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18May24
Melbourne End Wellington's Grand Final Dreams
by Jeremy Ruane
Melbourne Victory ended Wellington Phoenix's hopes of a maiden Isuzu Ute A-League Grand Final appearance on May 18, silencing a record 33-297-strong crowd as the visitors prevailed 2-1 after extra time at Sky Stadium to advance to the final by that scoreline on aggregate.
Roared on by their fanatical followers, Wellington hit the ground running in this winner-take-all encounter, and were denied what appeared to be a clear-cut penalty in just the sixth minute, despite the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee.
Ben Old broke down the left before delivering a lobbed pass into the stride of Costa Barbarouses. He got in behind Roderick Miranda before unleashing a shot which was blocked by Paul Izzo.
As Barbarouses pulled the trigger, however, he was being hauled back by the defender, so was off-balance as he shot. Vociferous penalty claims were waved away by referee Daniel Elder, and justice wasn't served following the VAR's review of the incident.
Melbourne responded to this ten minutes later, Daniel Arzani breaking down the left before cutting inside the covering figure of Alex Rufer. His shot was blocked by Finn Surman, prompting a Wellington counter-attack which saw Old career down the left before scything inside and slamming a shot into the side-netting.
Old was clearly well up for this game, as he was running at Melbourne again in the nineteenth minute, taking on all-comers before presenting Barbarouses with another shooting chance, this time without anyone close enough to grab him by the collar!
His shot was blocked, as was another effort by Arzani in the 24th minute, Surman again intervening to maintain the scoreless scoreline. Melbourne were starting to gain the upper hand, however, and only a superbly timed Rufer tackle thwarted Adama Traore on the half-hour, as the overlapping fullback was played in through the inside left channel by Roly Bonevacia.
The visitors threatened again six minutes later, Arzani this time thrashing one narrowly over the bar from just inside the penalty area after Melbourne had opened Wellington up with a lovely five-man move down the left.
The final chance of an at times cagey first half materialised four minutes before its conclusion. Nick Pennington pinged one over the top for Old to latch onto, but his looping header gave Izzo scant cause for concern.
The second half began with Melbourne in the ascendancy, and Surman once more blocking a shot for Wellington's cause, Nishan Velupillay the player denied on this occasion. With the game's next attack, however, the deadlock should have been broken.
Old rampaged down the left once more, storming past Jordi Valadon before directing a cross to the far post. Arriving on cue was Bozhidar Kraev, but under pressure from Traore, he headed wide with the goal at his mercy six yards away - a glorious chance spurned.
Unperturbed, Wellington came again, Pennington picking out Old with a cross to the far post. Jason Geria's timely intervention thwarted that opportunity, while the same player blocked a Sam Sutton piledriver seconds later, David Ball's corner having been partially cleared by a Melbourne side which was coming under increasing pressure as Wellington sought the game's first goal.
In the 58th minute, they were awarded the chance to break the deadlock from the penalty spot, but as in the sixth minute, the Video Assistant Referee made another howler, wrongly awarding a penalty when it was clear to all and sundry that Tim Payne's cross had struck Arzani's body before ricocheting onto his arm.
Even though they got it wrong, it took an eternity for this outcome to be arrived at, to the point where five minutes had elapsed before Rufer placed the ball on the spot. Izzo has previous when it comes to saving penalties, however, and he plunged to his
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right to pull off a fine save to deny this one, then quickly recovered to thwart Kraev's attempt to turn home the rebound - a terrific double-save which ensured justice was served.
With Wellington still reeling from this squandered chance, Melbourne looked to break the deadlock, the recently introduced Ben Folami exploiting the space in behind Sutton in the 69th minute to engineer an opening for Bruno Fornaroli, some eight yards out from goal. A fine reflex save by Alex Paulsen denied the prolific striker, who had been well contained by Wellington's rearguard until this incident.
Sixteen minutes from time, Old rattled the woodwork after beating two opponents in the area before unleashing a rising drive which got the better of Izzo. Melbourne responded two minutes later via Fornaroli, who evaded two challenges before inviting another substitute, Salim Khelifi, to let fly from the edge of the penalty area.
This shot screamed over the bar, but when Khelifi next let fly - Surman blocked his 82nd minute rebound - the rebound broke kindly to Traore. He worked a one-two with Jake Brimmer before lashing an eighteen yard missile beyond the diving figure of Paulsen into the far corner of the net - 1-0 Melbourne, and you could have heard a pin drop!
The silence was deafening, the goal effectively dissipating the energy from the fans, who knew time was against their team's chances of finding an equaliser. But find it they had to, and after Folami shot straight at Paulsen eight yards away, Wellington began to pound away at Melbourne's defences, which stood firm in the face of adversity.
The home team's best chances came initially from an Old cross. Oskar Van Hattum couldn't direct his effort on target, while seconds later a Sutton volley ricocheted to safety off Oskar Zawada - the substitute got in the way at the worst possible time.
With time all but up, Wellington launched one last raid, Sutton hoisting the ball downfield to Van Hattum, who headed it onto Barbarouses. His header found Zawada steaming up in support, and without breaking stride, the big Pole swept home the goal which earned Wellington another half-hour to get the job done and qualify for their maiden A-League Grand Final - 1-1.
Buoyed by their late leveller, Wellington were swiftly in the ascendancy in extra time, Zawada denied by a fine Damien Da Silva tackle before Rufer volleyed over the bar after Izzo had punched a corner to seeming safety.
In the 102nd minute, Melbourne regained the lead, and again, it was akin to sucking the air out of a balloon from Wellington's fans' perspective. Brimmer's corner was flicked on by Miranda to the far post where substitute Chris Ikonomidis nipped in front of Surman to head home from point-blank range - 2-1 to the visitors, with eighteen minutes to play.
Eighteen minutes in which Wellington pounded away at Melbourne's goal in search of a second equaliser. But this time it did not come. Youstin Salas sent a header flying over the bar from Old's cross, which Da Silva blocked a Zawada shot after Payne and Barbarouses had combined to create the opening.
Old sent a twenty yard volley narrowly wide in the 119th minute, while in stoppage time, a Van Hattum corner picked out Zawada, whose header was denied by Izzo's diving save to his left. The final whistle sounded soon afterwards, much to Melbourne's delight and Wellington's dismay, the home team's season over, their Grand Final dreams snuffed out at the penultimate stage.
Wellington: Paulsen; Payne (Al Taay, 111), Surman (Hughes, 111), Wootton, Sutton (Lukas-Heald, 111); Pennington (Salas, 85 (booked, 90)), Rufer, Old; Barbarouses, Ball (Van Hattum, 66), Kraev (Zawada, 73)
Melbourne: Izzo; Geria, Da Silva, Miranda, Traore (Bos, 120); Valadon (Brimmer, 66), Teague; Velupillay (Folami, 66), Bonevacia (Chapman, 86 (booked, 98)), Arzani (booked, 30 (Khelifi, 66)); Fornaroli (Ikonomidis, 90)
Referee: Daniel Elder
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