsy Hassett combined to bring fellow Football Fern Paige Satchell into play. Her cross was blocked, but Hassett tried the move for a second time.
On this occasion, Satchell's cross was punched out by Hensley Hancuff - if she wasn't a goalkeeper she'd be a policewoman, with a name like that! The ball was cleared to Taylor, who picked out Hassett once more, and this time she went for goal herself, only for Kajsa Lind to block the attempt to safety.
In the 27th minute, Brisbane captain Ayesha Norrie sent Connors buccaneering through the middle, with Taylor in hot pursuit. Wellington's vice-captain clipped the heels of the speedster just outside the area, sending her tumbling, in doing so thwarting an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Quite why referee Kelly Jones took so long to brandish the red card to Taylor Lord alone knows, because it was an open-and-shut case - last defender, goalscoring opportunity, foul committed. And it was punished mercilessly by Gorry, who expertly fired home the resulting free-kick to give Brisbane a 2-0 lead after 28 minutes.
That lead was halved five minutes later, Michaela Foster thundering home a thirty yard free-kick after Milly Clegg had been unceremoniously upended while in full flight through the inside right channel.
That stirred Brisbane into life again, and they bombarded Wellington's goal before the interval in a bid to restore their two-goal advantage. Talitha Kramer stormed down the left in the 35th minute before delivering a cross which Mackenzie Barry headed into the stride of Riley, who blazed a volley over the bar with just Edwards to beat.
The goalkeeper was right behind a long-range effort from Riley following a cleared corner six minutes later, before Crummer sent a volley flashing over the bar. Gorry then evaded a couple of challenges before slipping a slide-rule pass through for Riley to exploit, only for Edwards to gain due reward for anticipating the danger by saving at her international team-mate's feet.
Just before the interval, the visitors came desperately close to equalising. Satchell chased down an overhit cross from Clegg, then got the better of Jessie Rasschaert before cutting inside and unleashing a shot which fizzed just past the far post.
From the resulting goal-kick, Foster was caught in possession on halfway - not the smartest thing when you're part of a three-woman defensive unit, Wellington having opted to stick with a 3-3-3 formation in response to Taylor's dismissal.
Riley promptly surged downfield before rewarding Crummer's supporting run. The striker dinked the ball over the approaching figure of Edwards, then looked on in despair as Wisnewski, racing back to cover the goal, hooked the ball to safety off the line.
Connors picked up the pieces, but her cross was headed to safety by Barry, who fired the first shot in anger in the second spell, a thirty-five yarder which sailed past the post after Wellington had earned successive free-kicks in the early minutes of the half.
Gorry went close with a twenty yard effort before Foster sent Hassett haring down the left, from where she combined with Clegg. She evaded a challenge before looking to pick out Satchell with a cross, only for the retreating figure of Kramer to intervene.
Back came Brisbane, van der Meer's woefully under-hit pass across the top of her penalty area being
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pounced on by Gorry, who promptly let fly. Edwards greedily grabbed the sphere, then gave her fullback a right royal serve for her loss of concentration.
Wellington responded via Foster, a forty-yard free-kick which was lofted into the penalty area and bounced once towards the target, prompting Hancuff to plunge to her right and paw the ball to safety in the 61st minute.
The end-to-end nature of proceedings continued, Crummer releasing Kramer down the left, from where she picked out Riley with a cross. Her poor touch allowed Foster to intervene, but soon after, Brisbane were claiming a penalty after Crummer went down under the challenge of Edwards. Referee Jones wasn't having a bar of it.
But she had no reason not to award a goal in the 66th minute as the ten women of Wellington drew level - and in some style, too. Chloe Knott, engaged throughout in a torrid battle with Gorry, got a pass away to Hassett, who laid the ball back to Wisnewski. She played it into the stride of Clegg, who cut inside before thrashing a low drive into the bottom far corner of the net - 2-2.
Three minutes later, Clegg was in again, this time literally escaping the clutches of Rasschaert, then beating Palmer before unleashing a twenty-five yarder. Hancuff was right behind it, and promptly launched an attack which resulted in a Brisbane free-kick just outside Wellington's penalty area. Gorry this time hit the crossbar with her set-piece attempt, with Crummer steering the rebound across the face of goal.
Fifteen minutes from time, Gorry went down in the area under the combined challenges of Barry and Wisnewski. Referee Jones had a good view of the incident, and allowed play to continue.
Three minutes later, and against all odds, the ten women took the lead. Knott and Hassett combined once more, this time bringing substitute Michaela Robertson into play. Her cross was headed out to Wisnewski, who sent a twenty-yarder thundering beyond the diving figure of Hancuff into the bottom corner of the net - 3-2, and how Wellington celebrated, given they'd been two goals down just fifty minutes previously.
The job wasn't done, however. Brisbane threw everything at their opponents, Palmer's dipping twenty-five yarder battering the bar in the 82nd minute, before Edwards grabbed a Rasschaert header, then saw her crossbar reverberating once more five minutes from time, Norrie's twenty-five yard piledriver the source of this latest attempt to restore parity.
It came about seconds later, much to Brisbane's relief. Receiving a throw-in, Crummer turned between Saskia Vosper and Robertson before executing a sumptuous chip of Edwards from an acute angle - another fine goal in a match which had more than its fair share of quality finishes.
Would there be another? Both teams went all out for a winner, with the massed ranks of Wellington's defenders scrambling the ball to safety after Edwards parried a Crummer cross into the heart of the goalmouth, the striker having weaved her way past four opponents to create the 89th minute opening.
Stoppage time came, and with it, controversy. Claudia Cicco gathered the ball on the left and, spotting the angled run of Robertson on the far side of the pitch, duly delivered an angled ball which pierced the defence and invited the speedster to steer a first-time drive beyond Hancuff and in by the far post - 4-3 Wellington. The ten women had done it!
Or had they? Referee Jones consulted with her officials before ruling out the goal, deeming Robertson offside. Video evidence was inconclusive - there is no VAR in the Liberty A-League - but there's an even better alternative in women's football which match officials should always utilise if they're uncertain about a pending decision.
Women's footballers are invariably dead honest when they're playing the game. That's why you don't see too much in the way of histrionics - the diving, cheating, gamesmanship and all the other nonsense which adversely influences the men's game, not so the women's game.
Instead, players' body language speaks volumes - and it was clearly evident in the footage of Robertson's denied goal, in the form of Kramer, the defender outside whom Robertson had made her run. The former Wellington player's reaction spoke volumes - she knew the scorer had been onside when the ball was played. In short, the goal should have been awarded.
Unperturbed, Wellington had one more chance to win the match in the dying seconds of this enthralling contest. Isabel Gomez won possession in the centre circle and surged forward with Clegg in support as they found themselves with just Hancuff and a defender to beat.
Gomez drew the defender but under-hit her pass to Clegg, who, instead of taking the ball on and beating Hancuff in a one-on-one situation, opted to shoot hurriedly and early, and looked on in dismay as the final whistle sounded while her shot was clearing the crossbar.
The age-grade international was understandably disappointed that she failed to clinch all three points at the death, but the fact that Wellington were in that situation, despite having played for over an hour with just ten on the park and after being two goals down, speaks volumes for the character of Natalie Lawrence's charges, who rode their luck but richly deserved a share of the spoils from this fine advert for Liberty A-League football.
Brisbane: Hancuff (booked, 90); Rasschaert, Lind, Rankin, Kramer; Riley (Freier, 70), Norrie (booked, 7), Gorry (Levin, 88), Palmer; Crummer (booked, 66), Connors
Wellington: Edwards; van der Meer (Vosper, 80), Barry, Taylor (sent off, 27), Foster; Knott (Gomez, 88), Hassett, Wisnewski; Satchell (booked, 54) (Robertson, 62), Pritchard (Cicco, 80), Clegg
Referee: Kelly Jones
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