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22Aug20
Chances Spurned As Perth End Wellington's Season
by Jeremy Ruane
Perth Glory brought a premature end to Wellington Phoenix's Hyundai A-League season at Bankwest Stadium on August 22, edging the Kiwi side 1-0 in their play-offs quarter-final encounter to set up a repeat of last season's Grand Final against Sydney FC in Wednesday's semi-final.
The Western Australians should have opened the scoring inside the first two minutes, Tomislav Mrcela squandering a terrific chance to head home when directing Noel Kilkenny's pinpoint free-kick over the bar from eight yards.
That early warning shot across the bows spurred Wellington into action, and within minutes Dane Ingham had scrambled a pullback from Callum Elliot to safety, while Liam Reddy had smothered a twenty-five yarder from Rene Piscopo, Wellington's best-performed player on the night.
Soon after, Jaushua Sotirio spurned a gilt-edged chance to break the deadlock when picked out by Matti Steinmann in yards of space on the edge of the penalty area in the eleventh minute. The striker's ponderous response allowed Perth's defence to close him down and block the shot which was eventually fired.
Back came Perth, another Kilkenny free-kick being headed goalwards by Kristian Popovic in the fourteenth minute. Bruno Fornaroli, lurking in the shadows of the far post - and surely in an offside position - directed the ball on target, only to look on in amazement as Stefan Marinovic produced a quite incredible reflex save to turn the ball onto the bar.
The denial left Joel Chianese similarly transfixed, and allowed Wellington to avert the danger. Downfield they surged, earning a free-kick near the left-hand edge of the penalty area, from where Piscopo flighted the ball into the danger zone.
Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, in his eagerness to score, headed the ball away from the better-placed Steven Taylor and towards the far post, where David Ball strained every sinew in a vain attempt to direct the ball on target.
Perth responded by opening the scoring in the eighteenth minute. Ivan Franjic led a counter-attack out of defence, hoisting the ball towards Fornaroli in the centre circle. He guided the ball back to Jake Brimmer, whose defence-splitting pass from half-way rewarded Chianese's angled run from right to left.
The striker tore past Hudson-Wihongi before steering an angled shot across Marinovic and into the far corner, much to the delight of his team-mates, with Perth bidding to become the first sixth-placed finishers to win the A-League via its play-offs format.
Stung by conceding, Wellington duly laid siege to the Perth goal. Elliot and Piscopo combined to present Sotirio with a near post chance which Reddy turned round the post, the 'keeper then looking on helplessly as Ball's drive, from the resulting corner, was deflected past the far upright by the covering figure of Franjic.
Reddy then turned a Hudson-Wihongi attempt to safety from the resulting Piscopo corner, before Perth's defence gained a temporary ally in Ball as the striker blocked a shot from team-mate Liberato Cacace, in what will be his final game for Wellington before a transfer to Europe, Belgium's St Truiden his most likely suitors.
On the half-hour, a Ulises Davila free-kick from just outside the penalty area was turned round the post by Reddy, who produced a super save to deny the Mexican's twenty yard drive ten minutes later, diverting the ball over the bar after a stumble by Fornaroli had presented Davila with the shooting chance, five minutes after Mrcela had headed another Kilkenny free-kick over the bar as Perth mounted a rare raid.
Wellington dominated the early stages of the second spell, Cacace's volley cannoning off Mrcela to safety after Piscopo and Elliot had once more combined on the right. Davila then shot at Reddy from twenty yards as the third-place-getters piled on the pressure in pursuit of an equaliser, but it just wouldn't come.
A spell of Perth pressure - which didn't give Marinovic too much cause for concern - followed before Davila led a counter-attack with Sotirio steaming through the middle. He was the obvious outlet, but the Mexican had long since gone rogue, wasting this opening just as he had an opportunity tailor-made for Cacace to fire home moments earlier, the striker's greed seeing him wastefully fire past the target.
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The flying fullback's bid to make amends for his team-mate's selfishness saw Cacace cut in off the left past two before setting up Piscopo on the hour. His shot swerved narrowly past the post opposite that which Reddy was covering, the 'keeper again leading a charmed life as he looked on with relief.
Taylor volleyed over from an acute angle as he got in round the back to meet a Piscopo free-kick soon after, while Sotirio spurned another opening in the 64th minute, Mrcela making a complete hash of Elliot's cross to the far post. The striker was once more flat-footed when an instinctive finish was called for.
Another Cacace raid saw him sweep past three opponents before going down on the edge of the area in the 65th minute. Referee Alex King - a tad lenient in his decision-making at times - allowed this one to go unpunished, to which Perth responded by earning a corner two minutes later. Kilkenny's delivery picked out the head of Juande, but Hudson-Wihongi was on hand to foil this attempt.
Twenty minutes from time, Cacace's driving run out of defence saw him combine with Piscopo, who took the ball on before playing a pass which deflected off Ingham. Sotirio, darting in behind onto the loose ball, drew a parried save from Reddy, who was on course to record his ninth clean sheet of the season.
After Brimmer had fired a twenty yard free-kick over the bar, and Chianese had shot straight at Marinovic upon receipt of a Fornaroli pass, Sotirio squandered a glorious chance to equalise fifteen minutes from time after Elliot's super run to and pull-back from the by-line into the striker's stride eight yards out from goal.
Back came Perth, only for Taylor to twice intervene as Chianese and Fornaroli both looked to put the result beyond doubt as the game reached its climax, one in which the Kiwi side threw everything at their rivals in the latest "Distance Derby".
Callum McCowatt had by now been introduced to the fray, and copped a dose of foot odour from Mrcela as the defender's boot came perilously close to connecting with the head of the striker as he looked to capitalise on an Elliot cross with which Ball had just failed to make contact via an overhead kick.
Referee King should have awarded an indirect free-kick for this incident on the edge of the goal area, but again gave the benefit of the doubt to the Australian side, instead awarding them a goal-kick. Reddy butchered it, kicking the ball straight to Ball, who replied in kind, firing past the post with the goal gaping as the goalkeeper galloped with all haste across his goal area.
Reddy made amends in the 83rd minute, denying Ball at his near post after Davila's deft ball over the top, then keeping out a long-range effort from Wellington's top scorer seconds later as Davila let fly from twenty-five yards with Cacace in space on his left.
After Marinovic had foiled a Fornaroli effort from twelve yards five minutes from time, Wellington once more piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser to take the game to extra time.
Try as they might, however, the goal proved elusive - this was the third game in their last four in which they had failed to trouble the scoreboard operator. On this occasion, their final efforts were fired by Sotirio, Ball - a dipping volley on the turn which hit the top of the crossbar - and McCowatt, whose attempted volley bounced past the post after Davila had fluffed his lines with a stoppage time free-kick.
Time ran out for Wellington, much to Perth's relief. Their defence was stoic throughout this match, and Ufuk Talay's side simply couldn't break it down, no matter how hard they tried. It was a disappointing end to Wellington's best-ever A-League campaign, their third-placed finish their highest yet.
But a lack of firepower at the business end of the season was ultimately their downfall, and one wonders if, with Cacace - arguably the club's best-ever locally developed player - now departing for pastures new, they'll ever get the chance to get this close to winning the Hyundai A-League again.
Perth: Reddy (booked, 89); Ingham, Mrcela (booked, 77), Juande (booked, 90), Elrich, Franjic; Brimmer (Lia, 87), K. Popovic (Malik, 80), Kilkenny; Chianese, Fornaroli
Wellington: Marinovic; Elliot, Taylor, Hudson-Wihongi, Cacace; Piscopo, Devlin (booked, 72) (McCowatt, 74), Steinmann (Rufer, 86), Davila; Ball, Sotirio
Referee: Alex King
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