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21Apr19
Krishna Treble Keeps Wellington's Hopes Alive
by Jeremy Ruane
A Roy Krishna hat-trick - in the process bringing up his fiftieth goal in the Hyundai A-League - kept alive Wellington Phoenix's hopes of securing a top-four finish as they held off a strong challenge from Melbourne City at Westpac Stadium on Easter Sunday, with the 8,294 fans present delighting in the home team's 3-2 stoppage time triumph.
Wellington began the first half brightly, with Alex Rufer and Max Burgess combining to invite a cross from Liberato Cacace in the third minute. Curtis Good headed this threat clear, while Richie De Laet blocked two shots soon afterwards, from David Williams and Burgess, who cleverly turned Nathaniel Atkinson to afford himself shooting room.
Melbourne responded with a solid spell of pressure around the quarter hour mark, the highlight of which saw Harrison Delbridge batter a twenty-five yarder past the post as the visitors struggled to make much head-way against a resolute Wellington rearguard.
After Roy Krishna had failed in an effort to pick out the top corner following a Williams corner, Melbourne drew a double-save out of Filip Kurto, who turned away efforts from Jamie MacLaren and Riley McGree as the visitors pressed for the opener.
When it came, in the 27th minute, it was netted at the other end of the park by Krishna. McGree was caught in possession by Mandi Sosa on half-way, and Burgess instantly took charge of the situation, surging downfield before timing his pass to perfection to allow the speedy Fijian to beat the offside trap and deftly flick the ball over the advancing Eugene Galekovic for his sixteenth goal of the season.
Melbourne's response to this blow was fifteen minutes in coming, but decisive nonetheless - an equaliser in the shadows of the half-time whistle. A super counter-attack led by Luke Brattan culminated in MacLaren unleashing two shots on Wellington's goal, both of which were saved by Kurto, the second superbly.
Unfortunately for the home team, the rebound from the second denial found its way to McGree, who evaded a challenge before driving a shot through a forest of legs and past the unsighted goalkeeper into the bottom corner of the net - 1-1.
City began the second half brightly, with Michal Kopczynski forced into a drastic clearance after Delbridge had made in-roads down the left and pulled the ball back from the by-line.
Moments later, Florin Berengeur-Bohrer did Williams a treat on the left before unleashing a shot which was heading for the far corner of the net before MacLaren intervened. He swiveled and shot, his effort rebounding off Kopczynski into the gloves of the grateful figure of Kurto.
Wellington's response to these early raids was to regain the lead in the 51st minute. Cacace combined with Rufer and Burgess to present Krishna with a chance, and while his first attempt was blocked, he made no mistake with the second, angling it past Galekovic into the bottom corner to the delight of the faithful, towards whom he ran in delight.
Melbourne didn't take that setback lying down, and would have been back on level terms within four minutes had Kurto not superbly blocked Shayon Harrison's attempt at the near post, after he had
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ghosted in behind the defence onto Brattan's deliciously weighted pass.
The end-to-end nature of the contest continued unabated, with De Laet's vital clearance preventing Williams' cross on the hour from reaching Krishna, its intended target.
Both the Fijian and substitute Cillian Sheridan were thwarted by Galekovic soon after, before Harrison brilliantly weaved through three players in the penalty area before undoing all his good work by diving over Andrew Durante's tackle, rightly earning the wrath of referee Shaun Evans for his attempt to gain a 64th minute penalty.
Melbourne didn't need to resort to foul means to draw level, as, two minutes later, they did so in fine style. Harrison fed the overlapping figure of Atkinson, whose cross was cleared by Durante.
In an instant, McGree swooped on the ball and sent it thundering first-time past the flailing fingertips of Kurto and into the far corner of the net - 2-2, and a more sweetly struck shot you could not wish to see!
Wellington's fans were wishing they hadn't seen it, of course, but they were treated to a grandstand finish throughout the final twenty-five minutes, with both teams going all out for the winner.
Krishna and Berengeur-Bohrer exchanged shots on goal which required saving by Galekovic and Kurto respectively, while a concerted Melbourne build-up resulted in MacLaren heading over a Harrison cross from close range twenty minutes from time.
Six minutes later, Harrison unleashed a twenty yard free-kick which arced over the wall and left Kurto beaten all ends up, only to cannon back into play off the crossbar. Wellington survived that scare and caused one of their own soon after, with De Laet blocking yet another shot, this time from Sheridan.
Back came Melbourne, Kurto smothering a Harrison shot before substitute Ramy Najjarine blazed a cross-shot over the bar with MacLaren completely unmarked in the middle of the goalmouth.
Wellington's response was compelling. Only a superbly timed tackle from Good prevented Krishna from exploiting Steven Taylor's ball down the right as the game entered stoppage time, while a Krishna cross was met by Burgess' full-length diving header at the near post in stoppage time, only for Galekovic to turn the ball round the post for a corner.
From which Wellington clinched victory. The substitutes combined, Callan Elliot's delivery being headed down by Sheridan for Krishna, who shielded the ball from Galekovic before deftly flicking it past him from close range to clinch a 3-2 win for the home team, one which keeps alive their top four hopes, while condemning City to what looks likely to be a Melbourne derby in the quarter-finals.
Wellington: Kurto; Taylor, Durante, Kopczynski; Williams (Waine, 90), Rufer, Sosa (Sheridan, 55), Cacace; Krishna, Singh (Elliot, 82), Burgess
Melbourne: Galekovic; De Laet, Good, Delbridge; Atkinson, Griffiths (booked, 33) (Baccus, 55), Brattan (booked, 31), McGree; Harrison (booked, 64), MacLaren, Berenguer-Bohrer (Najjarine, 77)
Referee: Shaun Evans
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