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01Dec19
Wellington Come From Behind To Stun Adelaide
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix scored their first win in five years in South Australia on December 1, coming from behind to down Adelaide United 2-1 in front of 6,207 unsuspecting fans at Coopers Stadium and climb off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.
The visitors came desperately close to opening the scoring inside the first thirty seconds of the match. A delightfully weighted Jaushua Sotirio cross to the far post found Reno Piscopo flying in to direct a header goalwards, and Paul Izzo had to be at his best to keep the effort out of the net.
After that early scare, United, who had won their last four games in succession, settled into their stride, first threatening Wellington's goal in the eighth minute, when Luke De Vere headed clear as Al Hassan Toure looked to get on the end of Michael Maria's beautifully flighted cross from the left.
Four minutes later, Toure was the target again, this time following the promptings of James Troisi and Ben Halloran on the right. The latter's cross picked out the striker, who was denied at the near post by Steven Taylor's intervention, albeit at the expense of a corner.
The otherwise anonymous Riley McGree's delivery from the resulting set-piece picked out the head of Maria, who was unfortunate to see the ball ricochet to safety off Alex Rufer, who had arguably his best display yet in a Wellington shirt in this match - he was monstrous in midfield!
After Michael Marrone had blocked a Piscopo drive, Toure, Nikola Mileusnic and Troisi all had shots blocked in a nineteenth minute flurry prompted by Mileusnic's driving run to the by-line.
That served as a wake-up call for Wellington, who began to work their way into the contest, initially via a 24th minute raid which saw Matti Steinmann and Tim Payne - a delicious cross - combine to present Sotirio with a chance which he headed over the bar.
Six minutes later, referee Adam Fielding was pointing to the penalty spot after Sotirio was felled by Adelaide captain Michael Jakobsen. The Video Assistant Referee was called into action, and revealed that the foul had been committed just outside the area, rather than in it - no penalty. Ulises Davila's resulting free-kick wasn't much chop either!
Wellington finished the half in the ascendancy, going close again in the 38th minute when Davila played in Sotirio, only for Izzo to bravely deny him at close quarters. Then on the stroke of half-time, Mileusnic's timely tackle took out Davila in the area as the Mexican looked to give the visitors the lead in the shadows of the half-time whistle.
Straight from the kick-off, Wellington assumed the upper hand again, David Ball taking on four opponents before Marrone stepped in, only for his intervention to direct the ball into Davila's stride. He darted between defenders but blazed his shot over the bar.
Stung, Adelaide responded swiftly, with half-time substitute George Blackwood linking with Troisi
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and overlapping fullback Ryan Strain, whose cross to the far post was just too high for the other half-time substitute, Kristian Opseth, to exploit.
Seconds later, Troisi, Opseth and Mileusnic combined to play in Blackwood, whose shot was diverted to safety by the lunging figure of De Vere. But neither he nor anyone in a yellow kit could do anything about the goal which broke the deadlock in the 57th minute.
Gathering the ball on the far edge of the Wellington penalty area following a throw-in, Mileusnic looked up, thought to himself "Why not?", and promptly unleashed a viciously swerving, soaring volley which arced over the diving figure of Stefan Marinovic and into the very top far corner of the net, up where the spiders live - a quite stunning strike which deserved to win any game.
At this point in time, it looked like being the winner of this particular contest, but Wellington had other ideas, and plenty of them at that. They would have had a penalty had Davila gone down in the area rather than stumble on and shoot after being tripped in the 62nd minute, after Piscopo and Ball had combined to create the opening.
Two minutes later, it was Sotirio who presented Davila with the chance to strike, the striker turning Louis D'Arrigo before sending another effort sizzling over the frame of the goal rather than into it.
Wellington introduced marquee recruit Gary Hooper to the fray, and his presence in the frontline had an immediate impact. Payne, Rufer and Davila combined with Sotirio, whose low cross was drilled home from ten yards by Ball, his first goal for the club, and one Izzo got his hands to but couldn't prevent from crossing the line.
Parity after 67 minutes, much to Wellington's delight. And they kept on coming. Three minutes later, Piscopo nutmegged Strain on the left before linking with Liberato Cacace, who burst into the penalty area then went down as Blackwood briefly and foolishly grabbed his opponent by the arm.
Referee Fielding didn't hesitate - penalty! Adelaide protested animatedly, but the VAR check bore out the official's decision, and presented Davila with the chance to fire Wellington in front from twelve yards, one he took with aplomb to give the visitors the lead - 2-1.
Wellington weren't done with, either, Izzo having to keep out efforts from substitutes Cameron Devlin and Callum McCowatt in the final fifteen minutes, during which the home team mustered one effort of note, a late Opseth free-kick which Marinovic kept out to confirm this very welcome and deserved 2-1 win to Wellington.
Adelaide: Izzo; Strain, Marrone, Jakobsen, Maria; Troisi, D'Arrigo, McGree (Kitto, 77); Halloran (Blackwood, 46), Toure (Opseth, 46), Mileusnic
Wellington: Marinovic; Payne, Taylor, De Vere, Cacace (booked, 90); Sotirio (McCowatt, 83), Rufer, Steinmann (Hooper, 66), Davila; Piscopo (Devlin, 72), Ball
Referee: Adam Fielding
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