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18Dec23
Wellington Maul Macarthur To Storm Back To Top
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix returned to the top of the Isuzu Ute A-League ladder in considerable style on 18 December, sweeping aside the previously unbeaten Macarthur Bulls 3-0 at the Campbelltown Sports Stadium to bounce back to winning ways in emphatic fashion.
Urged on by the majority of the 4,893-strong crowd, the home side made the early running, with Matt Millar particularly prominent in their attacks. He got the better of Ben Old in the fifth minute before driving into the penalty area, at which point he looked to set up Wellington old boy Ulises Davila.
Macarthur's captain was beaten to the ball by Scott Wootton, but the Wellington defender's bid to clear the danger ricocheted off Davila and could have flown anywhere. Much to the relief of Alex Paulsen, the ball went straight into his grateful gloves.
The visitors responded via an eleventh minute switch of play from Finn Surman to Sam Sutton, who angled the ball into David Ball. He held it up well before bringing Sutton back into play, the fullback then delivering a lovely cross to the far post which found Bozhidar Kraev arriving on cue on the far post, six yards out from goal. His header was superbly saved to his right by Filip Kurto, another Wellington old boy.
Encouraged by this close call, the visitors pressed again on the quarter hour, Alex Rufer this time picking out the Bulgarian, whose driving run into the heart of Macarthur's half of the pitch culminated in an opening for Old. He evaded a challenge before unleashing a low drive which Kurto did well to parry to his left.
Seconds later, Ball was on the charge before combining with Costa Barbarouses, whose touch failed him at the vital moment, allowing Tomislav Uskok to get across and block the resulting shot.
Wellington were making in-roads on the counter-attack, and when they next threatened, in the 28th minute, it was via another such raid. Old saw his shot blocked, but the ball fell kindly to Kraev, eight yards out from goal, only for Jonathan Aspropotamitis to produce a stunning block to repel the shot.
Seconds later, another shot from Kraev struck the arm of the already booked Yianni Nicolaou in the penalty area. Referee Alex King wasn't having a bar of Wellington's spot-kick claims, although he'd already had reason to brandish the yellow card three times in this encounter, with Rufer and Nick Pennington the players punished - the latter's challenge could easily have resulted in a red card, such was its nature.
Macarthur's game lacked pace - there was a real sense of "going through the motions" about their performance - and although Davila looked to raise their level via a number of openings after the half-hour mark, he was something of a one-man army, and Wellington was largely able to contain his creativity, albeit with one or two scares along the way, such as a blocked shot by Surman and a save by Paulsen.
In between all these openings, Pennington started and finished a Wellington attack which also featured Sutton and Ball, the midfielder culminating his off-the-ball run by lashing a shot into the side-netting.
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When Wellington next raided, five minutes before half-time, they opened the scoring. Old broke into Macarthur's half on the left before working a one-two with Barbarouses, who timed his return pass to perfection for the attacking midfielder. Old's first-time low cross through the corridor of uncertainty was exquisite, and Kraev, going in where angels fear to tread, slid the ball home from six yards despite challenges from both Kurto and Uskok - 1-0.
The home team looked to hit back straight away, the well-performed Jake Hollman darting past two players before unleashing a shot which was grabbed by Paulsen, who blocked a low acute-angled drive by his near post from the same player five minutes into the second spell, Hollman having again got past two opponents en route to goal.
Tim Payne's wild finish was rather poor reward for Old's fabulous run through the middle in the 56th minute, but within five minutes, Wellington were on easy street thanks to two goals from Barbarouses in that period.
The first of them, in the 58th minute, was sparked by Surman's ball through the inside right channel for Kraev, who got the better of Uskok before setting up Barbarouses on the far post, where he rammed the ball home from six yards.
Three minutes later, the visitors scored a super goal. Pennington played the ball wide to Payne, who worked a slick one-two with Ball before whipping in a first-time cross which Barbarouses was anticipating, and finished off in fine fashion, a first-time strike which directed the ball beyond Kurto to leave the previously unbeaten Macarthur's hopes of salvaging something from this game in tatters.
Any hopes they harboured of mounting a comeback were dashed four minutes later. Wootton felled Valere Germain in the penalty area, prompting referee King to point to the spot. No one in yellow complained, but they were celebrating seconds later as Paulsen pulled off his third penalty save of the season to deny Davila, then recovered to prevent Jed Drew from scoring off the rebound.
Kurto blocked shots from Ball and Sutton as Wellington opened up Macarthur's defence again fifteen minutes from time, to which the home team responded via freshly introduced substitutes Raphael Borges Rodrigues and Ali Auglah, both of whom were foiled by Paulsen's exploits twixt the sticks on a handful of occasions in the next few minutes.
Stoppage time saw Ball set up Oskar Van Hattum with a superb through ball, but the substitute, after outpacing the defence, rolled the ball beyond both Kurto and the far post - he should have made it 4-0.
Three goals was more than enough for Wellington, however, and while Kearyn Baccus and Drew both threatened to reduce the deficit before the final whistle, the home team was a well-beaten side, conquered by the new league leaders.
Macarthur: Kurto; Nicolaou (booked, 9 (Borges Rodrigues, 76), Uskok, Aspropotamitis (booked, 52), Hovar (Jones, 46); Baccus (booked, 85), Davila (Auglah, 76), Lewis (De Silva, 60); Millar (Drew, 60), Germain, Hollman
Wellington: Paulsen; Payne, Surman, Wootton, Sutton (Kelly-Heald, 85); Pennington (booked, 25 (Al Taay, 66)), Rufer (booked, 13), Kraev (Van Hattum, 85); Barbarouses, Ball, Old (Conchie, 76)
Referee: Alex King
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