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07Jan23
Nine-Man Wellington Overcome Adversity To Sink Sydney
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix scored one of the greatest Isuzu Ute A-League victories in their history on January 7, overcoming Sydney FC 1-0 at the Allianz Stadium despite having been reduced to nine men by referee Shaun Evans, who, before a 13,921-strong crowd, made some highly contentious decisions which prompted allegations of bias and cheating, and questions about his impartiality being raised by many onlookers in the immediate aftermath of an epic contest.
There was no hint of the drama which was to unfold when Patrick Yazbek and Oskar Zawada clashed heads in the sixth minute, an incident which saw the Sydney midfielder fail a concussion test conducted immediately afterwards.
Play continued while he was off the park undergoing his on-the-spot examination, and by the time the home team was able to replace their wounded warrior, they were a goal down, Zawada adding insult to injury by opening the scoring in the tenth minute.
The striker's angled run across the top of the penalty area was spotted by Clayton Lewis, whose measured pass allowed Zawada to round the approaching figure of Andrew Redmayne and dash into the goal area before wrong-footing the covering defence and tucking the ball home from close range.
Sydney wasted little time in looking to redress the balance. Adrian Segecic, Yazbek's replacement, slipped Robert Mak in through the inside left channel, and the striker's shot forced Oli Sail to get down well low to his right and turn the ball away.
Two minutes later, former Wellington player Max Burgess switched play to Segecic, who got to the by-line and sent a low cross screaming across the goal area, with no one in a blue shirt on hand to tuck the ball home.
Within seconds, Wellington counter-attacked with a superb move which deserved better fate. Lewis, Alex Rufer - his first start in many a month after injury, Bozhidar Kraev and David Ball combined with Lucas Mauragis on the left. The fullback's low cross picked out Zawada, who shielded the ball well before setting up Ball for a shot which he directed straight at Redmayne.
The game developed into something of an arm wrestle, but in the 32nd minute Kraev swooped on a stray Sydney pass and found himself one-on-one with Redmayne, who stood his ground and blocked well.
The Bulgarian recovered possession and crossed the ball to Zawada, whose header struck Ball, allowing the recovering Sydney rearguard to clear their lines, fortunate in the knowledge that they could - nay, should - have been two goals in arrears, not one.
The hosts retaliated, a Diego Caballo cross being deflected to the far post, where Adam Le Fondre did brilliantly well not only to keep the ball in play but find a team-mate, Rhyan Grant on this occasion. The fullback fired past the far post, much to Wellington's relief.
On the stroke of half-time, Sail denied Sydney an equaliser, punching Segecic's twenty yard shot to safety after Caballo and Anthony Caceres had combined on the right in a short corner routine which caught the visitors napping.
As in the first half, there was a clash of players six minutes into the second spell, with Ball and Paulo Retre both down in the centre circle after their disputing of possession left both men requiring treatment.
Play continued, even though Mr Evans booked Retre for his part in proceedings afterwards. Zawada picked up the pieces and surged into Sydney's half, Kraev and Costa Barbarouses to left and right of him respectively. The game's only goalscorer slipped the sphere to the former Sydney man, whose bid to bring Kraev into play foundered on James Donachie's timely - and vital - interception.
Sixty seconds later, Burgess and Mak combined to good effect, the latter powering forward before working a one-two with Le Fondre on the edge of the penalty area. Only Scott Wootton's timely tackle prevented Mak from pulling the trigger.
This gave Sydney confidence, and they began to build up a head of steam. Grant had a splendid volleyed effort ruled out by a razor-thin offside call on the hour, but the game turned very much in favour of the home team nineteen minutes from time, when referee Evans deemed a Kraev challenge worthy of his second yellow card of the game, despite Wellington's leading scorer having barely touched his opponent as they disputed possession by the edge of the pitch.
The visitors were understandably miffed, Kraev particularly - he took an age to evacuate the
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dancefloor - but didn't let the setback affect them unduly. Indeed, they began to enjoy little bursts of possession which frustrated the home team and their raucous support crew in "The Cove".
Sydney weren't going away, however, and Burgess wasn't far away with a twenty-five yarder six minutes from time as they continued to press for an equaliser against Wellington's ten men, whose numbers were to be reduced still further two minutes later.
Substitute Nicholas Pennington and Burgess disputed possession just inside Sydney's half, with the Sydney man taking exception to the midfielder's actions after the ball had gone, and retaliating in response.
The red mist descended, the butting of foreheads duly followed, and Pennington put his hands round Burgess' throat before Lewis stepped in and dragged the feuding footballers apart. In came Mr Evans, with either yellow cards or red cards for both players the obvious and logical solution to this flare-up.
What ensued suggested that logic wasn't part of the equation where the referee was concerned. Burgess was booked, but Pennington saw the red card flourished in his face - Wellington were down to nine!
Wellington coach Ufuk Talay's competitive nature is such that he's no technical area angel during the course of any match. No prizes for guessing who was beyond enraged at what he was witnessing in this clash against his old club, as were all those in the visitors' dugout - justifiably, too.
In fairness to the referee, when you put your hands round the throat of an opponent, there's only one card you're ever going to receive. But Burgess' retaliation and subsequent butting of heads with Pennington should have seen the former Wellington man heading for the showers at the same time as his opponent.
Wellington had just one thing in mind now - "hold what we have!" A rearguard action ensued, but there were more twists to come as Mr Evans and his VAR team saw things which suggested that blue-tinted lenses were impairing their vision.
Before those twists took place, Sail got down well to keep out a Caceres twenty-five yarder, while Grant directed a header straight at the goalkeeper on receipt of a lobbed pass from Le Fondre two minutes into stoppage time.
Three minutes later, Burgess delivered a ball into the penalty area which arced over Time Payne and invited Le Fondre to head it inside. The ball struck Payne on the back, and referee Evans instantly and inexplicably pointed to the penalty spot, convinced that the sphere had struck the arm of the defender.
Wellington's players were, yet again, furious with the official. But he wasn't changing his mind, and Le Fondre duly stepped up from twelve yards, only to see Sail dive to his left and produce a super save.
The ball ricocheted across the goalmouth to Connor O'Toole, who was following in. His driven cross struck the outstretched arm of substitute Joshua Laws, prompting an instant VAR check. "Mr Evans, you may award a penalty if you so choose", came the message from on high, and after checking the pitch-side monitor, the referee pointed to the spot once more.
You could not make this up! But the final act topped everything, Le Fondre firing high and wide from twelve yards to the undisguised delight of the Wellingtonians, 1-0 conquerors of Sydney despite being reduced to nine men and having two penalties awarded against them in stoppage time by a match official who … let's just say it wouldn't be prudent of A-League management to appoint Mr Evans to any Wellington fixtures in the foreseeable future, especially in NZ!
As performances go, this has to rank as one of Wellington's finest, result regardless. Before their playing numbers were reduced, they had been the better team against the five-time A-League champions, but the courage they showed in the face of adversity, particularly in the last twenty-odd minutes, mark this display down as one which will forever rank in the club's all-time-best on-field efforts. Rightly so.
Sydney: Redmayne; Grant, Donachie, Rodwell, Caballo (O'Toole, 77); Yazbek (Segecic, 11 (Wood, 77)), Caceres, Retre (booked, 53) (Kucharski, 87); Burgess (booked, 86), Le Fondre, Mak
Wellington: Sail (booked, 88); Elliot, Wootton, Payne, Mauragis; Barbarouses (Pennington, 63 - sent off, 86), Rufer (Ugarkovic, 63), Lewis (Sasse, 90), Kraev (booked, 33, 71 - sent off); Ball, Zawada (Laws, 73)
Referee: Shaun Evans
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