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19Feb22
Wellington And Sydney Serve Up A-League Thriller
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix and perennial Isuzu Ute A-League Grand Finalists Sydney FC fought out a thrilling 1-1 draw in front of 3775 fans at Leichhardt Oval on February 19, the home team extending their unbeaten run to six matches as they concluded a demanding itinerary which has seen them play five games in a fortnight.
Sydney made an aggressive start, with Sam Sutton, Jaushua Sotirio and Alex Rufer, on the occasion of his one hundredth appearance for Wellington, all finding themselves on the receiving end of rugged challenges inside the first ten minutes of play.
It was the Kiwi team which carved out the game's first opportunity, however, Gael Sandoval leading a counter-attack following a cleared Sydney corner. He fed Sotirio's run through the inside right channel, from where the speedster sent a shot fizzing across the face of goal, Connor O'Toole's timely challenge forcing the effort off-target.
After Oliver Sail had grabbed an O'Toole cross intended for Adam Le Fondre, Sotirio just failed to get on the end of a Tim Payne cross following another Wellington counter-attack, to which Sydney responded with one of their own, a nineteenth minute raid which culminated in the sight of Sail at full stretch to keep out a low twenty-five yarder from Mustafa Amini.
Wellington's 'keeper superbly denied the same player in a one-on-one situation three minutes later, after Amini had worked a one-two with Le Fondre to penetrate the penalty area. The home team poured down the other end of the park, only for Alex Wilkinson to hook clear to prevent Sotirio latching onto David Ball's headed pass.
Wellington kept up the pressure, although the sight of Rufer trying to break his goalscoring duck on this auspicious occasion was a bridge too far. His sliced effort found its way to Ball, however, and he went close with a curling fifteen yarder past the far angle.
Back came Sydney, former Wellingtonian Max Burgess going desperately close to opening the scoring against his old club with a piledriver which careered past Sail, only to cannon to safety off the far post in the 26th minute.
Seconds later, Elvis Kamsoba drilled a shot across the face of goal after O'Toole had worked the opening, to which Wellington responded via Sotirio - a thirty yarder which drew a smothered save from Andrew Redmayne.
Wilkinson's vital intervention prevented Reno Piscopo from breaking the deadlock in the 33rd minute after he'd been picked out by Rufer's fine pass from halfway, prompting a Sydney riposte which featured Kamsoba and Milos Ninkovic, who beat Sail all ends up with a subtle shot, only for the retreating figure of Scott Wootton to head a certain goal off the line.
There was no way this game was going to conclude without goals having been scored - the relentless nature of the attacks by both teams virtually guaranteed it. Four minutes before half-time, Sandoval and Piscopo combined with Payne, whose header inside invited Sotirio to dart into the penalty area.
He went down under James Donachie's challenge, but the ball broke kindly for Ball, who thundered a shot past the near post. In the middle of all this, inexperienced referee Jack Morgan - just his fifth game at this level - blew his whistle, with players from both teams completely bemused as to why.
Apparently Sotirio handled the ball as he went to ground under Donachie's challenge … but it was in Redmayne's hands in the 43rd minute after he fished it out of his net, Ball having turned Donachie and rifled home a fifteen-yarder following Sandoval's surging run downfield.
If you ever wanted to know how to wind Sydney up, their reaction after having had a goal scored against them in the shadows of the half-time whistle gave you your answer! They went spare!!!
Within two minutes of the goal, Joshua Laws committed a clear foul on Kamsoba - shirt-pulling, yellow card, no questions asked. At least, that would have been the case had the Sydney speedster not kicked out at the defender in retaliation.
Cue a gathering of the clans, with Wellington players fair seething at the underhand tactics of their opponent, who was rightly booked by referee Morgan for his part in proceedings - you could argue that his retaliatory action merited a red card, but for mine, the official's judgement was spot on.
The daft thing was, this incident happened in the only minute of stoppage time which had been signalled for the first half. As things panned out, there were five minutes still to play, in which time Sydney twice went close to levelling the scores.
Kamsoba went close via a diving header from an Amini free-kick - he directed it straight at Sail, while both Amini and Anthony Caceres - showing brilliant footwork - saw shots blocked by the massed ranks of Wellington's rearguard as a breathtaking first half reached its climax.
Sydney showed their intentions straight from the kick-off at the start of the second spell. Caceres careered down the right before linking with Le Fondre, who touched the ball on to Kamsoba. He laid it back for Amini, who sent the ball soaring over the bar from the edge of the penalty area.
The visitors produced a terrific move five minutes later from which few would have begrudged them an equaliser. The quality of their interchange of passes around the edge of Wellington's penalty area was of the highest order, with Kamsoba, Amini, Rhyan Grant and Ninkovic all involved, the last-mentioned's lay-off inviting Caceres to jink his way past three opponents prior to unleashing a low drive which deflected beyond the incoming figure of Le Fondre and fizzing just past the far post.
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Back came Wellington, Sandoval again leading the charge until he was crudely impeded by Donachie - a sure-fire foul if ever there was one! Not in the eyes of Mr Morgan, however - he played an advantage, as Sotirio took up the slack and fed Ball, who brought Piscopo into play. His acute-angled shot was deflected to safety.
The home team introduced Ben Waine to the fray, and the youngster was swiftly involved in proceedings, lashing a twenty yarder at Redmayne with his first touch after being set up by Sandoval in the 62nd minute.
Sydney immediately tore downfield, O'Toole working a one-two with their freshly introduced substitute, Bobo, on the edge of the area. The Brazilian's shot on the turn flew narrowly past the near post on this occasion, but his moment of joy was imminent.
Not before another Wellington raid, however. Sandoval again led the charge - he had a sound game, this time working a slick one-two with Louis Fenton. The Mexican crossed to the near post for Waine, but the combined efforts of Redmayne and the fast-retreating Donachie combined to derail "The Waine Train" on this occasion.
Sydney scored a deserved equaliser in the 67th minute. Burgess picked out Caceres with a pass which invited him to turn the sphere into the stride of Grant. The fullback's first-time cross was met by Bobo on the volley on the edge of the goal area, the striker's six-yard finish arrowing past Sail to the delight of the sky blue faithful.
Having drawn level, they fancied their chances of doubling their tally. But Sydney hadn't reckoned on Sail, who was to produce a couple of quite outstanding saves in the final twenty minutes to keep last season's beaten Grand Finalists at bay.
His first denial of note was an acrobatic effort to keep out Grant's volley, while in the 71st minute, the goalkeeper pawed a Bobo header to safety following a corner from Caceres, which was wrongly awarded by referee Morgan.
As is so often the case, Wellington found themselves on the wrong end of another refereeing non-decision after Sandoval was again brought down to earth, this time via Burgess' bungling efforts. Amazingly, Mr Morgan ignored what was a clear foul just outside the area, prompting a Sydney counter-attack which saw them awarded the aforementioned corner despite Amini having fouled Sutton, off whom the ball ricocheted over the dead ball line.
Our dear friend Ufuk Talay was understandably apoplectic at this latest miscarriage of justice - there was nothing perceived about it on this occasion! Thankfully nothing came from the set-piece, nor from Wilkinson's volley on receipt of a deep cross from Kamsoba - Fenton took one for the team to keep the ball out.
Bobo and Kamsoba both went close upon receipt of crosses from Caceres and Burgess respectively, while thirteen minutes from time Sail was at full stretch to keep out Bobo's header from a Costa Barbarouses cross - this was a fine save!
Two minutes later, Amini, Grant and Caceres all had a go at chopping down Sandoval, the latter finally succeeding and earning a booking for his troubles from Mr Morgan, who had no option but to award Wellington a free-kick on this occasion. Had he not done so, the conspiracy theorists would have had a field day!
Had Wellington known how wasteful Clayton Lewis would be with the resulting free-kick, however, they may have preferred to play on. Ben Old attempted to make amends soon afterwards, evading two challenges before Wilkinson blocked his shot, Wellington's penultimate effort of the contest.
Before they unleashed their final attempt, however, Sydney simply bombarded the home team's goal in a bid to clinch a come-from-behind victory. Try as they might, however, Wellington stood firm, with Wootton intervening to deny Bobo in the 82nd minute, after Barbarouses and Grant had combined splendidly on the right.
Sail dashed out to block at the feet of Kamsoba soon after, Caceres and Bobo having combined to create the opportunity, while as the game entered stoppage time Barbarouses battered a thirty yarder a yard over the bar as he looked to break the deadlock against his old club.
The best was yet to come, however. Barbarouses picked out Bobo with a gorgeous cross in stoppage time, with the striker's deflected six yard effort arrowing towards the bottom left-hand corner until Sail, at full stretch and diving low to his left, somehow got enough contact on the ball to turn it round the post - a quite brilliant save!
Deep in stoppage time, Sydney penalty claims, led by Bobo, were waved away by referee Morgan, who was far more interested in what was unfolding in front of him, as the official tried hard to keep up.
Because Lewis and Sandoval were mounting a last-gasp counter-attack for Wellington. And with the last kick of the game, the Mexican lashed a twenty yard drive inches over the bar … a fitting note on which to conclude this action-packed epic, one which neither side deserved to lose, in Wellington's case in part because of the exploits of Sail - his was the performance of a goalkeeper who definitely didn't deserved to finish on a losing team.
Wellington: Sail; Payne, Wootton, Laws (booked, 45) (Fenton, 61), Sutton; Sandoval (booked, 39), Rufer, Lewis, Piscopo (Old, 75); Ball (Hooper, 90), Sotirio (Waine, 61)
Sydney: Redmayne; Grant, Donachie, Wilkinson, O'Toole; Caceres (booked, 78), Amini (booked, 74) (Van der Saag, 75), Burgess, Ninkovic (Barbarouses, 75); Kamsoba (booked, 45), Le Fondre (Bobo, 60)
Referee: Jack Morgan
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