Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix battled out a 1-1 draw in front of 10.583 fans at AAMI Park on November 10, an Isuzu Ute A-League encounter which saw no less than five penalty incidents unfold, two of them being overturned by the Video Assistant Referee after initially being awarded. The home team began in spritely fashion, Zinedine Machach and Ben Folami working a second minute one-two before the former sidestepped a Finn Surman challenge and directed a shot straight at Alex Paulsen. Four minutes later, Nishan Velupillay's clever back-heeled pass sent Stefan Nigro scurrying to the by-line, from where his cross ricocheted goalwards off Nick Pennington. Wellington survived that scare, and another in the twelfth minute when, after controlling Damien Da Silva's switch of play perfectly, Daniel Arzani sent a twenty-yarder sizzling over the bar. It came as no surprise when Melbourne opened the scoring in the fourteenth minute. Velupillay worked an opening through the inside right channel to the by-line before laying the ball off to Jason Geria, who timed his supporting run to perfection. The fullback delivered a delightfully measured pass into the stride of Ryan Teague, and the net bulged before Paulsen could even move in a bid to prevent the strike - a terrific goal, both in conception and execution. Melbourne continued to dominate proceedings, next threatening in the 25th minute through Velupillay, who cut in across the top of the penalty before letting fly, only to see Paulsen produce a fine save to his left to prevent the home team from doubling their advantage. Four minutes later, Arzani delivered a free-kick to the far post which saw Geria's header blocked by Lukas Kelly-Heald. Velupillay then released Arzani down the right, the winger skinning Kelly-Heald before unleashing an angled drive which flashed across the face of goal. Bruno Fornaroli's first threat on goal materialised in the 33rd minute, the prolific striker working a one-two with Geria before seeing his shot blocked by Scott Wootton as Wellington clung grimly to Melbourne's coat-tails. Three minutes later, Velupillay and Arzani looked to combine again, the former's cross inviting the latter to execute a flying header, an opportunity thwarted by Paulsen, who plucked the ball off Arzani's head in fine fashion. The visitors hadn't been sighted as an attacking force to this point in the match, but that all changed in the 39th minute when Arzani, showing a striker's

mentality in a defensive situation, went through the back of Bozhidar Kraev in Melbourne's penalty area. Referee Shaun Evans ignored Wellington's penalty claims, but two minutes later the travelling team was on level terms. Tim Payne led the charge before feeding Costa Barbarouses, whose low cross through the corridor of uncertainty had Oskar Zawada as its target. The retreating Connor Chapman had other ideas, however, but you can guarantee that one of them wasn't putting the ball into his own net, an "oggie" which was only confirmed after a VAR check deemed that Barbarouses had been onside when Payne picked him out. Stunned by this setback, Melbourne found themselves under further pressure in the 44th minute, with Da Silva's challenge on Pennington right on the edge of the area prompting referee Evans to point to the penalty spot. VAR came to Melbourne's rescue, however, deeming that the Wellington midfielder had been offside when the ball was played to him - no penalty. Melbourne breathed a sigh of relief, surged down the other end of the park and had a penalty claim of their own rebuffed by the referee, Mr Evans deeming that Kelly-Heald's challenge on Arzani in the area was legal. Eight minutes after half-time, another penalty appeal by Melbourne proved fruitful as referee Evans deemed that Kelly-Heald had fouled Fornaroli when attempting to head clear. Once again, VAR intervened, and once again the technology came to the aid of the defending team, overturning the official's decision - no penalty. That was also the verdict halfway through what, it must be said, was a scrappy, stop-start second spell, referee Evans rebuffing claims from Folami that Wootton's challenge merited further punishment in the form of a penalty. Paulsen was kept busy before the final whistle by efforts from Chris Ikonomidis, Teague, Rai Marchan and Folami, but in a match which rather fizzled out after Melbourne's strong start to it, Wellington will be the happier side where this 1-1 draw is concerned. Melbourne:     Izzo; Geria (booked, 83 (Lino, 87)), Chapman, Da Silva, Nigro; Arzani (Folami, 62), Teague, Monge (Marchan, 63), Velupillay (Ikonomidis, 75); Machach, Fornaroli (Brimmer, 75) Wellington:     Paulsen; Payne (booked, 89), Surman (booked, 18), Wootton, Kelly-Heald (booked, 45 (Sutton, 71)); Al-Taay (Old, 56), Rufer, Pennington (booked, 8 (Ball, 56)); Barbarouses, Zawada, Kraev (Manuel, 87) Referee:     Shaun Evans