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15Feb19
Wellington And Melbourne Share Spoils Again
by Jeremy Ruane
For the third time in this Hyundai A-League season, Wellington Phoenix held reigning champions Melbourne Victory to a draw, this time a 1-1 affair at Eden Park as football fans in Auckland, New Zealand's home of football, pulled out all the stops to turn out in record numbers for a regular season A-League fixture on this side of the Tasman.
22,648 fans converged on New Zealand's national stadium and witnessed early pressure aplenty from Wellington, with Sarpreet Singh at the heart of it. And Melbourne nearly buckled in the fourth minute, with a raking Liberato Cacace pass only prevented from reaching Roy Krishna by the retreating figure of Leigh Broxham.
His headed clearance forced a throw-in, from which Lawrence Thomas was forced into a panicked clearance, the ball ricocheting off David Williams past the post - it could have gone anywhere.
Melbourne sought a swift response, and Andrew Durante's loss of control of the ball from a clearance presented the ball to Elvis Kamsoba, who instantly sent Kenjok Athiu spearing through the middle. He only had Filip Kurto to beat, but the 'keeper blocked superbly with his legs to maintain parity in the seventh minute.
The visitors were soon benefiting from the frequent whistling of referee Peter Green, who was calling numerous soft challenges by Wellington, much to the ire of the superb turn-out.
In the seventeenth minute, a James Troisi corner arising from one such call wasn't cleared, allowing Georg Niedermeier to head the ball back into the danger zone, where Costa Barbarouses swiveled and swept a volley into the side-netting.
Wellington responded instantly, Singh piercing the defence with a pass which Krishna pursued until Thomas loomed large in his sights. The 'keeper was ably served by his defenders soon after, Thomas Deng and company standing firm following fine work down the left by Cacace - he had a whale of a game!
The visitors held the upper hand in the contest around the half-hour mark, with Steven Taylor's timely clearance preventing Athiu from latching onto a Barbarouses cross, before Kurto parried a Troisi effort before Athiu headed over following some slick combination play involving Broxham, Troisi and the lively Kamsoba - a right handful, this lad, make no mistake!
Either side of that 35th minute effort, Wellington had a couple of chances to break the deadlock, the first of them arising from a wayward Deng clearance. Louis Fenton pounced on it and picked out Williams, whose shot was blocked, as was that of Mandi Sosa, following up.
Soon afterwards, Krishna, whose off-the-ball running was eye-catching throughout, was bundled over in the area by Niedermeier in an off-the-ball incident, one which the fans saw and howled blue murder about, but one towards which officialdom turned a blind eye … you can't say they're not consistent where this aspect of the game is concerned.
A corner resulted from this incident, and Singh's delivery invited Taylor to attempt a looping header, one which Thomas had to turn over the bar as it dropped from an awkward height.
Seconds later, with the next corner having been cleared, Fenton did Niedermeier a treat on the left before delivering a wayward cross. Cacace picked up the pieces and fired the ball back into the danger zone, where Krishna and Singh were lurking with intent.
Melbourne survived that scare and, after a dazzling run and shot from Kamsoba flew narrowly wide from twenty yards, survived another one when Krishna switched play to Cacace on the stroke of half-time. He cut in off the left before whipping in a low cross which was blocked and cleared before the hovering figure of Singh could swoop.
The reigning champions were swiftly out of the blocks in the second spell, with only the brilliance of Kurto preventing them from opening the scoring in the 52nd minute. Troisi's charging run culminated in Athiu unleashing a shot which took a wicked deflection en route.
Kurto, who was already diving to keep out the attempt, responded instinctively and brilliantly to the change of flight of the ball, pulling off a superb reaction save - easily one of his best since joining the club.
Two minutes later, Barbarouses led the charge for the visitors, with Kamsoba steaming in on the far flank, and Athiu charging through the middle. The latter was the option taken, but Durante read it superbly and intervened to the delight of the crowd, who were contributing a tremendous atmosphere to the evening's activities.
Their volume levels scaled the heights in the 57th minute, as Wellington opened the scoring. Singh led his marker a merry dance before crossing from the
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right into the heart of Melbourne's penalty area.
Storm Roux made a right pig's ear of his attempted clearance, presenting the ball on a plate to Krishna, whose unerring volleyed finish from six yards rendered Thomas helpless - 1-0.
Melbourne, who had introduced Keisuke Honda to the mix just prior to the goal, were instantly on the offensive, with the Japanese maestro swooping on a rare Cacace error before playing in Athiu.
Taylor stepped in to avert the danger, his momentum seeing the defender clatter into Honda, who had continued his run forward in support of the attack. Referee Green, who had been awarding free-kicks for far less earlier in the night, turned a blind eye to this incident - rightly, too.
Back came Wellington, Singh latching onto a headed clearance from Deng on the hour with Williams up in support on the left and Krishna storming up in support through the inside right channel with a lung-busting run from deep.
Singh duly fed Williams, who had seen Krishna's charge and promptly threaded a pass into the Fijian's stride, putting him one-on-one with Thomas to beat. The 'keeper came up big, however - a terrific denial which kept Melbourne in the contest.
How crucial that was to prove six minutes later. Broxham went on a run into the Wellington penalty area, where he swiftly found himself the meat in a sandwich featuring Fenton and Krishna.
Referee Green had no hesitation - penalty, for what was a needless foul, because Taylor was perfectly placed to thwart Broxham's progress. Wellington protested ad nauseam, but the official's mind wasn't for changing, and Honda eventually made no mistake from the spot, sending Kurto the wrong way in the 67th minute - 1-1.
That set up a thrilling final quarter of the contest, with both teams striving for victory. Melbourne were first to threaten, Kamsoba careering past two before delivering a low cross to the near post for Athiu, whose shot struck the outside of the upright in the 71st minute.
Two minutes later, Cacace set off on a fabulous solo run which left four opponents trailing in his wake before he picked out Williams with a cross. The striker turned the ball towards Alex Rufer, whose shot was superbly saved by substitute James Donachie on the edge of the area, a denial which earned the defender a booking when a red card was surely warranted - deliberate handball, goalscoring opportunity …
Mr Green wasn't having it. This at a stage of the game when he was letting Melbourne get away with a few bookable offences - the green-clad official shouldn't be proud of this display. Indeed, one considers that the fourth official, Alex King, would have been a far better appointment for this match - he's a very good referee.
The free-kick following Donachie's illegal denial saw Thomas anticipate Singh's attempt, and instantly spark a counter-attack which culminated in Kurto tackling Athiu in the penalty area seconds later. The gangly striker went down and appealed for a spot kick, but the reality was he'd been made to look foolish by the 'keeper, and rightly got no sympathy from either the officials or the crowd.
Eight minutes from time, Honda won the ball well and instantly released Barbarouses down the right. With Kamsoba in support, the All White took on Wellington's defence but was denied at the near post by Kurto, at the expense of a corner.
It was the first of a succession of Honda deliveries, one of which was headed clear to Krishna, who stormed past two opponents on a rampaging run down the left before firing a cross straight into the grateful gloves of Thomas, who was again on hand in stoppage time when Rufer wastefully fired a free-kick at the goalkeeper when targets such as Cillian Sheridan - impressive in his brief cameo - were there to aim for.
In between times, a Honda piledriver was blocked to safety by Sosa as the title-holders looked to close the gap on league leaders Perth Glory, but thanks to this draw, now find themselves nine points off the pace with eight rounds remaining.
Wellington, however, are just a win off fourth place and a potential home play-off fixture, something they probably deserve on the back of holding the title-holders in all three clashes this season. They do need to watch the back door, however, as Newcastle Jets have closed to within six points of that final play-off spot which Wellington currently occupies.
Wellington: Kurto; Taylor, Durante, Kopczynski; Fenton, Rufer, Sosa (booked, 51) (Burgess, 87), Cacace; Krishna, Singh, Williams (Sheridan, 78)
Melbourne: Thomas; Roux (booked, 79), Deng, Niedermeier (Donachie, 55 (booked, 73)), Broxham; Lesiotis (Honda, 55), Baena, Kamsoba; Barbarouses (booked, 32), Troisi, Athiu
Referee: Peter Green
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