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26Oct24
Wellington Sink Perth Out West
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix climbed into third place on the Isuzu Ute A-League standings on 26 October thanks to an uninspiring 2-0 win over Perth Glory in front of 7074 fans at HBF Park, where the home team enjoyed the better of the early exchanges.
Adam Taggart was the source of the visitors' problems, sending an eleventh minute header flashing past the far post on receipt of Taras Gomulka's delivery, then thundering a twenty-yarder four minutes later which dipped late, forcing Wellington goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi to turn the ball round the post.
Giancarlo Italiano's team fired their first shot in anger in the 24th minute. Fin Conchie sent Tim Payne flying down the right on the overlap, the fullback not breaking stride as he sent a first-time cross whizzing across the bows of the incoming Hideki Ishige. Sam Sutton retrieved possession, but was caught in two minds re the best route to goal, and promptly found it blocked.
Ten minutes later, Ishige's back-heeled pass sent Payne marauding down the right once more. This time, his cross arced just beyond Costa Barbarouses, but found its way to Kazuki Nagasawa, whose shot was blocked to safety.
Wellington gained greater reward six minutes before half-time. Sutton was felled in full flight by Jarrod Carluccio on the edge of the penalty area, and Perth paid a heavy price for the fullback's folly, Scott Wootton swooping to head home Ishige's well-flighted free-kick.
The visitors doubled their lead four minutes after half-time, and it was another headed goal which did for Perth. Sutton broke down the left once more before bringing Nagasawa into play. His first-time cross was weighted perfectly to coincide with Payne's arrival on the far post, from where the fullback gleefully powered home an unchallenged header to double Wellington's lead.
The home team looked to drag themselves back into the match around the hour mark, with Taggart heading over after Brandon O'Neill and Anas Hamzaoui had combined on the left. O'Neill then pinged a well-weighted ball forward for Taggart to
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exploit, but Matt Sheridan's intervention put the skids on that opportunity.
And in the 62nd minute, half-time substitute David Williams delivered a measured cross to the near post which the fast-arriving figure of fellow substitute and former Wellington player Nicholas Pennington met with a superbly timed header, only for the midfielder to guide it narrowly past the far post.
Wellington responded via a neat move sparked by Alex Rufer's cross-field pass. Payne was the recipient of it, and swiftly brought Oskar Van Hattum and Barbarouses into play, before Mohamad Al-Taay slipped a through ball into the stride of fellow substitute Van Hattum. His shot was blocked at the near post by Oli Sail.
Fifteen minutes from time, Nathan Walker pounced on a stray pass and invited Barbarouses to let fly, only for Hamzaoui to avert the danger. Seconds later, a partially cleared corner found its way to Rufer, whose measured, curling, dipping fifteen-yarder beat Sail all ends up, only to crash against the crossbar - Wellington's skipper deserved far greater reward for the one moment of true quality in this contest.
Oluwayemi ensured Wellington would return home with a clean sheet to their name by dealing with the attempts of Khoa Ngo and Zach Lisojalski in the dying minutes, plucking the ball off the latter's head as he looked to head home a late Gomulka free-kick to confirm this latest "Distance Derby" would be celebrated by the team at the eastern-most point of the compass.
Perth: Sail; Carluccio (booked, 38), Barr, Canga, Hamzaoui (booked, 72 (Lisojalski, 86); Aoyama (Pennington, 46), Gomulka, Bugarija (Ngo, 46), O'Neill (Blair, 72); Taggart, Faisal (Williams, 46)
Wellington: Oluwayemi; Payne, Sheridan, Wootton, Sutton (booked, 70 (Colakovski, 75)); Conchie (Al-Taay, 65), Rufer, Hughes, Nagasawa (Walker, 65); Barbarouses (Piper, 88), Ishige (Van Hattum, 65 (booked, 73))
Referee: Lachlan Keevers
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