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10Feb24
Early Goals See Off Cellar-Dwellers
by Jeremy Ruane
A goal early in each half earned Isuzu Ute A-League leaders Wellington Phoenix a 2-0 win over cellar-dwellers Western United at a windswept Sky Stadium on February 10, with 6,434 fans braving the blustery conditions to cheer the table-toppers on to victory.
Wellington couldn't have got off to a better start, opening the scoring in the third minute of play courtesy a superb six-man move. Mohamed Al-Taay spread play wide to Tim Payne, whose first-time pass rewarded David Ball's run to the flank.
He played an angled pass into the penalty area for Costa Barbarouses to latch onto, and the striker duly delivered a low cross to the far post, where Bozhidar Kraev was arriving on cue. With just the 'keeper to beat, the Bulgarian unselfishly slipped the ball inside to Nick Pennington, who was rewarded for his lung-busting run from deep with a tap-in, to the delight of the fans, who had endured a delay to the kick-off for an amateur situation in supposedly a professional league.
Western had arrived at the ground with their standard green-and-black playing kit, fully expecting Wellington, as the home team, to wear their traditional yellow ensemble. Alas, the natives aren't noted for following established practice where their matchday attire is concerned, with this being a match they'd chosen to be clad in their all-black uniform so another of their sponsors could be recognised.
Cue a delay to the start of the match while a mad dash was made to home base to pick up the yellow kit their fans prefer to see Wellington wearing when playing on either side of the Tasman … not a good look, no matter the reasons which prompted it.
After the goal, Wellington continued to dominate the early proceedings without threatening to build on their advantage. They survived a fifth minute scare when Daniel Penha drew a smothering save from Alex Paulsen, but that apart it wasn't hard to see why the visitors are where they are on the table - frankly, they weren't much chop, although they did offer some resistance.
Occasionally, that resistance invited the intervention of referee Adam Bacvar, who could easily - and probably should - have booked Josh Risdon in the twelfth minute when he made no attempt to play the ball while clattering into Pennington shoulder-first.
A well-timed tackle by Kane Vidmar - his performance lived up to the standards of his footballing pedigree - denied Barbarouses in the act of shooting in the nineteenth minute, while a neat one-two twixt Payne and Ball two minutes later saw the fullback's bid to set up Pennington for a second goal thwarted by the timely intervention of Sebastian Pasquali.
The United man featured at the other end of the park three minutes later, playing the role of the wall as Michael Ruhs worked a one-two with the midfielder before delivering a cross which Finn Surman headed clear. The visitors weren't done, however, and within seconds earned a free-kick twenty yards out from goal, from which Penha hit the crossbar.
Vidmar twice more denied Barbarouses around the half-hour mark of a match which saw Western growing increasingly frustrated for the number of clear fouls allowed to go unchecked by referee Bacvar, who wasn't slow in awarding free-kicks to Wellington when the visitors had committed fouls very similar in nature to those which the referee had deemed acceptable moments earlier - the official wasn't the greatest, it must be said!
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The home team also played well within themselves, wayward passes dominating their display as they once more lost their way after a promising beginning. But on the stroke of half-time they went desperately close to doubling their advantage through Kraev, who worked a one-two with Barbarouses - the recipient of Lukas Kelly-Heald's ball forward - before battering an acute-angled drive across Tom Heward-Belle but narrowly past the far post.
Two minutes into the second spell, Wellington doubled their advantage. Alex Rufer - surprisingly withdrawn on the hour, as he was one of the league leaders' better-performed players in this contest - spread play wide to Payne, whose cross saw Pennington beat Vidmar in an aerial duel, the midfielder's header being inadvertently turned into his own net by James Donachie, who marked his debut for Western with an "oggie" and a booking.
Six minutes later, Kelly-Heald and Barbarouses - a delightful first touch - combined once more, the latter inviting Kraev to pull the trigger again. This time, his twenty-yarder was goalbound until the timely intervention of Heward-Belle turned the ball round the post.
Splendid play by Rufer - he wriggled past three on a darting run in off the left flank - set up Barbarouses for a shot which United's goalkeeper smothered, a feat the largely inactive Paulsen was called upon to produce on the hour to prevent a low cross from the overlapping figure of Risdon being turned home by Ruhs.
Halfway through the second spell, Western were afforded a great chance to halve the deficit when Ruhs and Lachlan Wales combined neatly on the left. But with four team-mates in the area, Ruhs made a pig's ear of his cross, the ball finding the wide open spaces of Wellington's penalty area where only yellow-clad players were in attendance.
After Ball had curled one narrowly wide of the target - his quest for a first goal in over a year continues, Paulsen dashed out to pluck the ball off the toes of Wales after Angus Thurgate and Pasquali had combined to prise open Wellington's defence sixteen minutes from time.
Two minutes later, Penha struck the defensive wall with another twenty yard free-kick, to which Wellington responded via two Ball-inspired attacks. The first saw him do Thurgate a treat before picking out Surman with a near post cross which the defender headed across the face of goal.
On the second occasion, ten minutes from time, Ball won the ball in the centre circle, allowing Ben Old to storm through the inside left channel before crossing to Barbarouses, whose pass inside bisected incoming team-mates.
Seconds later, Pennington fired a tame effort at Heward-Belle after more good work by Old, while in the dying minutes, Paulsen smothered a Risdon drive after substitute Rhys Bozinovski had engineered the opening, one of all too few from Western's perspective, with their struggles at the bottom of the table further compounded by this loss at the home of the league leaders.
Wellington: Paulsen (booked, 90); Payne, Surman, Wootton, Kelly-Heald; Al-Taay (Conchie, 69), Rufer (Old, 60), Pennington (Hughes, 82); Barbarouses, Ball, Kraev
Western: Heward-Belle; Risdon, Vidmar, Donachie (booked, 70), Lisolajski (Shamoon, 59); Penha, Pasquali (booked, 26 (Bozinovski, 71), Thurgate (Grimaldi, 82), Wales; Ruhs (Najjarine, 71), Botic (Rukavytsya, 59)
Referee: Adam Bacvar
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