Wellington Phoenix eked out a 2-2 draw with Central Coast Mariners in their Isuzu Ute A-League encounter at Sky Stadium on 16 October, the 7089 fans present seeing all the scoring take place in the final 35 minutes after a first half which can most kindly be described as mind-numbing. Indeed, the entire match was an exercise in tactical warfare, with chances few and far between throughout proceedings. The first of them materialised in the fifth minute, when Oskar Zawada scooted down the right onto Tim Payne's pass and proceeded to target Ben Waine with a cross. Brian Kaltak's intervention saw the former Auckland City defender clear the danger, but only as far as Costa Barbarouses, whose twenty yard drive was saved to his left by the visitors' veteran goalkeeper Danny Vukovic. Nine minutes later, Payne's pass sent Waine galloping down the right, from where he steered  the ball inside to Steven Ugarkovic. He touched the ball on to Bozhidar Kraev, whose shot was deflected to safety. It wasn't until the 31st minute that either goal witnessed danger, and again, it was that defended by the Mariners which came under threat. Joshua Laws sent Zawada storming through the inside left channel to the by-line, from where he pulled the ball back to Waine. He controlled the ball, but was denied the chance to shoot by Barbarouses, who thrashed an eight yard drive towards the target which had 'goal' written all over it until Vukovic produced a marvellous reflex save to divert the effort over the bar. Seven minutes later, Central Coast mounted their first attack of note, and were rewarded with the ball finding the back of the net. Storm Roux's ball into the box wasn't cleared, inviting Jason Cummings to launch into an overhead kick some ten yards out from goal. The ball flew past Oliver Sail and cannoned into the net via the base of the far post. But Central Coast's joy was short-lived - the Video Assistant Referee deemed the incident worthy of attention, and after what seemed like an eternity (which the thick end of five minutes can seem like when you're

itching to celebrate a goal), back came the verdict - offside. The same fate befell Waine in the 53rd minute, his goal being denied by the offside flag rather than electronic intervention. But when Wellington's wonderkid struck four minutes later, the deadlock was broken at last. Ugarkovic delivered a gem of a pass into Waine's stride, and his deft first-time lob of the advancing figure of Vukovic and into the net beyond delighted the Wellington faithful. Their joy was brief, for within seven minutes, Central Coast had turned the game around. On the hour, they equalised through Samuel Silvera, who swept in off the left flank past two opponents before battering a twenty-yarder beyond the diving figure of Sail. Four minutes later, the visitors took the lead. Paul Ayongo led the charge before lifting the ball over the defence and into the stride of Cummings, whose delicious lobbed finish over the fast-approaching figure of Sail bounced once before finding the net - 2-1 Central Coast. Back came Wellington, Zawada leading the charge with a ferocious twenty yarder which sizzled mere inches past the diving Vukovic's right-hand post seventeen minutes from time. The home team continued to press for an equaliser, with both Waine and substitute Ben Old seeing shots blocked four minutes from time as they laid siege to the visitors' goal. Two minutes later, their pressure was rewarded via an unlikely source. Nicholas Pennington's corner to the near post saw Ayongo mis-time his attempt to head clear, the ball flying off the top of his head and through the gloves of Vukovic for an own goal which earned Wellington a deserved point from a match in which they offered the greater attacking threat. Wellington:     Sail; Payne, Wootton, Laws, Mauragis (Sutton, 62); Ugarkovic, Barbarouses, Lewis (Pennington, 81); Zawada (booked, 32) (Van Hattum, 85), Waine, Kraev (Old, 62) Central Coast:     Vukovic; Roux, John (booked, 16) (Aquilina, 68), Kaltak, Farrell; Ayongo (booked, 18), Balard (Steele, 75 (booked, 77)), Nisbet; Nkololo, Cummings (Ruhs, 75), Silvera (Tulio, 89) Referee:     Jonathan Barreiro