The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home
21Nov21 | 27Nov21 | 03Dec21 | 10Dec21 | 19Dec21 | 01Jan22 | 21Jan22 | 06Feb22 | 09Feb22 | 12Feb22 | 16Feb22 | 19Feb22 | 09Mar22 | 12Mar22 | 18Mar22 | 26Mar22 | 30Mar22 | 02Apr22 | 05Apr22 | 09Apr22 | 13Apr22 | 17Apr22 | 24Apr22 | 29Apr22 | 05May22 | 09May22 | 14May22
24Apr22
Wellington Keep Play-Off Hopes Alive In Auckland
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix kept their Isuzu Ute A-League play-offs hopes alive on April 24, ekeing out a scarcely deserved 1-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers in front of 15,245 fans at Auckland's Eden Park.
The natives' delight in seeing the country's only professional football team clinch a vital victory at the national stadium was tempered by the sight of an unruly duo invading the playing arena during the final minutes of a contest from which the visitors didn't deserve to go home empty-handed.
Wests battered Wellington throughout the second half, and fired the first shot in anger during the first forty-five minutes, Keanu Baccus' long-range effort drifting narrowly over the crossbar after he pounced on Nick Pennington's under-hit tenth minute pass.
Gael Sandoval's tame chip in response gave Daniel Margush little cause for concern, but Baccus' late studs-up challenge on David Ball in the thirteenth minute saw the offender fortunate to escape with a yellow card, despite it being reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee - the crowd definitely felt Baccus was deserving of a greater punishment, and let him know it in no uncertain terms!
Wellington pressed on, and were rewarded in the 22nd minute with what proved to be the game's only goal. Sandoval led a counter-attack in which Ball's driving run past two opponents was crucial to its progress.
The striker then worked a one-two with Reno Piscopo which put Ball in on goal. Margush parried his attempt, but Ben Waine, following in like all good strikers should in such circumstances, swept home the rebound to the delight of the natives - 1-0 Wellington.
Wests looked to respond virtually instantaneously, a left-flank raid featuring James Troisi, Jack Rodwell and Baccus being foiled by Scott Wootton's intervention. But Wellington were keen to build on their advantage, with Waine having his hair parted by a Sandoval free-kick when six yards out from goal in the 27th minute.
Five minutes later, Pennington pinged a ball forward which Waine was hunting down when Margush, racing out of his penalty area, bravely executed a stooped headed clearance in front of the striker, who would have had an empty goal into which to put the ball had the 'keeper misjudged the situation.
After Steven Ugarkovic had weaved past three opponents before rattling the side-netting with a twenty-five yarder, Piscopo and Sam Sutton combined neatly on the left, with the fullback picking out Ball with his near post cross. The striker, who has been battling a toe injury which has hampered his playing prowess in recent weeks, directed his effort over the bar from eight yards.
Wests squandered two opportunities to level matters before the interval. The first, ten minutes before the break, saw Jaushua Sotirio tracking back superbly to deny Adama Traore in the penalty area, after Ugarkovic had played in the overlapping fullback with a fine pass.
Three minutes later, a goalbound Ugarkovic shot struck the arm of Pennington at near-point-blank range and ricocheted to safety, only for referee Jonathan Barreiro to point to the penalty spot and book the Wellington man for deliberately handing the ball.
You can imagine how that went down in front of over 15,000 Aucklanders! Crazy decision! Justice was swiftly served, however, for when Ugarkovic stepped up to take the penalty, he endured his own "John Terry" moment, his non-striking foot slipping on the playing surface just as he was about to let fly from twelve yards … as laughter rang around Eden Park, with the ball harmlessly floating past the post, you just sensed that this was going to be Wellington's day.
Not if Wests could help it. Right from the start of the second half, they threw everything at their opponents, who were forced to mount a concerted rearguard action to keep the visitors at bay, a task which Wellington achieved, albeit only just!
Traore, who basically had the run of the left flank for much of the match, sent in a teasing cross to the far post just two minutes into the half which found Ramy Najjarine racing in to meet it as Tim Payne looked to head clear. Referee Barreiro saw fit to award a corner, which earned him a serve from the fans, and from which Wests were unable to capitalise.
Route one nearly paid off for Wellington in the fiftieth minute. A raking clearance from Oliver Sail found Waine timing his run to perfection through the inside right channel, from where he angled a shot past Margush but just past the far post.
The slippery surface, with pre-match sprinkler work supplemented by showers throughout the contest,
|
was causing problems for players of both teams, as evidenced in the 51st minute by Troisi slipping when shooting.
Sail didn't mind one iota, and sparked an attack in which Pennington's ball forward was dummied by Ball for Sotirio, who played Ball in through the inside right channel. Margush blocked with his legs at close quarters - it wasn't long before the goalkeeper would find himself alone in Western Sydney's half of the pitch, as his team-mates piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.
Finn Surman's timely interventions foiled both Troisi and Baccus in the minutes which followed, and constant pressure from the visitors found all eleven Wellington players within thirty yards of their own goal for a lengthy period around the hour mark.
Their resolute defensive efforts earned plenty of cheers from the natives, whose mere presence gave the home team a welcome boost after literally months spent living out of suitcases in an alien environment across the pond. The chance to play on home soil was one Wellington greatly welcomed.
Wests' substitute Keijiro Ogawa skied a shot upon receipt of Traore's cross in the 65th minute, while a super move four minutes later, featuring Traore, Ogawa, a one-two with Troisi and Baccus, who linked with Troisi once more, finally ended up with the Japanese player being afforded the chance to shoot, at which point Wootton stepped in - "Thou shalt not pass, nor shoot, my son!"
Buoyed by that opportunity, Wests went even closer twenty minutes from time, John Koutroumbis letting fly from twenty-five yards with an effort which deflected off Sandoval and crashed against the crossbar.
Seconds later, Troisi worked an opening on the right, his cross being flicked on by Rodwell to the far post, where Najjarine was arriving on cue. So, too, was Sail, who blocked at point blank range to prevent a certain equaliser.
Time for reinforcements, in Wests' case, former Wellington striker Tomer Hemed, who received an "appropriate" welcome from the fans of the club he served last season. Imagine their delight when the striker was booked just three minutes after coming on …
Louis Fenton was also introduced to the fray, an extra defender to aid Wellington's rearguard action, which was showing no signs of wilting in the face of near-constant Western Sydney pressure.
Ten minutes from time, Ogawa and Tate Russell combined, the latter picking out Najjarine with his cross. Najjarine's header hit the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down and back into play … what with this and the first half let-off, you somehow knew that the visitors weren't going to score in a month of Sundays, never mind this one!
And so it proved, although two rare Wellington raids in the last eight minutes should have seen them wrap things up. Sandoval squandered a free-kick opportunity earned by Ben Old, then directed his shot on the run from twenty yards straight at Margush, who should have paid at the gate for this one, so infrequently were his services called upon throughout proceedings.
The slippery pitch again contributed to Wests' growing frustration in the 88th minute, with Najjarine stumbling in the act of shooting on this occasion. Further evidence of the visitors' angst was seen a minute later when Old was rugby-tackled by Russell - right ground, wrong code! Although how referee Barreiro saw fit to award Wests a free-kick as a result …
"Same old Aussies, always cheating!" roared the crowd, who were in their element as the game moved into stoppage time and referee Barreiro saw fit to send off Wests coach, Mark Rudan, once of this parish, of course! He took his punishment with good grace, and grinned then bowed to the crowd as he headed to the dressing rooms.
In his absence, another rare Wellington attack saw Margush deny substitute James McGarry, before a brief gathering of the clans brought things to a head. In the aftermath, Tass Mourdoukoutas headed a Troisi cross wide of the mark, a miss which ensured Wellington would escape with the points as 1-0 victors, a win which may yet earn them a play-offs spot in May.
Wellington: Sail; Surman, Wootton, Payne; Sotirio (booked, 66), Pennington (booked, 38), Sandoval, Piscopo (McGarry, 90), Sutton; Ball (Old, 62), Waine (Fenton, 75)
W. Sydney: Margush; Russell, Koutroumbis, Mrcela, Traore; Ugarkovic (Mourdoukoutas, 89), Rodwell, Baccus (booked, 13) (Hemed, 74 (booked, 77)); Najjarine (booked, 45), Lopane (Ogawa, 62), Troisi
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
|