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25Nov23
Wellington Go Top After Surviving City Onslaught
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix climbed to the top of the Isuzu Ute A-League ladder on 25 November, downing Melbourne City 1-0 in front of 8327 fans at GoMedia Mt Smart Stadium to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign, their best beginning to a season in A-League history.
The home team - playing in a black change kit rather than the striped colour scheme with which people associate them - began strongly, Nick Pennington's ball over the top inside the first sixty seconds inviting Wellington's latest centurion, David Ball, to steal in behind the defence, only to see his shot parried then grabbed by Jamie Young.
Three minutes later, Tim Payne made in-roads down the right to the by-line, from where he looked to pick out the head of Bozhidar Kraev. Samuel Souprayen's timely intervention prevented the Bulgarian from heading Wellington in front, although they could just as easily have been trailing on the scoreboard at this point, having got away with a couple of close calls in the early minutes while playing the ball out of defence.
After Barbarouses squandered a great shooting chance from the edge of the area, opting instead to try and play in Kraev, only for Callum Talbot to intervene and relieve the pressure on City, the visitors started to impose themselves upon proceedings, Tolgay Arslan volleying narrowly past the post in the eighth minute on receipt of a headed clearance.
Three minutes later, Scott Wootton's vital headed clearance prevented Aziz Behich's cross from being headed home by Arslan, while in the sixteenth minute, Hamza Sakhi sent Marin Jakolis scurrying down the left, from where he cut inside and let fly. Alex Paulsen blocked the effort with his knees, the ball eventually being cleared after a spot of pinball in the Wellington penalty area.
After a Ball corner saw Alex Rufer's header give Young little cause for concern, an interception on halfway by Barbarouses on the half-hour sent Ball powering through on the right. His cross into the area found the supplier of the opening arriving on cue, but Barbarouses failed to make clean contact with the ball, his effort being blocked and cleared by Souprayen.
Back came Melbourne, Behich and Jakolis working a one-two on the left, with the fullback picking out Arslan with a slide-rule pass, whose shot was blocked by the covering figure of Finn Surman.
Wellington responded through the Ball and Barbarouses double act, the former sending the latter scorching through the inside right channel, from where he unleashed a first-time drive which Young plunged to his left to turn round the post.
"Anything you can do, I can do also!" said Paulsen four minutes before half-time, flying to his left to keep out a free-kick from Sakhi which had "top corner" written all over it until the goalkeeper's spectacular intervention.
Pennington should have hit the target in first half stoppage time, after pouncing on a Jakolis slip, but it took just three minutes of the second half for the home team to break the deadlock. Mohamed Al-Taay's driving run out of midfield culminated in a slide-rule pass which sent Ball through the offside trap. He drew a defender before picking out Kraev, arriving on the far post, from where he deftly tucked the ball home to the delight of the vocal locals.
The scorer nearly doubled his tally two minutes later, Kraev's deft lob, on receipt of a ball from
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newly capped All White Surman, forcing Young to back-pedal and produce a fine save to keep City in the contest.
That save was the springboard for a dominant spell of City pressure, in which Wellington's goal was threatened on numerous occasions. Paulsen turned a Steven Ugarkovic shot on the run round the post in the 56th minute, and from the resulting corner, the former Wellington midfielder picked out Leonardo Natal Vieira in the penalty area.
His shot was blocked by Lukas Kelly-Heald, then ricocheted off Paulsen as he attempted to grab it, the ball flying towards the goal. But Kelly-Heald was on the line, and managed to execute a timely clearance to keep Wellington in front.
On the hour, Jakolis and Ugarkovic teamed up with the hitherto anonymous Jamie Maclaren. His low cross on the turn beat Paulsen all ends up, but much to the goalkeeper's relief, Kelly-Heald was on hand to spare his blushes again.
City were targeting Wellington's right flank, and were making a fair few in-roads as a result. From one of them, Maclaren unleashed a 65th minute shot on the turn which the flying figure of Paulsen turned round his right-hand upright.
Seven minutes later, another left flank raid culminated in Maclaren looking to pick out Sakhi. As the ball arrived, so did the retreating figure of Kraev, who bundled over the midfielder, prompting referee Lachlan Keevers to point to the penalty spot, from where Maclaren rarely misses.
This, however, was one of those rare occasions, Paulsen plunging to his left to tip the spot-kick onto the post. Substitute Benjamin Mazzeo was following in, but sent the rebound blazing over the bar, a sight which prompted all in black to converge on their courageous goalkeeper and congratulate him, until Jakolis got a tad uppity and a bit of argy bargy ensued.
Paulsen wasn't done with the heroics, as nine minutes from time he kept out an angled Behich drive in fine fashion. That looked to be that from City's perspective, because Wellington enjoyed the better chances in the final ten minutes, substitute Ben Old at the heart of the first of them.
Seconds after making a great run off the ball which Kraev didn't reward with the pass it demanded, Old opted to go solo when the opportunity availed itself in the 88th minute, taking on three opponents before fizzing an acute-angled delivery through the corridor of uncertainty. Payne was flying in on the far post to meet it, but just failed in his quest to score a match-clinching goal.
Two minutes later, Barbarouses went close to clinching the points for Wellington, his curling effort drawing a fine save from Young, who could only applaud as his opposite number ensured the points would be staying on this side of the Tasman deep in stoppage time, Paulsen keeping out Terry Antonis' close-range header to ensure Wellington's 1-0 advantage would be a decisive one.
Wellington: Paulsen; Payne, Surman, Wootton, Kelly-Heald (Sutton, 68); Al-Taay (Old, 68), Rufer, Pennington (Sheridan, 89); Barbarouses, Ball (Conchie, 78), Kraev (booked, 72)
Melbourne: Young; Talbot (Galloway, 78), Souprayen, Good (booked, 67), Behich; Sakhi (Antonis, 78), Ugarkovic, Natal Vieira (Mazzeo, 64), Arslan (Lopane, 64); Maclaren, Jakolis (Politidis, 88)
Referee: Lachlan Keevers
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