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14Jan24
Wellington Edge Perth By Odd Goal In Seven
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix came from behind to down Perth Glory 4-3 in a riveting Isuzu Ute A-League encounter witnessed by just 1632 rain-soaked fans at Sydney's CommBank Stadium on January 14, a win which saw the victors return to the top of the competition table.
Giancarlo Italiano's charges were on the front foot early, captain Alex Rufer leading the charge in the fifth minute with a surging run into Perth's half of the pitch, at which point he invited Nick Pennington to lob the ball forward.
David Ball's perfectly timed run through the inside left channel was the target of Pennington's delivery, and the striker duly latched onto the ball before unleashing an angled drive which was turned round the far post by Cameron Cook.
Perth's response saw them open the scoring two minutes later. The pace of Daniel Bennie opened up Wellington's defence, and his cross wasn't well cleared by Finn Surman, much to the delight of Salim Khelifi, who picked out Adam Taggart with a measured cross.
The striker still had plenty of work to do, but accomplished it via a powerful fifteen yard header which soared over the head of Alex Paulsen and crashed into the top corner of the net - a fine striker's goal, much to the delight of the Perth faithful.
Wellington took quite some time to recover from this setback, so much so that Perth could have struck twice more before the potential table-toppers got their act into gear. In the nineteenth minute, Johnny Koutroumbis stormed down the right, only for his low driven cross to fly behind both Taggart and Bennie.
Racing up in support behind them was Luke Ivanovic, who redirected the ball to the early scorer. Taggart duly touched it into Bennie's stride, but the speedster stabbed his shot past the near post, seconds before Mustafa Amini caught Rufer in possession and let fly from twenty yards, but straight at Paulsen.
These close calls roused Wellington from their slumbers, and from the halfway point in the first half, they took charge of proceedings. Only Koutroumbis' vital clearance prevented Ball from executing a shot on the turn after Costa Barbarouses had picked him out in the 21st minute, while four minutes later, Scott Wootton just failed to make contact with Tim Payne's corner to the far post.
Payne combined with fellow fullback Sam Sutton to play in Pennington in the 28th minute, the midfielder's low cross zooming across the face of goal, just too far in front of both Kraev and Barbarouses.
That wasn't the case sixty seconds later, however, as Wellington drew level on the scoreboard. Ball's sumptuous through ball sent Barbarouses haring through the inside right channel, where he wrong-footed Jacob Muir before, with his next touch, sending the ball arrowing between Cook and his near post - a bad goal to concede from the goalkeeper's perspective, but those wearing black certainly weren't complaining!
Having drawn level, Wellington had their tails up, and Sutton and Pennington linked with the goalscorer just two minutes later. Barbarouses' cross was headed past the far post by Kraev, whose super angled ball in behind the defence in the 36th minute found a willing chaser in Payne. He managed to haul it in before running out of real estate and set up Ball for a shot which was deflected to safety.
Seven minutes before half-time, Pennington picked out Sutton on the left, from where the fullback picked out Barbarouses with a near post cross. He directed a glancing header across the face of goal - a rare miss in recent times for a player who is arguably enjoying the best form of his Wellington
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career at present.
After a sharp break by Kraev resulted in Mohamed Al-Taay's shot being foiled by Riley Warland, Wellington took the lead with virtually the last kick of the half. Kraev was hauled down in the penalty area, but referee Tim Danaskos ignored all penalty claims.
Pennington was the only one from either team who played to the whistle, and he duly picked up the pieces, put them all together and presented them on a plate to Rufer, who smashed home an unstoppable drive from twenty-five yards - 2-1 Wellington.
Perth came out for the second half all guns blazing, and drew level within five minutes of the resumption of play. Paulsen parried a Taggart piledriver in the 48th minute, but had no chance of keeping out the equaliser, an Aleksandar Susnjar thunderbolt which swerved, dipped, screamed, and essentially did everything but talk en route to Paulsen's top right-hand corner from twenty-five yards - a goal of the season contender if ever there was one!
Parity prevailed for just seven minutes, at which point Wellington took the lead again. Sutton and Kraev combined to slip Barbarouses to the by-line, from where he pulled the ball back perfectly into the stride of the late-arriving figure of Payne, who rammed it home from fifteen yards - 3-2.
Only a vital save by Cook prevented Kraev from adding a fourth Wellington goal in the 66th minute, the Bulgarian having been picked out by Rufer. But this was becoming a game in which, if you were to score, it had to be something a bit out of the ordinary.
And that's exactly what materialised twenty minutes from time, a fabulous finish from Jarrod Carluccio which once more restored parity, the substitute - who had come on just two minutes earlier - introducing himself to proceedings in fine style from fifteen yards after beating two opponents to latch onto a David Williams pass, Taggart having sparked the attack with a ball into Carluccio's fellow newcomer to the fray.
Perth were still celebrating being back on level terms when Wellington snatched the wind from their sails and took the lead for the third time in this decidedly lively contest. Rufer's angled defence-splitting pass found Payne powering down the right on the overlap, the fullback delivering a first-time cross which Barbarouses, arriving at the near post, stabbed goalwards, the ball ricocheting into the net off the startled figure of Cook, who, again, should have done better.
Wellington, now leading 4-3, certainly weren't complaining, and they prepared themselves for a Perth onslaught, which duly materialised in the dying minutes as they sought another leveller. Alas, one wasn't forthcoming, despite the best efforts of Ivanovic - he headed over from a Giordano Colli cross - and Taggart, who couldn't direct a stoppage time shot on target as the Western Australians piled on the pressure in search of a point.
There was no consolation for ending this gripping contest with nothing to show for it, however. Wellington, meanwhile, celebrated their seventh win of a campaign in which many punters were expecting to see them down in the doldrums alongside eleventh-placed Perth. That particular script has yet to reach New Zealand, however - guess they'll have to blame Australia Post for that!
Perth: Cook; Koutroumbis (Carluccio, 68), Muir, Susnjar, Warland; Bennie (Ostler, 68), Amini (Bodnar, 64), Colli, Khelifi (Williams, 68); Ivanovic, Taggart
Wellington: Paulsen; Payne, Surman (booked, 65), Wootton, Sutton (booked, 53 (Kelly-Heald, 74)); Al-Taay (Old, 74), Rufer, Pennington; Barbarouses, Ball, Kraev (booked, 82 (Hughes, 85))
Referee: Tim Danaskos
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