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300325
Melbourne Edge Closer To First-Placed Finish
by Jeremy Ruane
Melbourne City eked out a 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix on 30 March to edge ever closer to clinching a first-placed finish in the Ninja A-League Women's competition, while leaving their hosts' hopes of securing a play-off spot dependent on victory in their final two fixtures, following this defeat at Jerry Collins Stadium.
The visitors made a lively start to proceedings, but Wellington fired the first shot in anger in the fifth minute. Emma Main played the ball forward to reward the surging run of Annalie Longo, who checked then invited Main, racing up in support, to deliver a cross to the near post. Olivia Fergusson, racing in to meet it, beat Rebekah Stott in the air but couldn't direct her header on target.
Heeding this warning shot across their bows, Melbourne were a little more circumspect in their approach thereafter, and as a result chances at both ends of the park became conspicuous by their scarcity.
Wellington carved out the next one, in the sixteenth minute, when Maya McCutcheon caught Laura Hughes in possession and promptly invited Main to make the most of the chance, only for Taylor Otto to stop her in her tracks on the edge of the penalty area.
City's first shot in anger was fired by their Football Fern, Stott sending a twenty-five yard effort over the bar in the twentieth minute, before Leah Davison slicked one wide from the edge of the area sixty seconds later, after Holly McNamara and Leticia McKenna combined on the left.
Defences were in dominant form throughout, but City managed to find a way to break the deadlock ten minutes before half-time. Mariana Speckmaier, who, as a former Wellington star, was given the bird by the local fans whenever she got the ball, silenced the natives by starting the move which gave her team the lead.
Receiving the ball on the left flank, she picked out Davison inside her, and she switched the ball to the opposite flank, where Lourdes Bosch was lurking with intent. Her cross targeted the penalty spot, where McNamara, nipping in between Mackenzie Barry and Alivia Kelly, expertly steered a volleyed effort across Carolina Vilao and into the far corner of the net.
Sixty seconds later, the scorer should have doubled her tally. Kelly gifted the ball to McNamara, who powered into the penalty area but steered her shot well wide of the far post with just Vilao to beat - a real let-off for Wellington.
Speckmaier and Tiana Jaber had engaged in a running battle throughout the first half, and referee Bec Mackie's patience finally ran out six minutes before half-time when the leggy City striker went down a little too easily as Jaber fended her off. Both players were booked, giving Wellington coach Paul Temple another headache to consider, now that his teak-tough defender had to be on her best behaviour for the balance of the contest.
Once play resumed, Vilao sent the ball forward. Main's header on invited Manaia Elliott to pursue the ball, but Melbourne goalkeeper Malina Mieres raced out of her area to clear her lines, clattering into the late-arriving Elliott a split-second later.
The Wellington player made a swift recovery, winning possession in the 43rd minute before feeding Longo, whose clever chip over the defence had Main and Fergusson salivating at the prospect of opening the scoring. Otto beat both to the ball, however, at the expense of a corner.
Elliott's delivery was a gem - right in the heart of the goalmouth. Mieres couldn't handle it, quite literally, spilling the sphere and prompting an almighty scramble. Barry came desperately close to levelling the scores before McNamara and Speckmaier combined to clear the danger to the edge of the penalty area, from where Longo sent the last shot of the half flying past the far upright.
Wellington made a half-time change, withdrawing Jaber from the fray. Zoe McMeeken came on in her place, and swiftly got involved, winning possession on halfway before Fergusson sent the impressively
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performed Lara Wall scampering down the left, from where she sent a low cross sizzling across the goalmouth, threading the needle between attackers and defenders alike.
Seconds later, the fullback was on defensive duties, and accidentally kicked McNamara in the face as she stooped to head a ball Wall was attempting to hook clear. Play was held up for five minutes while the game's only goalscorer was treated for a gash under her right eye, but she was able to continue eventually.
The lengthy stoppage appeared to affect referee Mackie most of all, because the decision she made in the 54th minute was quite unbelievable. How she contrived to award Melbourne a penalty when Hughes collided with Barry in the area defied logic, but to the spot she pointed, and up stepped McNamara.
She was denied the chance to doubled City's lead, however, Vilao pulling off a fabulous save low to her left, holding onto the shot to the disbelief of the league's leading markswoman, while giving Wellington hope that this game wasn't beyond them - at 2-0, it may well have been.
It was Melbourne who continued to provide the attacking threats in this match, however. Speckmaier was denied by a superbly timed tackle by Barry in the 57th minute while in full flight and poised to shoot, then roasted Wall for pace on the right before jinking across the penalty area, then working a one-two with the impressive McKenna before Vilao blocked at her feet.
Speckmaier recovered possession, however, and rounded the prone 'keeper, but was prevented from finding the target by the presence of Barry and Kelly, who were covering the goal. The Venezuelan fired narrowly wide, but City continued to pound away in search of a match-clinching goal.
Davison sent McNamara down the right in the 62nd minute, and she got past the covering figure of Kelly before inviting Davison, who had continued her run, to let fly. Barry's timely block diverted the midfielder's goalbound effort to safety.
Six minutes later, McNamara drilled a shot past the near post after storming down the right before bringing McKenna into play. Bosch then sent a low cross zooming across the face of goal before a well-flighted McKenna free-kick found Otto ghosting in behind the defence, only to rattle the side-netting with her acute-angled attempt.
Wellington had rarely been seen as an attacking force in the second spell, perhaps because the player most likely to threaten City's defence was being employed in a role which didn't best utilise her attacking talents.
When Grace Jale was finally given licence to thrill, she responded with a ferociously struck twenty yard volley seven minutes from time which screamed over the crossbar after City had failed to deal with crosses from Mebae Tanaka and Wall. The Football Fern threatened again in stoppage time, her deflected effort being gathered by Mieres.
Jale also saw a stoppage time pass intercepted by Davison, who swept past two opponents before unleashing a shot which Vilao tipped over the bar, a denial which ensured that City's winning margin would be just one goal, enough to keep them on course for the unbeaten season they're now targeting.
Wellington, meanwhile, know that their next match, at Canberra United in a fortnight, is do or die. Nothing less than victory will suffice where their play-off hopes are concerned, with successive home defeats threatening to see their season conclude on Easter weekend.
Wellington: Vilao; Jaber (booked, 39 (McMeeken, 46)), Kelly (Whinham, 72), Barry, Wall (booked, 48); Main (Tanaka, 72), McCutcheon, Jale, Elliott; Longo, Fergusson
Melbourne: Mieres; Roestbakken, Stott, Otto, Apostolakis (Vlajnic, 90); Bosch, Davison, Hughes, Speckmaier (booked, 39) McMahon, 79)); McNamara (Henry, 71), McKenna (Pollicina, 90)
Referee: Bec Mackie
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