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20Oct19
Unlucky Wellington Downed By Sydney
by Jeremy Ruane
Reigning Hyundai A-League champions Sydney FC earned a fortunate 2-1 win over ten-man Wellington Phoenix at Leichhardt Oval on 20 October, despite being outplayed by the visitors for much of the contest.
The vast majority of the 12,538 fans in attendance were delighted with the start made by the home team, who completely dominated the opening five minutes of play, and could have gone ahead inside the opening sixty seconds.
Rhyan Grant and Costa Barbarouses worked a one-two on the right which saw the fullback power into the penalty area before whipping in a cross to the near post for the fast-arriving Adam Le Fondre to capitalise upon.
That he only succeeded in guiding the ball past the upright was thanks in no small part to the covering challenge of Wellington captain Steven Taylor, who did just enough to put the marksman off his stride.
After Wellington looked to counter via the impressively performed David Ball - Andrew Redmayne dealt with his attempt, Sydney pressed again, Grant himself going for goal this time after Milos Ninkovic and Le Fondre had combined to engineer the opening.
Come the seventeenth minute, Sydney's pressure finally paid dividends. Wellington failed to adequately clear a corner, inviting Brandon O'Neill to let fly. His first attempt was blocked, but his second took a wicked deflection which took the ball away from Stefan Marinovic and into the bottom corner of the net.
Wellington responded strongly to this setback, and while they rarely tested Redmayne over the course of the next twenty-five minutes - a deflected effort from Ball, after he'd evaded a couple of challenges, was their best effort in this time - the visitors didn't allow Sydney to take command of the match in the manner they did during the opening quarter hour.
Instead, it was Wellington who dominated proceedings, and in the shadows of the half-time whistle they should have got the equaliser their superiority merited. Taylor and Louis Fenton combined to send Ball down the right, from where he picked out Jaushua Sotirio with a measured cross.
The striker's header was goalbound all the way until Redmayne flew to his left and tipped it round the post - a terrific save, one he followed up with a stoppage time denial to thwart Callum McCowatt, whose eighteen yard drive followed some super solo work by Ball, whose trickery had three Sydney players wondering which way he was turning long after he'd laid the ball off.
The home team fired the first shot in anger in the second spell, Barbarouses spurning a glorious chance to double Sydney's advantage when played through the inside right channel by Alex Baumjohann.
With Le Fondre steaming up in support in acres of space to his left, the Kiwi striker opted to go for glory against his former club, only to be denied by the fingertips of Marinovic as the 'keeper got down well to turn the ball to safety.
Wellington hit back instantly, Mexican recruit Ulises Davila sending Sotirio surging down the right before racing forward for a return pass, which duly arrived. Davila's shot cannoned off the chest of Redmayne straight to Ball, whose instinctive shot directed the ball against the post.
Sydney survived that scare, and another soon after
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as McCowatt bemused two defenders on the left before setting up Alex Rufer for a shot which was blocked. The visitors kept on coming, however, and had penalty appeals turned away by both referee Jonathan Barreiro and the Video Assistant Referee when Liberato Cacace went down under the challenge of Ryan McGowan.
A rare Sydney counter-attack after the hour mark saw Baumjohann and Ninkovic combining for Le Fondre's benefit, but the Golden Boot winner's attempt to take the early outright lead in this season's quest for the individual honour was turned round the post by Marinovic.
Back came Wellington, McCowatt bamboozling two defenders on the left before thrashing a cross-shot goalwards which Redmayne was forced to beat past his near post.
From the resulting corner, McCowatt's cross was met by Rufer, whose glancing header flashed across the face of goal. The visitors clearly weren't going away, and were rewarded for their persistence with a richly deserved equaliser in the 69th minute.
Fenton and Sotirio combined once more on the right, with the latter's pullback inviting Davila to take on the defence. He side-stepped a challenge before letting fly, his shot taking a wicked deflection which took the ball well wide of Redmayne and into the bottom corner of the net - 1-1 after 69 minutes.
Wellington kept on coming after drawing level, but were caught out eight minutes later via a free-kick. O'Neill flighted the ball into the near post area, where Grant arrived on cue to deftly lift a cushioned volley over Marinovic and into the net off the underside of the bar - 2-1 Sydney.
The home team's cause was given a huge boost nine minutes from time when an over-the-top challenge by Cacace on Sydney substitute Anthony Caceres quite rightly didn't escape the all-seeing eye of the VAR, and after viewing the evidence on the monitor, referee Barreiro was reaching for his back pocket - out came the red card, and the fullback's departure reduced Wellington to ten men for the duration.
Sydney had numerous opportunities to take advantage of their numerical superiority during the time remaining, Ninkovic squandering the first of them when Barbarouses sent him dashing through the middle of the park with Le Fondre in support on his left. Ninkovic went for glory, however, only to curl his effort past the post.
After Redmayne had prevented Wellington substitute Reno Piscopo from equalising, Sydney substitute Luke Ivanovic saw Marinovic grab his close-range header under the bar before Barbarouses and Piscopo exchanged off-target efforts in stoppage time.
Neither impacted the scoreboard, however, which read "Sydney FC 2, Wellington Phoenix 1" when the final whistle sounded, much to the dismay of the travelling team, whose efforts merited at least a share of the spoils.
Sydney: Redmayne; Grant, McGowan, Wilkinson, Retre (booked, 84) (King, 89); Baumjohann (Caceres, 74 (booked, 90)), Brattan (Ivanovic, 86), O'Neill (booked, 51), Ninkovic; Barbarouses, Le Fondre
Wellington: Marinovic; Fenton, Taylor, De Vere, Cacace (sent off, 81); Davila, Rufer, Steinmann (booked, 37) (Piscopo, 80 (booked, 89)), McCowatt; Ball, Sotirio (Waine, 85)
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
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