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19Dec21
Sydney Hand Wellington Third Straight Defeat
by Jeremy Ruane
2020 Isuzu Ute A-League champions Sydney FC recorded their first win of the campaign on 19 December, in doing so condemning Wellington Phoenix to a 2-1 defeat at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, the visitors' third successive defeat this season.
The home team fired the first shot in anger, Paulo Retre and Elvis Kamsoba combining to present Anthony Caceres with a fourth minute opportunity which was on target until it ricocheted over the bar off the incoming figure of Adam Le Fondre.
Wellington responded to that five minutes later. Alex Rufer's fine work on the by-line presented Jaushua Sotirio with the chance to open the scoring, but his rising acute-angled drive was deflected to safety.
From the resulting goal-kick, Caceres' driving run down the right, with Clayton Lewis on his heels, ultimately resulted in Le Fondre drawing a smothered save from Oliver Sail, who was forced from the fray in the 27th minute through injury.
Not before he had watched Le Fondre squander a glorious chance to open the scoring from eight yards in the fourteenth minute, an opening created by the interplay between Alex Wilkinson, Harry Van der Saag and Caceres.
Sail also had to fish the ball out of his net five minutes later, having been beaten all ends up at his near post by the unmarked Kamsoba, who slammed the ball home from six yards after Van der Saag had flicked on Joel King's cross from the left.
Alex Paulsen took over twixt the sticks, and Sydney wasted little time in testing the A-League debutant. Just two minutes after entering the fray, Max Burgess was thwarted by the 'keeper's parried denial, with referee Ben Abraham denying Caceres a penalty after he went to ground upon latching onto the rebound.
Joshua Laws' vital clearance foiled another Sydney raid soon after, before Paulsen and his wacky hair-do was called into action once more, this time denying Kamsoba his second goal of the game eight minutes before half-time, the 'keeper swiftly following that up by keeping out an effort from Patrick Yazbek.
Right on half-time, Kamsoba's acrobatic bicycle kick wasn't far away from doubling the home team's advantage, the pursuit of which they continued into the second spell, but not before King had blocked a David Ball shot after Rufer - a smart turn, Lewis and the overlapping Sutton had combined well on what, in truth, was a rare Wellington raid.
Sydney's response saw them doubling their lead in the 57th minute. Caceres - a fine game - led a counter-attack, setting sail downfield from the centre circle and drawing defenders towards him like moths to a flame before slipping a measured pass into the stride of Le Fondre, who drilled home under the diving figure of Paulsen - 2-0.
And so nearly three seven minutes later, Van der Saag and Kamsoba combining on the right for Caceres, who showed great skill to weave his way through three challenges, only to undo all his good
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work by blazing a shot wildly over the top.
That was the cue for a raft of substitutions, after which Retre sent Caceres darting through the inside left channel. He held the ball up well before linking with Kamsoba, who got the better of Callan Elliot before seeing his low cross, intended for Bobo, touched away at the vital moment by Laws.
Sixteen minutes from time, Bobo's superbly angled and weighted pass in behind the defence invited Rhyan Grant to pull the ball back for Caceres, who was crowded out as the pass went behind him. In truth, this was a great chance to make it 3-0.
Instead, it served as the catalyst for Wellington to try and get back into the game. To this point, they had been competitive but rarely looked like threatening Sydney's rearguard. The introduction of debutant substitute Oskar Van Hattum changed all that.
Straight away, the newcomer set off on a driving run before delivering a pass into the stride of Ben Waine, who evaded a couple of challenges before sending a low drive sizzling past the far post.
Twelve minutes from time, the hitherto unoccupied Sydney goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne was at full stretch to keep out a fifteen yard header from Waine, the recipient of a cross from Reno Piscopo, who endured more than his fair share of fouls in this match, many of which went unpunished by referee Abraham.
Five minutes later, the visitors set up a grandstand finish by pulling a goal back. Piscopo's free kick was cleared to Ben Old, who volleyed the ball back into the danger zone. Waine evaded the offside trap, turned and fired home through the legs of Redmayne, but had his celebrations cut short by the offside flag. The Video Assistant Referee offered another opinion, however, and for once, Wellington benefited from the external assessment - 2-1.
Both teams had opportunities in the dying minutes, Wellington's best seeing Nick Pennington charging down the left before linking with Piscopo, who worked an opening with Old before seeing his shot deflect through to Redmayne.
The home team's response saw them go within inches of making it 3-1. Caceres and Retre combined splendidly on the left from a short corner, with the former setting up Milos Ninkovic for a fierce fifteen yard drive which crashed against the post.
2-1 it remained, however, a very welcome win for the home team, for whom the lower reaches of the A-League table - they kicked off this match in eleventh place - are very much uncharted territory.
Sydney: Redmayne; Van der Saag (Grant, 65), Donachie, Wilkinson, King; Caceres, Yazbek (Nieuwenhof, 77), Retre (booked, 61), Burgess (Ninkovic, 65); Kamsoba (Buhagiar, 81), Le Fondre (Da Silva, 65)
Wellington: Sail (Paulsen, 27); Fenton (Elliot, 46), Payne, Laws, Sutton; Ball (Van Hattum, 76), Rufer (Pennington, 66), Lewis, Piscopo; Waine, Sotirio (Old, 66)
Referee: Ben Abraham
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