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22Apr21
Wellington Held By Western's Ten Men
by Jeremy Ruane
Despite fielding ten men for the entire second half, Western United held Wellington Phoenix to a 1-1 draw in their A-League clash on 22 April, a game played in front of 2,528 fans at Hobart's UTAS Stadium in Tasmania.
The well-travelled visitors hit the ground running from the outset, with United 'keeper Ryan Scott forced into some fancy footwork inside his own penalty area to evade the challenge of Ben Waine and ignite a third minute opportunity at the other end of the park.
The key to the ball travelling the length of the pitch in such a short time was the driving run of Alessandro Diamanti, who travelled half the length of the field with ball at toe before picking out Connor Pain on the edge of the penalty area. He slipped the ball inside to Dylan Pierias, whose shot on the turn looped off Steven Taylor into the grateful gloves of Oliver Sail.
Wellington responded swiftly, David Ball having penalty claims turned away by referee Alex King before the overlapping Louis Fenton under-hit a cross intended for Waine, much to the relief of the retreating figure of Pain, who averted the danger.
For a matter of seconds. From the resulting throw-in, Fenton found himself in a tight spot near the corner flag, with two defenders on his case. The ball somehow squirted out to Ulises Davila, who was in close attendance, and his first-time cross caught out Western's defence, but not Waine, who swooped on the sphere and steered it home from six yards without batting an eyelid.
Western went about plotting an equaliser, but every time an attack broke down, Wellington simply pinged the ball downfield, allowing Waine and Sotirio to stretch their legs.
Both Davila and Taylor did just this in the twelfth and thirteenth minutes respectively, and on both occasions Scott had to race out of his penalty area to avert the danger with timely clearances.
Wellington continued to threaten. Just three minutes later, and despite the attentions of two defenders on him, Davila slipped a delicious pass down the line for Fenton, who dutifully whipped in the sort of cross demanded by such a buffet ball. Only the timely intervention of Tomoki Imai - he was outstanding for Western - prevented Waine from doubling the tally of both himself and his team.
Sotirio and Davila then joined forces for the benefit of Waine, whose first touch took him away from goal. Instead of shooting, he looked to set up a team-mate inside him, but no one in a red shirt was on hand to convert the twentieth minute opportunity.
Davila threaded a delightful pass through for Ball to utilise five minutes later, only for Josh Risdon to intervene, much to the relief of Western, who had by now resorted to fouling seemingly anything wearing red which moved above ground level.
Referee King had already issued four yellow cards - two to each side - by the 25th minute, and was to brandish said card a further five times in the contest, about one of which more shortly.
After Tim Payne's timely tackle had thwarted a Risdon-inspired raid, and Davila had drilled a free-kick narrowly wide after being taken out by Andrew Durante, an aerial incident on the stroke of half-time changed the game, and left Western fuming.
Brendan Hamill led with the elbow as he contested
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a header with Waine, earning himself a yellow card for his actions. Unfortunately for the defender, he'd already been booked for fouling the striker in an earlier incident - an early bath was his destiny, much to the ire of Western coach Mark Rudan, who didn't consider the elbowing incident worthy of a booking.
It meant United had to play the entire second half with just ten men on the park, a task they accomplished well against opponents who failed to attempt to press home their numerical advantage until far too late in the contest.
Frankly, Wellington were pathetic for much of the second spell. Their pedestrian play played right into Western's hands, so much so that in the first thirty minutes of the second half, they mustered just one noteworthy attempt to score, a thirty yard free-kick from Clayton Lewis in the 54th minute after Davila had been crudely sandwiched by Victor Sanchez and Durante.
United, for their part, engineered two openings of note in that time, with Lachlan Wales going close in the 49th minute upon receipt of a pass from Tomislav Uskok, while Diamanti's long-range free-kick halfway through the second spell whistled narrowly over Sail's crossbar.
Wellington finally started getting their act into gear fifteen minutes from time, Waine whipping in a cross from the right for substitute Tomer Hemed, who was denied by Scott's save at his feet.
The Israeli was prevented from getting on the end of a Fenton cross by Imai's fine piece of defending six minutes later, while Hemed then latched onto a cross-shot from fellow substitute Charles Lokoli-Ngoy, only to go down under yet another Durante challenge which was dubious in nature, although not in the referee's eyes on this occasion, as he waved Wellington's penalty appeals away.
It was all hands to the pump for United in the closing minutes, as Wellington piled on the pressure in pursuit of a late winner. Waine cut in off the right and fed Davila in the 88th minute, the Mexican's turn taking Sanchez out of play. His resulting shot took Scott out of the equation too, only for the post to come to Western's rescue.
Lewis and Waine then combined for Davila's benefit, only for the retreating figure of Sanchez to intervene and head the ball straight into the grateful gloves of Scott, who looked on as Imai once more foiled Hemed with some fine defensive work as the game entered stoppage time.
It was desperation time now for Wellington, so much so that Davila deliberately dispossessed Lokoli-Ngoy in an effort to change the direction of an attack, which he did with a cross for Hemed.
Pain foiled that threat, while from Lewis' resulting corner, Hemed's thumping fifteen yard header flashed narrowly past the post, much to the dismay of the Wellingtonians, who will look back on this game as two points lost in their late bid for the play-offs - they lie three points off sixth place with eight games still to play.
Western: Scott (booked, 90); Imai, Durante (booked, 39), Hamill (booked, 24, 45 - sent off); Risdon, Uskok (booked, 10), Sanchez (booked, 52), Pierias (Guarrotxena, 86); Wales, Diamanti (Berisha, 77), Pain
Wellington: Sail; Fenton, Taylor (booked, 21)_ Payne, Sutton (McGarry, 64); Devlin, Davila, Lewis; Sotirio (booked, 25) (Hemed, 68), Waine, Ball (booked, 69) (Lokoli Ngoy, 80)
Referee: Alex King
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