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
26Mar22
Last-Gasp Winner Sinks Ten-Man Perth
by Jeremy Ruane
With the last kick of the ball in their Isuzu Ute A-League encounter at Leichhardt Oval on March 26, Wellington Phoenix clinched a 2-1 victory over a gallant ten-man Perth Glory team which was just seconds away from snaring a point after playing all but the first seven minutes of the second half with reduced numbers.
It was tough on the Western Australians, whose stoic defensive effort belied their last placing on the table - their position is misleading on the evidence of this display in a match which was a rather turgid affair in the first half, with very few opportunities carved out by either side.
Wellington carved out the first of them, Nicholas Pennington combining with Gael Sandoval to release Ben Old down the left on the quarter hour. His low cross was targeting Ben Waine, but the retreating figure of Jonathan Aspropotamitis slid in to deny the newly capped All White from opening the scoring.
Two minutes later, Sandoval spread play wide to Louis Fenton and raced forward anticipating a cross from the fullback. It was duly delivered, right onto the head of the Mexican, whose fifteen yard header flew narrowly over the crossbar.
Waine, Sandoval and Fenton combined in the 23rd minute as the home team looked to make that advantage count. The fullback's deflected cross was partially cleared to Clayton Lewis, who invited Sam Sutton to whip in a cross. The ball arced just over the head of Old.
Perth scrambled to clear their lines again, but within seconds Sandoval was once more winning the ball in midfield, allowing Lewis to take charge of proceedings and pick out David Ball. He drove his shot straight at Liam Reddy, one of the few times Perth's goalkeeper was called into action during the first forty-five minutes.
Indeed, the next noteworthy incident in which he was involved saw Reddy fishing the ball out of his net after Wellington opened the scoring in the 37th minute. Pennington played it forward to Sandoval, who lifted it beyond the defence and into the stride of Waine, whose deft first-time volleyed lob over the approaching goalkeeper was executed in some style - a quality finish!
And a goal the game badly needed - it's a wonder the 168 fans who attended this "Distance Derby" hadn't discovered a cure for insomnia by the time the whistle was blown to signal half-time, such was the uninspiring nature of this, frankly, boring spectacle to that point.
As soon as referee Kurt Ams blew his whistle to start the second half, Perth were on the attack, and within seconds, Jack Clisby was dashing down the left, from where he delivered a cross for debutant striker Joshua Anesmo to head home, something he doubtless would have done had Oliver Sail not plucked the ball off his head.
Two minutes later, Scott Wootton pinged one forward for Ball, whose first touch was exquisite. His second set up Sandoval to let fly from twelve yards, but what followed … his shot careered wildly away from goal and ended up with Perth being awarded a throw-in!
How they made the most of it! The ball was worked up-field to Anesmo on the right, and he held it up before slipping a pass into the stride of Adrian Corpa, racing up inside him. He held off a defender before getting to the by-line, from where he pulled the ball back into the stride of Nick Fitzgerald, arriving on the penalty spot.
Without hesitation, he let fly with a fiercely struck low drive which left Wellington goalkeeper Oliver Sail clutching at thin air - 1-1, exactly what the game needed to liven it up and make a contest of proceedings.
For all of three minutes.
Having been booked in the 47th minute, one would think a seasoned A-League campaigner such as Osama Malik would know better than to take defensive action which would bring about his premature departure from the fray five minutes later.
Not so, it would seem. For the defensive midfielder, in his desperation to prevent Waine from latching onto Finn Surman's ball over the top, clipped the heels of the striker while stumbling himself and sent Waine sprawling.
|
Malik himself lay prone on the pitch also, because he knew what was coming, and when he eventually got to his feet, referee Ams duly brandished the red card - contest over! For, faced with ten men, the odds of Wellington going on to make their numerical superiority count were virtually unbackable.
Sure enough, the home team was in the ascendancy for the remainder of the match. But they encountered stubborn resistance from the bottom-of-the-table team, to such an extent it took Wellington quite some time to penetrate Perth's defiant rearguard.
By the time they did, they had suffered a serious blow to their hopes for the remainder of the season. Twenty minutes from time, Lewis was involved in a battle royal for possession with Perth substitute Adam "Mullet" Zimarino - if his nickname isn't that, it should be! He has a quite unique hair style, and that's being polite!
Talking of sights for sore eyes, that of Lewis lying in a heap on the pitch was not one which anyone of a Wellington and New Zealand persuasion wanted to see. The fact he wasn't moving a great deal added further to the concern being shown by players and staff of both teams, as well as all present. As ankle injuries go, this one is in the 'no half measures' basket, no question.
His injury adds further to Wellington's woes in this regard, for what was their first choice central midfield combination looks set to be sidelined for the balance of the campaign, given Alex Rufer is already out for a year with the worst injury you can get in football, a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Striker Gary Hooper's time with the club is all but at an end, given his long-term calf problem, while hamstrung duo Jaushua Sotirio and Oskar Van Hattum, and Joshua Laws, another ankle injury victim, won't be available for action imminently, unlike Reno Piscopo, whose return from a calf injury isn't far away - welcome news for a campaign which will see ten games squeezed into six weeks, and includes matches in Wellington and Auckland.
Those are for the future, however. With twenty minutes to go in this contest, the task of overcoming Perth was the immediate challenge, with stand-in gaffer Giancarlo "Chiefy" Italiano - coach Ufuk Talay is presently sidelined by Covid restrictions - turning fullback Sutton into a makeshift central midfielder, alongside Pennington, in response to Lewis' absence.
Once the dust had settled, pursuing victory intensified, given time was now becoming a factor in the equation. Fenton directed a header across the face of goal on receipt of a Sandoval cross, while the Mexican, on receipt of a lobbed pass from Pennington, stung the gloves of Reddy with a 77th minute volley.
Six minutes later, Perth's 'keeper defied his advancing years with a splendid save, diving to his left to tip Sutton's twenty yard piledriver to safety via the far post. That denial inspired Perth to mount a rare raid, with Callum Timmins, running through midfield unchallenged, letting fly from the edge of the area with a shot which didn't curl as he had intended.
It was Perth's resolute defensive effort which was frustrating Wellington, however, and after Reddy had denied further stoppage time efforts from Sandoval and Ball, and substitute James McGarry had seen his attempt blocked by Josh Rawlins, the game looked to be up for the home team, given we were now in the 97th minute and a minimum of six minutes' stoppage time had been signalled.
Rawlins' denial resulted in a corner, which Sandoval delivered to the near post. The ball was flicked on, falling to the unmarked figure of Pennington, some fifteen yards out from goal. One touch to control, the next to lash a volley between Reddy and the near post, right in the postage stamp. 2-1 Wellington, clinching a sixth win in an eight-game unbeaten run of home fixtures. (We won't mention results on the road!)
Wellington: Sail; Fenton (booked, 89), Surman, Wootton, Sutton; Ball, Pennington, Lewis (McGarry, 70), Old (Ott, 88); Sandoval (Elliot, 90), Waine
Perth: Reddy; Burke-Gilroy, Aspropotamitis, Lachman, Clisby; Corpa (Rawlins, 79), Timmins (booked, 64), Malik (booked, 47; sent off, 52), Fitzgerald (Niyongabire, 86); Anesmo (Colli, 57), Keogh (Zimarino, 57)
Referee: Kurt Ams
|