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14Dec19
Ten-Man Melbourne Foil Wellington's Record Pursuit
by Jeremy Ruane
Despite playing the final half-hour of this Hyundai A-League encounter with ten men, Melbourne Victory foiled Wellington Phoenix's pursuit of a club record-equalling fourth successive win by holding the visitors to a 0-0 draw in front of 12,023 fans at AAMI Park on 14 December.
The visitors swiftly set about their work, Ulises Davila's cross-shot grabbed under the crossbar by Lawrence Thomas in the aftermath of a short corner taken inside the first sixty seconds of the contest.
Melbourne responded four minutes later, Migjan Basha surging forward before working a one-two with Ola Toivoinen, allowing the midfielder to play in Robbie Kruse. He opted to attempt to get past Luke DeVere before shooting, only to run out of real estate.
Three minutes later, Thomas punched a Davila corner off the head of David Ball, as Wellington looked to build on their bright start to proceedings. Their hosts had other ideas, however, and on the quarter hour, came desperately close to opening the scoring.
Kristijan Dobras latched onto a loose ball on the left before feeding Kruse, racing up inside him. The playmaker got to the by-line before pulling the ball back into the stride of Andrew Nabbout, who side-stepped a challenge before unleashing a shot which deflected past the far post.
The resulting corner was cleared, but only as far as Nabbout, who clipped a cross to the far side of the goal. Tim Payne misjudged it - not the smartest thing to do when Toivonen is lurking behind you. The striker's drive was matched by a fine Stefan Marinovic save, the 'keeper plunging to his right to divert the ball to safety.
Back came Wellington, Davila's corner to the far post picking out Steven Taylor, who headed the ball into the path of Reno Piscopo, whose finish from ten yards was of the high, wild and far from handsome variety.
An instant counter-attack from the home team saw Kruse's sharp turn followed up by a charging run and one-two with Toivonen, prompting the Socceroo to let fly. His deflected effort flashed past the post.
The resulting corner was cleared, with Wellington rampaging downfield to earn a corner at the other end of the park, one which saw Davila clip the top of the crossbar with his delivery.
Following this close call, the game settled down with Wellington in the ascendancy, but lacking a cutting edge of do justice to their enterprising play. Melbourne soon resorted to foul means rather than fair to attempt to stop their opponents, and it wasn't long before referee Stephen Lucas was brandishing the yellow card, something he did ten times in total during the contest.
After a clever lobbed effort by Davila was matched by Thomas' back-pedalling save to tip the ball over the bar for a corner, and Liberato Cacace drew a save at his near post from the goalkeeper,
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Melbourne came desperately close to breaking the deadlock two minutes before half-time.
A lovely interchange of passes culminated in Anthony Lesiotis picking out Kruse, whose lay-off invited Dobras to let rip from twenty yards, his shot thudding against the base of Marinovic's left-hand upright.
Wellington scrambled the ball to safety, but soon after conceded a free-kick which gave their hosts another chance to take the lead before half-time. Toivonen's twenty-yard strike fizzed narrowly past the near post to bring the half to a close.
The second spell saw the visitors in the ascendancy early on, with Davila's 52nd minute corner to the far post inviting a header from DeVere which crashed off the underside of the bar and bounced down on the line before bouncing back into the goalmouth, from where Matti Steinmann lashed a close-range volley over the bar in the ensuing scramble.
The odds mounted significantly against Melbourne in the 59th minute when Dobras, who had already been booked, earned himself a red card from referee Lucas for an aerial challenge for the ball which saw Cameron Devlin - Wellington's best - slump to the ground Dobras' boot made contact with his head.
Referee Lucas didn't hesitate - off you go - and despite protestations galore, the home team's fate was sealed, in terms of playing the duration of the contest with just ten men on the park.
Despite being numerically challenged, Melbourne were next to threaten, a rampaging run from half-way by Kruse ultimately seeing him drag his shot on the run past the far post as he strove to break the deadlock.
Wellington looked to make their advantage count, but it wasn't until nineteen minutes from time that they threatened, with Cacace making in-roads down the left before linking with Devlin and Davila, whose one-two with substitute Gary Hooper resulted in the Mexican thrashing a volley past the post.
Six minutes later, Devlin delivered a deliciously weighted pass into the path of Cacace, nipping in behind the Melbourne defence. Thomas pawed the ball to safety, and after Toivonen curled a twenty-yarder over the top following another Lesiotis-led raid, Davila was thwarted by the fullback's timely tackle, Lesiotis leading the way for Melbourne as they held on for a point against their shot-shy opposition.
Melbourne: Thomas; Lesiotis, Donachie (booked, 31), Broxham (booked, 79), Traore; Basha (booked, 34) (Barnett, 74), Dobras (booked, 48; sent off, 59), Poulsen (booked, 81); Nabbout (booked, 73) (Kamsoba, 86), Toivonen (booked, 76), Kruse (Roux, 90)
Wellington: Marinovic; Payne, Taylor, DeVere, Cacace; Devlin (booked, 86), Davila, Steinmann (booked, 32) (Waine, 81); Sotirio (booked, 74), (McCowatt, 80), Ball, Piscopo (Hooper, 69)
Referee: Stephen Lucas
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