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09Oct22
Adelaide Deny Ten-Man Wellington Win At Death
by Jeremy Ruane
An injury time equaliser from Adelaide United denied ten-man Wellington Phoenix victory in front of 8,325 fans at Sky Stadium, the visitors snatching a dramatic point from this 1-1 Isuzu Ute A-League draw, despite the home team being numerically challenged for over an hour.
United dominated proceedings early doors, with Ben Halloran in particular catching the eye via his work on the right. Harry van der Saag supplied the former Socceroo with the ball in the seventh minute, allowing Halloran to deliver a cross which eventually fell at the feet of Louis D'Arrigo, whose fifteen yard drive was turned round the post by Oliver Sail.
When Adelaide next threatened, eleven minutes later, Halloran evaded a challenge before delivering a cross which parted George Blackwood's hair as it arced across the face of goal. The visitors had enjoyed the bulk of possession in between times, but Wellington had threatened occasionally, without producing an end product, and despite the best efforts of Bozhidar Kraev, one of a number of new recruits in Ufuk Talay's team.
Another was Yan Sasse, whose Wellington career couldn't have begun in a worse way. Referee Ben Abraham was perfectly placed to see what happened, and didn't hesitate to whip out the red card in the 25th minute as Sasse felled Javi Lopez with a lunging over-the-top challenge on halfway, after the ball had gone. The official would have been guilty of dereliction of duty had he not dismissed the player - it was not pretty viewing!
Having dominated possession to this point, and now facing ten players rather than the usual eleven, Adelaide were odds-on favourites to make their numerical advantage count, but the only other noteworthy goal threat before the interval was provided by the home team.
A poor Steven Ugarkovic free-kick invited United to counter-attack, but they made a meal of it, unlike Sail with his raking clearance. Joshua Laws was the beneficiary of his distribution, but produced a defender's shot from the edge of the penalty area ten minutes before half-time.
United coach Carl Veart unleashed a few well-chosen words during the interval, because his charges came out all guns blazing in the second half, Sail denying both Halloran and van der Saag within five minutes of play resuming.
A Blackwood drive soon afterwards was blocked by Nicholas Pennington, who immediately pinged the ball downfield, Oskar Zawada the recipient of his clearance. The striker produced some lovely control to beat two retreating defenders, only to unleash a shot which Joe Gauci had little trouble in saving.
Back came the visitors, Alexandar Popovic heading narrowly over after Sail had missed Zac Clough's corner. The corner-taker chanced his arm soon afterwards, as did substitute Craig Goodwin, both to no avail.
That's largely due to Wellington's solid defensive effort. Being numerically challenged saw coach Talay set his side up with two deep-lying blocks of four, affording Adelaide very little space to operate within twenty yards of goal, and reducing them to long-range pot-shots, very few of which gave Sail cause for concern.
Eighteen minutes from time, the ten men went
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close to upsetting the apple cart. Ugarkovic pounced on a loose ball and sent substitute Ben Waine spearing through the inside left channel. Wellington's rising star was unable to find a team-mate with his cross, but he found something even better three minutes later.
Substitute Clayton Lewis latched onto the ball in the centre circle and threaded a delicious angled pass into the stride of Costa Barbarouses, who battered a first-time shot towards the target. Gauci could only parry it … straight into the stride of Waine, who gained due reward for following in by smashing the ball home from six yards - 1-0 Wellington.
This certainly wasn't in Adelaide's script. But it served as a timely reminder to the visitors that having a numerical advantage is no good if you don't capitalise upon it by scoring a goal or two. Needless to say, they laid siege to Wellington's goal for pretty much the rest of the contest.
Ryan Kitto saw a shot strike the hand of Laws in the area, but any penalty claims were firmly rebuffed by referee Abraham - it was a clear case of ball to hand, with no deliberacy on the defender's part.
Clough went close with a twenty-yarder in the 86th minute upon receipt of a D'Arrigo pass, before hurdling Callum Elliot's tackle two minutes later and delivering a cross to the far post which Goodwin, flying in to meet it, fired over the bar.
Into stoppage time, now, and still Adelaide pressed. Substitute Asad Kasumovic slammed a shot goal which Tim Payne attempted to clear via a diving header. The ball rebounded off Clough into a space from where the striker unleashed an angled drive, only for Sail to block it at his near post in eye-watering fashion - yes, the ball hit him there, and the 'keeper's reaction told all and sundry that he was in a pile of pain as a result.
Once Sail had recovered, Goodwin took the corner resulting from his denial. The ball arced over all-comers to Halloran, who placed his shot from the edge of the penalty area perfectly between Sail and his left-hand upright to earn Adelaide a point they fully deserved, even though it had taken them 93 minutes to find the target!
They weren't satisfied with one point, however - they wanted all three! Straight from the kick-off, United regained possession, with Kasumovic bombing the ball forward. Fellow substitute Musa Traore came within inches of executing a stunning bicycle kick which would have been a Goal of the Season contender on day one, had he connected with the ball.
Soon after, another Goodwin corner wasn't cleared, the ball falling invitingly for Halloran, whose half-volley fizzed narrowly over the bar, the last kick of a lively encounter from which Wellington will be pleased to have emerged with a point to their name - their defensive efforts fully merited it.
Wellington: Sail (booked, 85); Payne, Wootton, Laws, Mauragis (Elliot, 65); Sasse (sent off, 25), Ugarkovic, Pennington (Lewis, 65), Kraev (booked, 39) (Waine, 56); Barbarouses, Zawada (Old, 57)
Adelaide: Gauci; Van der Saag (Goodwin, 57), Popovic (booked, 34), Barr (Alagich, 87), Lopez; Halloran, Isaias, D'Arrigo (Kasumovic, 87), Kitto; Blackwood (Toure, 73), Clough
Referee: Ben Abraham
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