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03May19
Reigning Champions End Wellington's Season
by Jeremy Ruane
Reigning Hyundai A-League champions Melbourne Victory advanced to the semi-finals of the competition's end-of-season play-offs at AAMI Park on May 3, overcoming Wellington Phoenix 3-1 to end the beaten side's season and, with it, the one-year tenure of coach Mark Rudan.
Wellington were out of the traps like a rabid dog, threatening straight from the kick-off through Golden Boot winner Roy Krishna, who got in behind Raul Baena before forcing a parried save from Lawrence Thomas within fifty seconds of the start of play.
Nine minutes later, they threatened again, with Alex Rufer's fine delivery picking out Krishna. He held the ball up well before setting up David Williams for a thunderbolt which struck James Donachie on the arm at close range before ricocheting to safety.
Wellington's penalty appeals were turned away by referee Shaun Evans, who, in truth, had a poor quarter-final, preferring to remain on the periphery and consequently allowing far too many niggling fouls to go unpunished.
The visitors, who had a vocal following among the 16,010 fans present, threatened again in the nineteenth minute, with Krishna again the recipient of the ball, this time from Andrew Durante. The Fijian linked with Williams, who brought overlapping wingback Ryan Lowry into play - his shot rattled the side-netting.
Melbourne hadn't offered much in the way of attack to this point, because Wellington hadn't given them the chance to threaten. But they finally mustered an opening in the 21st minute when Elvis Kamsoba linked up with Keisuke Honda, who latched onto the ball in the centre circle and surged downfield before unleashing a dipping, swerving twenty-yarder which Filip Kurto could only parry.
Durante hooked the ball to safety, but now that Melbourne had had a sniff, they wanted more. Two minutes later, Kamsoba gave Lowry all sorts of headaches on the left before playing the ball inside to Costa Barbarouses, who initially got the better of Durante. The veteran defender came again, however - danger averted.
Further Melbourne pressure materialised in the 25th minute when Mandi Sosa was caught in possession by Ola Toivonen in the centre circle. The big striker powered downfield before sending a twenty-yarder sizzling narrowly past Kurto's left-hand post.
After Max Burgess and Williams had combined on the right to present Sosa with a shooting chance which he fired past the post on the half-hour, Melbourne came again five minutes before half-time.
Leigh Broxham's ball forward picked out Toivonen, who got goal-side of Durante to engineer the space for a shot. But instead of pulling the trigger, he opted to play the ball inside to Barbarouses, only to misdirect his pass - a chance spurned.
The next one wasn't, however, much to Melbourne's delight. Three minutes before half-time, Williams' rash challenge afforded the home team an indirect free-kick some 35 yards out from goal.
Such an opportunity wouldn't be a threat in normal circumstances, but when a dead-ball specialist of Honda's ilk is on the park, the alarm bells should ring. Wellington failed to heed them, and Honda's exquisitely flighted delivery picked out the unmarked figure of Georg Niedermeier, who guided his header beyond the diving figure of Kurto from eight yards - 1-0 Melbourne.
Wellington came out all guns blazing in the second spell, but it was Melbourne who offered the first threat on goal. Broxham's first time pass from half-way found its way in behind the Wellington defence and was latched onto by Toivonen, whose delicious pass to the far post for Barbarouses saw the striker steer his shot past the upright under pressure.
The visitors failed to heed the warning, and paid the price six minutes later. An awful error half-way inside his own half by Sosa gifted Toivonen possession, and he wasted little time in directing the
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sphere into the stride of Barbarouses, who made no mistake in instantly dispatching under Kurto's despairing drive - 2-0 after 53 minutes.
Wellington had to score next if they harboured any hopes of mounting a come-from-behind victory, and to their credit they mounted a sustained, concentrated spell of pressure on the Melbourne rearguard prior to and beyond the hour.
Only Broxham's timely 58th minute intervention prevented Liberato Cacace's cross from picking out the incoming figure of Sarpreet Singh, whose introduction to the fray certainly ignited Wellington's performance.
Five minutes later, and after Steven Taylor had cleared a threatening cross from Kamsoba after Thomas Deng, Barbarouses and Toivonen had teamed up down the right, Williams threatened Melbourne's goal with a twenty yard snapshot which Thomas plunged to his right to keep out.
This threat was averted by Melbourne, but the next one wasn't, much to Wellington's delight. Durante picked out Burgess with a fine ball downfield, but the striker was foiled by Niedermeier's fine tackle.
But the ball broke for the visitors, with Cacace and Singh linking on the left before the latter delivered a scrumptious cross towards the near post. Darting in between defenders to meet it was Krishna, whose deft flicked finish beat Thomas all ends up - 2-1.
Now it was all on for young and old, but within seven minutes of having their lead halved, Melbourne restored their two-goal advantage nineteen minutes from time, and in doing so, knocked the stuffing out of their opponents, who soon lost their discipline in the aftermath of going 3-1 down.
A Singh pass was intercepted by Barbarouses, who instantly released Toivonen. Michal Kopczynski just failed to cut out the pass, allowing the striker to get into the Wellington penalty area near the by-line.
Kurto charged out to dive at Toivonen's feet, but in doing so opened the door for the striker to lift the ball over him and, from an acute angle, find the far side of the net to earn Melbourne a semi-final date with Sydney FC in nine days.
Wellington tried to get back into the contest again in the time remaining, but their efforts too often attracted the attention of referee Evans. By the final whistle, the official brandished the yellow card on nine occasions, once twice, meaning an early shower for Kopczynski.
On just one of those nine occasions was the yellow card shown to a Melbourne recipient - no less a soul than coach Kevin Muscat, who has plenty of previous where making the acquaintance of the match officials for all the wrong reasons is concerned.
He wasn't too concerned on this occasion, as it helped his Melbourne Victory side achieve their objective - progress into the last four of the Hyundai A-League play-offs as they bid to claim back-to-back titles.
Defeat for Wellington ends their campaign, which has been a marked improvement on their last few efforts. They have one season left in the competition to convince Football Federation Australia to extend their stay by another three seasons, and will embark upon that 2019-20 campaign with Ufuk Talay at the helm, coach Mark Rudan citing family-related issues as the reason for his departure from the role.
Melbourne: Thomas; Deng, Donachie, Niedermeier, Broxham; Honda, Baena (Valeri, 85), Antonis; Barbarouses (Roux, 90), Toivonen, Kamsoba (Athiu, 90) NB Coach Kevin Muscat (booked, 90)
Wellington: Kurto; Taylor, Durante, Kopczynski (booked, 7, 90 - sent off); Lowry (Elliot, 90), Rufer (booked, 77), Sosa (Singh, 57), Cacace (booked, 90); Krishna, Burgess (booked, 56), Williams (booked, 41) (Sheridan, 77 (booked, 90)) NB Goalkeeping Coach Paul Gothard (booked, 90)
Referee: Shaun Evans
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