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28Apr19
Premiers Perth Wallop Weakened Wellington
by Jeremy Ruane
Hyundai A-League Premiers' Plate winners Perth Glory took an under-strength Wellington Phoenix to the cleaners in front of 9875 fans at HBF Park on 28 April, trouncing their youthful opponents 5-0 to condemn the visitors to a sixth-placed finish in the competition, and a play-off quarter-final against reigning champions Melbourne Victory in five days' time.
The home team tore into their task with a vengeance from the outset, targeting the ever-vulnerable right back spot in Wellington's rearguard knowing that there was no-one in the opposition's much-changed line-up - five regular starters were rested - capable of plugging it.
Sure enough, there was no one at home more often than not as Chris Ikonomodis and Jason Davidson made progress down Perth's left flank, with the former getting to the byline before whipping a low cross across the six-yard box in the sixth minute of play. Had it been touched, the scoring would have been opened.
Three minutes later, Oliver Sail produced a double-save to deny both Ikonomidis and Andy Keogh, and seconds later parried a Davidson cross away from the incoming Irishman as Perth piled on the pressure in search of an opening goal.
The home team very nearly provided it in the twelfth minute - in their own net! Liam Reddy failed to control a routine back-pass to him, with the ball rolling under his feet and perilously close to crossing the line, so much so that the 'keeper had to play it off the post to prevent the ball from going in.
Buoyed by this blunder, Wellington struck back and enjoyed their best spell of the match, with eye-catching youngster Ben Waine - his first start in the competition - making the most of his opportunity to impress with typical youthful fearlessness.
They failed to test Reddy during this period, however, and were rocked by two Keogh goals in a seven-minute spell which put Perth in complete command of the contest. In the 24th minute, Ikonomidis broke down the left past an opponent before whipping in a cross which the masterly Diego Castro met with a diving header.
His effort hit the crossbar, but rebounded perfectly to Keogh, who headed home from close range, a task he repeated seven minutes later after Ikonomidis and the overlapping figure of Davidson had combined on the left, the fullback picking out Castro with his cross.
Initially crowded out by Wellington defenders, he worked his way to the byline before inviting Davidson to deliver another cross, this time for Keogh to head home across Sail and into the top far corner of the net.
There was only going to be one winner after that double-strike, and Perth looked to consolidate their advantage soon afterwards, with Castro going down in the area under Liberato Cacace's challenge from behind in the 36th minute.
Referee Stephen Lucas was having a bar of it, and Wellington instantly counter-attacked, Waine weaving through three opponents in Perth's penalty area the highlight of the raid.
Sail rode his luck in the next few minutes, with Keogh shooting straight at the prone 'keeper despite having over half the net into which to steer the ball following a Castro shot which rebounded to him.
The young 'keeper then plunged to his right to keep out another attempt by Keogh before smothering a
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deflected shot from Castro in the shadows of the half-time whistle.
Six minutes after the resumption of play, Perth put the result beyond doubt with a delightfully worked goal. Keogh led the charge through the inside right channel before feeding the overlapping figure of Ivan Franjic.
As Keogh dashed forward for the return, Franjic played the ball into the space he'd vacated, space which Castro just happened to be striding into. Without breaking stride, he unleashed a superb shot which arrowed into the far corner of the net from twenty yards - 3-0, and not a thing Sail could do about it.
After this goal, Perth were almost queueing up to score. Sail blocked a Keogh shot following a quickly taken Castro free-kick, before turning a shot round the post from the Irishman after he'd evaded a challenge upon receipt of Davidson's angled ball in behind the defence in the 57th minute.
The resulting corner saw Sail parry Davidson's cross straight to Ikonomidis, who fired the ball into orbit. Another corner soon afterwards saw Castro have reason to curse Sail's presence twixt the sticks, to which Wellington responded with a couple of by now rare raids either side of the hour mark, with Cillian Sheridan firing wide of the target before Reddy grabbed Mandi Sosa's thirty yarder.
Perth made it 4-0 in the 65th minute. Castro split the defence with a pass which sent Ikonomidis careering through off the left flank. He bore down on Sail before thrashing the ball past him into the top corner of the net, only for a raised flag to thwart his goal celebrations.
But the Video Assistant Referee came to Ikonomidis' rescue - he was literally just onside by that, so the goal stood, much to the delight of the masses, who saw Castro hit the post after initially hitting the defensive wall with a free-kick five minutes later.
Seven minutes from time, substitute Brendon Santalab stabbed home Perth's fifth goal from close range after Castro's angled ball in from the right had been latched onto by Joel Chianese, who set up his fellow substitute with a low cross.
Chianese himself was then denied by Sail, who also foiled Kristian Popovic before the final whistle, while Santalab spurned a glorious chance to add a sixth goal late in the contest, having been thwarted by Michal Kopczynski's headed clearance seconds earlier.
Perth's win sees them finish eight points clear of second-placed Sydney FC, with both teams enjoying next weekend off before hosting their respective A-League semi-finals in a fortnight's time.
Wellington, meanwhile, slumped to sixth place on the back of this, their heaviest defeat of the campaign, and their reward for this is a clash with Melbourne Victory on Friday evening in the first quarter-final of the play-offs series. Adelaide United host Melbourne City in the other play-off next Sunday.
Perth: Reddy; Spiranovic, Djulbic, Neville; Franjic, Brimmer, Kilkenny (Popovic, 84), Davidson; Keogh (Santalab, 70), Castro, Ikonomidis (Chianese, 67)
Wellington: Sail; Lowry, Taylor, Golec (booked, 68); Williams (Kopczynski, 60), Sosa (Burgess, 69), Stensness, Cacace; Waine, Singh, Sheridan (Krishna, 60)
Referee: Stephen Lucas
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