It's nine years since Isuzu Ute A-League football last took place in Christchurch, and 14,094 fans piled into the Apollo Projects Stadium in New Zealand's Garden City hopeful of seeing an entertaining spectacle between Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners. Sadly, Wellington isn't noted for entertaining football these days, employing instead a "play to not lose" style of game which some describe as pragmatic, others attritional, but none as entertaining. (And whoever made the call for Wellington to play in their all-black change kit against opponents who, like many of the fans present, wore yellow … marketing doesn't precede football in the dictionary, and nor should it do so where the choice of the home team's playing kit is concerned!) Alas for the A-League-starved South Island fans, Central Coast sing from the same hymnal as their opponents, so what they witnessed was two sides striving to avoid defeat first and foremost, while offering the odd moment of attacking intent to keep the masses interested. The yellow-clad visitors enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, but Alby Kelly-Heald was little troubled by the shots fired by Arthur de Lima and Mikael Doka inside the opening ten minutes. Seven minutes later, Doka blazed over from eight yards after Brian Kaltak's raking angled ball picked out the overlapping Storm Roux on the right, the All White controlling neatly before setting up the Mariners' main man. This scare roused Wellington into action, Kazuki Nagasawa and Costa Barbarouses combining to present Nathan Walker with the chance to break the deadlock. His nineteenth minute attempt was blocked by Dylan Peraic-Cullen, who gobbled up another opportunity soon afterwards, Nagasawa threading the needle in the hope that either Barbarouses or Hideki Ishige would latch onto his pass. After Kaltak cleared a Walker cross intended for Barbarouses or Nagasawa, the game's first flashpoint materialised in the 32nd minute. Nagasawa and Kaltak tangled in the penalty area, the former stumbling over the latter's trailing leg. Wellington immediately appealed for a spot-kick, but referee Tim Danaskos - who let an awful lot go unchecked in this game - waved play on, an opinion shared by the Video Assistant Referee. Before the interval, the visitors twice threatened to break the deadlock. De Lima's eagerness to latch onto a Scott Wootton back-pass intended for Kelly-Heald saw the striker foul the goalkeeper, past whose right-hand post Doka thundered a thirty-yarder four minutes before half-time after Corban Piper's blatant shove of Christian Theoharous went unpunished by the referee. Needless to say, a few words unchristian in nature were forthcoming from the victim, who concluded the half by blocking a Barbarouses shot after Ishige and Nagasawa combined to allow Wellington's leading marksman a run at goal. After the interval, Ishige's 51st minute free-kick resulted in a Nagasawa shot being blocked by Harrison Steele, prompting a response from Central

Coast which saw Diesel Herrington and Alou Kuol combine to play in de Lima. The covering figure of Matt Sheridan hurtled across to deny the striker a shooting chance, at the expense of a corner, which Doka delivered to the edge of the area. Theoharous' volley narrowly cleared the crossbar. After the hour mark, poor defending by Nathan Paull, in his endeavours to shepherd the ball back to Peraic-Cullen, gave Ishige a sniff of goal. The ball rebounded off the goalkeeper, who regathered before the Wellington man could make the most of the opening. Soon after, Peraic-Cullen gathered a cross-shot from Sheridan. Central Coast played the ball out from the back, but soon conceded possession, Paulo Retre's ball forward being flicked on by Barbarouses for the benefit of Nagasawa. Into the penalty area he strode, where this time he was felled from behind by Herrington. Cue another Wellington spot-kick appeal, this one even more meritorious than that made in the first half. Again, referee Danaskos saw no reason to award a spot-kick, and again, the VAR backed his initial call … little wonder Wellington's "Yellow Fever" fanbase were soon unleashing a chorus of "Same old Aussies, always cheating!" They had a strong case for doing so. After Doak had sent another opportunity soaring into the stratosphere, Walker tried to be too clever in Central Coast's penalty area when played in by Barbarouses nine minutes from time, and was duly shut down by visiting defenders. Three minutes later, he endeavoured to make amends, concluding a slick six-man move by beating a defender before delivering a deep cross which Piper guided inside to Ishige. His shot on the turn was diverted over the bar at close quarters, with Sam Sutton's resulting corner being headed past the far post by Piper. Wellington mounted a late flurry in a bid to give the natives reason to remember this match, with Barbarouses shooting from well inside his own half upon spotting Peraic-Cullen well out of goal. His effort was wayward, and wasted, particularly with Luke Supyk racing through the middle in anticipation of a through ball which would have put him in on goal with just the 'keeper to beat. As it was, Peraic-Cullen was called upon to ensure the game finished scoreless in the final moments, clearing off the toes of Supyk as Ishige looked to reward the substitute's attacking endeavours. But scoreless it remained, a result which served neither side well where a pursuit of a play-offs spot is concerned. Wellington:     Kelly-Heald; Piper, Sheridan (booked, 69), Hughes, Wootton, Sutton; Ishige (Supyk, 85), Retre (booked, 23), Nagasawa (Roa-Conchie, 70), Walker; Barbarouses Central Coast:     Peraic-Cullen; Herrington (booked, 49 (Kuzevski, 70)), Kaltak, Paull (booked, 73); Roux, Steele (booked, 90), Eames, de Lima (Feijao, 80); Doka, Kuol (Edmondson, 61), Theoharous (Faisal, 70) Referee:     Tim Danaskos