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16Mar24
Wellington Come From Behind To Close In On Play-Offs Spot
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix scored a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Sydney FC in front of a season-high 18,002 fans at Eden Park on March 16 to return to the top of the Isuzu Ute A-League and close in on a top-six finish and a place in the end-of-season play-offs.
Sydney, overseen by former Wellington coach Ufuk Talay, started like a house on fire, and were rewarded for their strong start by opening the scoring in the sixth minute of play, although it's a goal which shouldn't have stood.
Wellington were having issues clearing their lines when Nick Pennington was absolutely flattened from behind by Anthony Caceres. Referee Alireza Faghani saw nothing wrong with the challenge - he was very much in the minority on that score - so play continued.
Caceres was eager to make hay while the sun shone, but saw his shot blocked. Instinctively, he steered the rebound to his left, where Robert Mak was lurking unmarked. From twelve yards, he curled a shot around Alex Paulsen to open the scoring, the goal only being confirmed after a lengthy review of the foul on Pennington by the Video Assistant Referee.
As an aside, one of the (many) drawbacks of the introduction of VAR to the game is you now find yourself wondering what constitutes a foul. This incident involving Pennington, or last week's incident at Anfield when Alexis Mac Allister copped a boot in the chest in the penalty area, were dead-set fouls in the eyes of all watching bar the match officials, even though the latter had the benefit of technology to call upon as part of their decision-making process.
These failures to make the calls which all present are expecting to be made, even with the benefit of technology, are undoubtedly leading to an undermining of the authority of match officials as a whole, and understandably prompting some to question their integrity - there can be no denying those calls have increased since VAR's introduction, too.
There can be no denying that former FIFA President Sepp Blatter's ultimate legacy to the game was well-intentioned. But one wonders, with the benefit of hindsight, if the introduction of video technology to football has actually done the game as a whole more harm than good …
Back to the action. Wellington looked to respond to this early setback in the eleventh minute, Sam Sutton's superbly angled pass from halfway picking out the run of Costa Barbarouses, sprinting through the middle of Sydney's rearguard.
The striker controlled the ball neatly to leave himself one-on-one with Andrew Redmayne, who thrust up an arm to divert Barbarouses' shot skywards, affording Hayden Matthews time to race back and clear off the line before the ball arced into the net.
Ben Old was next to threaten for the home team, his darting run to the by-line on the quarter hour resulting in a cross which was pawed out by Redmayne to Pennington, whose volley was blocked to safety by the desperate defensive work of Gabriel Lacerda.
Sydney wrestled back the initiative, with Jordan Courtney-Perkins' rising twenty-yarder being tipped over the bar by Paulsen halfway through the first half. The resulting corner from Mak arced beyond all-comers bar Lacerda, whose rasping volley crashed off the opposite post to safety.
Wellington continued to struggle to clear their lines in the face of Sydney's press, and after a Lacerda drive had deflected to safety off Isaac Hughes, found themselves two goals down in the 28th minute.
Mak's corner was cleared to Luke Brattan, who delivered a cross which Wellington failed to clear. Courtney-Perkins was "Johnny on the spot" and said thankyou very much, volleying home gleefully to silence the natives. But in his eagerness to score, he had used his arm to control the ball, an intervention which was picked up by the VAR - goal disallowed, 1-0 it remained.
Unperturbed, Sydney pressed again, Joe Lolley's angled drive ten minutes before half-time being smothered by Paulsen. Wellington responded via another super pass from Sutton, with Old this time the beneficiary of the wing-back's creativity. Redmayne tipped his angled drive into the near post side-netting.
Three minutes before half-time, Old was cleaned out on the touchline by Corey Hollman, who somehow escaped a yellow card for his agricultural intervention. The subject of his ill-intentions dusted himself down after treatment and channelled his anger into a devilishly struck free-kick which picked out the head of Finn Surman, whose downward header bounced up and was tipped over the bar by Redmayne.
Wellington came again in first half stoppage time, firstly via a super four-pass interchange which
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turned defence into attack, only for Bozhidar Kraev to drag his shot past the post after making a fifty yard run through the heart of Sydney's ranks.
Then with virtually the last kick of the half, Barbarouses saw his angled twenty-five yard drive, which was bound for the bottom far corner of the net, turned round the far post by Redmayne, who had a fine game for the visitors - but for his efforts, the scoreline would likely have been in Wellington's favour at the interval.
In recent weeks, Wellington haven't played anywhere near their potential - they've been playing to not lose, and that element of negativity in their play had infiltrated it to the extent that Central Coast Mariners has overhauled them on the league table.
There were no such inhibitions in Wellington's style of play in this match, however. This was the Wellington which fans have come to love, and playing at the venue where they've yet to lose - surely it makes fiscal and logistical sense for the club to play their home game against newly formed A-League rivals Auckland FC in front of a capacity crowd at Eden Park, rather than "The Caketin" - they set about the task of overturning their half-time deficit with a vengeance.
Old's superb pass from halfway in the 47th minute found Kraev careering through Sydney's rearguard. Matthews came across to cut him off at the pass, while three minutes later, a wild Old volley careered over the crossbar after a lightning-quick raid down the raid which featured Pennington's measured cross on the run.
Wellington grabbed the equaliser their efforts merited in the 55th minute. Youstin Salas, an early replacement for the injured Tim Payne, delivered a gem of a cross-field ball beyond the offside figure of Kraev to the onside figure of Barbarouses, who took the ball on before looking to set up the Bulgarian on the far post.
Matthews was once again tracking Kraev and duly beat him to the ball, but only succeeded in turning it into his own net - an "oggie". Alas no, as the offside flag had been raised, presumably against Barbarouses.
Once again, the VAR was called into action, and after the length of time it takes Farmer Giles to milk a herd of cows, shear a flock of sheep and feed the ducks - obviously I exaggerate, but it did seem to take an eternity - a decision came down from on high … the goal stands!
Back came Sydney, Lolley's 62nd minute free-kick into the zone picking out Courtney-Perkins, whose header struck the post. A scramble resulted, during which Paulsen twice denied Caceres as he looked to lash the ball home.
Wellington survived this, then took the lead in the 69th minute. Salas again sparked the move, his lovely pass down the right inviting Barbarouses to accelerate between two defenders before cutting inside and completely wrong-footing the duo before steering a gem of a shot beyond Redmayne and into the far corner of the net - 2-1 Wellington, to the undisguised delight of the natives.
And it should have been 3-1 two minutes later, Barbarouses again through on goal, this time via a Sutton through ball. With Redmayne advancing towards him, the first-time lobbed finish was on, but the striker opted to control the sphere, opening the door for the goalkeeper to pluck the ball off his toes.
Brattan led Sydney's response, presenting Lolley with a shooting chance fifteen minutes from time. Scott Wootton's timely tackle thwarted that threat, while after what appeared to be a staged pitch invasion - an interloper wearing a brand new Auckland FC shirt was eventually dealt with in uncompromising fashion by sideline security - the Wellington defender headed Old's 85th minute free-kick back across goal, only to find no one in yellow on hand to fire home.
Sydney continued to pound away in search of an equaliser, with Paulsen flying to his right to keep out a Fabio Gomes header, on receipt of another sweetly struck Lolley cross, the closest they came to squaring the ledger.
But after a lengthy spell of stoppage time, during which both Hughes and Kraev required treatment for injuries, the sound of the final whistle, while confirming Wellington's win and return to the top of the table, was met with the sort of Eden Park roar which hadn't been heard at our national stadium since the last football fixture played at this venue, the FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final between Spain and Sweden.
Wellington: Paulsen; Surman, Wootton (booked, 89), Hughes (Ball, 89); Payne (Salas, 19), Pennington (Al-Taay, 75), Rufer, Old, Sutton (booked, 79); Barbarouses, Kraev
Sydney: Redmayne; Grant, Matthews, Lacerda (Rodwell, 72), Courtney-Perkins; Lolley, Hollman (Burgess, 72), Brattan, Mak (King, 89); Caceres, Kucharski (Gomes, 60)
Referee: Alireza Faghani
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