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02Dec23
Kiwis Knock Kookaburras Off Australian Football's Perch
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix enjoy the outright lead in the Isuzu Ute A-League for the first time ever after finally earning a favourable decision from the Video Assistant Referee in their 1-0 win over Western United at Ballarat's Mars Stadium on 2 December.
In a match which challenged one's attention levels, such was its torporific nature, United enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, with Daniel Penha lashing a twenty yarder past the post before Ben Garuccio and Lachlan Wales drew saves from Alex Paulsen before the ten minute mark had elapsed, the 'keeper tipping Wales' acute-angled volley over the bar.
From the resulting corner, Scott Wootton's vital headed clearance prevented Wales' deftly struck cross from reaching Noah Botic on the far post, to which the visitors responded with a tidy spell of play around the quarter hour mark.
Bozhidar Kraev was central to much of it, the Bulgarian initially getting the better of Penha - whose talents, on this showing, are better suited to operatic plays, rather than a football pitch - before delivering a cross which was cleared to Alex Rufer.
His shot was blocked for a corner, which Nick Pennington delivered into the danger zone. The ball was cleared to Mohamed Al-Taay, whose twenty yard volley flew over the bar, presenting Western with a goal kick, which they butchered badly, so much so that Kraev found himself in on goal on the edge of the penalty area, only to pull his shot past the post - a golden chance spurned.
United heeded the lesson, and a spell of sterile play ensued before the home team gave Paulsen a bit of work to do inside the final ten minutes of the half, initially saving a low drive from Penha before the goalkeeper was beaten by a curling effort from Botic. The post came to Wellington's rescue in the 38th minute.
Immediately after half-time, the woodwork was struck again, this time by Tim Payne, whose shot on the run flew past Tom Heward-Belle, only to strike the post. The ball rebounded to David Ball, who was denied by the recovering goalkeeper at point-blank range.
Five minutes later, both teams saw shots blocked by covering defenders. Finn Surman did the honours for Wellington to prevent Steven Lustica from breaking the deadlock, while Ball was denied at the other end of the park seconds later, this time by Tomoki Imai. Soon after, Costa Barbarouses battered an eighteen yard volley straight at Heward-Belle.
Changes were afoot from the substitutes' benches of both teams, and one of them, Wellington's Sam Sutton, was caught in possession by another, United's Nikita Rukavytsya, in the 66th minute. The beneficiary of this was Botic, but he sliced a great chance wide of the target.
Three minutes later, another United substitute, Riko Danzaki - the best-performed player on the park, even though he only graced it for thirty minutes - opened up Wellington's defence with a delicious back-heeled pass into the stride of Penha. Past the post his eighteen-yarder flew, and we were treated to more operatic histrionics … embarrassing
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behaviour!
Danzaki was up to his tricks again two minutes later, skipping past Payne on the left before delivering a measured cross to the far post for Botic. Paulsen intervened, however, saving at the second attempt, before blocking a shot from Garuccio soon after, Surman completing the clearance.
Wellington's goalkeeper turned a 74th minute shot from Danzaki round the post after he and his teammates were caught trying to play out of their defensive third. It was a mistake the visitors wouldn't make again, and as if to emphasise the point, two sharp counter-attacks materialised in the next five minutes, the first of which saw Oskar Zawada send an eighteen yard volley careering over the bar.
The second, in the 79th minute, saw Ben Old and Barbarouses set off on complimentary storming runs downfield, neatly working a one-two between them. The latter's return pass played Old in on goal, and he duly slipped the ball past Heward-Belle to open the scoring, only for the offside flag to be raised aloft - no goal.
The Video Assistant Referee was called into action, however, and almost two minutes elapsed before the verdict was returned - Old was just onside when the ball was played, so the goal should stand.
As Wellington celebrated this rare reprieve at the hands of technology - such decisions almost always go against them - Western surrounded referee Tim Danaskos, pleading their case. But there was no arguing with the evidence - Old's run was perfectly timed, and Wellington enjoyed a 1-0 lead as a result.
Cue panic stations for United, who now had to chase the game with time running out. Danzaki produced something out of nothing in the penalty area, only for Surman to block his shot, to which Barbarouses responded with another swashbuckling fifty yard run through the middle which culminated in a pass to the overlapping figure of Old. His low drive from fifteen yards flashed narrowly past the far post.
Back came Western, piling on the pressure in stoppage time. A rising drive from Rukavytsya clipped the crossbar, while the same player's glancing header flew past the far post as he looked to turn home a cross from Penha.
Time was United's enemy, however, and it ran out on them, meaning Wellington Phoenix, for the first time in the club's history, are outright leaders at the end of a round of the Isuzu Ute A-League competition … 'tis a dark day in hell for Australian football diehards, with the kiwi having finally knocked the kookaburra off its perch!
Western: Heward-Belle; Risdon, Imai, Tratt (booked, 3), Garuccio; Najjarine (Danzaki, 60), Lustica (booked, 33 (Grimaldi, 83)), Thurgate (Pasquali, 88), Penha; Wales (Rukavytsya, 60), Botic
Wellington: Paulsen; Payne, Wootton, Surman, Kelly-Heald (Sutton, 61 (booked, 90)); Al-Taay (Conchie, 76), Rufer (booked, 59), Pennington (booked, 33 (Old, 61)); Barbarouses, Ball (Zawada, 61), Kraev
Referee: Tim Danaskos
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