A stunning stoppage time free-kick from teenage substitute Tommy Oar secured a come-from-behind 3-2 victory for Queensland Roar over Wellington Phoenix at Suncorp Stadium on December 28, much to the delight of the bulk of the 13,115 fans present. A pocket of Yellow Fever fans had made the trip across the Tasman to cheer on the Kiwi play-off contenders, and they were delighted in the eleventh minute when they were gifted the lead. Having already gone close - Leo Bertos' cross to the near post had been steered across the face of goal by Jon McKain in the ninth minute, Queensland can't say they hadn't been warned. But despite the plethora of possession they enjoyed in the opening exchanges, they didn't do a great deal of note with it, and found themselves trailing when Shane Smeltz picked up a pass from Tim Brown and whipped in a cross intended for Troy Hearfield. Luke Devere had other ideas on that score, only to undo them all by heading the ball into his own net. Stunned, Queensland gradually began to build up a head of steam in response to the early setback, although they were aided in the nineteenth minute when a frankly awful pass on half-way from Andrew Durante presented Mitch Nichols with the chance to surge forward at pace. He slipped in Sergio Van Dijk on the left, but the retreating Wellington captain made amends for his blunder by blocking his shot to safety. Durante then blocked another Van Dijk drive after Matt McKay's ball had been flicked on by Nichols, who was twice denied in quick succession soon afterwards, Karl Dodd blocking the striker's first piledriver seconds before Nichols' second effort crashed into the side-netting right next to Glen Moss' right-hand post. Queensland came closer still in the 28th minute. A short corner routine saw McKay's deep cross ricochet off Van Dijk to the feet of Tahj Minniecon, who rattled the outside of the aforementioned upright from the tightest of angles. Wellington's solid defensive effort was keeping the home team at bay, however, and their frustration was growing. Eight minutes before the interval, they resorted to route one tactics, with Liam Reddy picking out Minniecon with a hefty clearance. He brought Nichols into play, but as the striker dashed past Durante, the defender crudely curtailed his progress right on the edge of the penalty area, earning himself a yellow card in the process. Worse was to follow from Wellington's perspective, for Van Dijk's free-kick was a screamer. Moss was equal to it, however, tipping the ball onto the bar. But McKay was following in, like any good striker should, and gleefully prodded home the rebound from point-blank range - 1-1, and no more than Queensland deserved, for all the pressure they had generated in response to going a goal down. Now they had found a way through, the home team looked to press home their advantage before half-time. Massimo Murdocca's fortieth minute free-kick was cleared to Devere, who powered through two challenges down the right flank before whipping in a cross which was an invitation to score. No-one in an orange shirt took up their team-mate on the offer, however. Two minutes later, McKay's deep corner found Murdocca lurking outside the penalty area. His drive was flicked on by Nichols for Devere, who went down under the challenge of Brown inside the penalty area. Referee Ben Williams - he had a game of which to be proud - waved the protests away. Cue another Queensland raid, Murdocca again its architect. He picked out Minniecon raiding down the right, and the speedster's cross found the hitherto unsighted Michael Zullo ghosting in off the left flank. The youngster's header flashed past the post. From the resulting goal-kick, Wellington closed out the half on the counter-attack, and should have gone to the dressing rooms a goal to the good. Hearfield found himself in yards of space on the right, and duly careered into the Queensland penalty area, only to shoot straight at Reddy - he should have done better. He did an awful lot better inside the first forty seconds of the second half. Straight from the kick-off, Wellington careered downfield, led by their star turn, Bertos. He roasted Devere en route to the by-line, from where he clipped a tantalising cross beyond the far post. Hearfield arrived on cue, and guided the ball inside Reddy's near post to give Wellington a lead which delighted the Yellow Fever fans gathered behind the goal in which the ball was now nestling. "Anything you can do, we can do also" appeared to be the philosophy Queensland adapted in response to this setback, because within sixty seconds they were back on level terms - 2-2. Josh McCloughan played the ball forward to Nichols, whose first-time ball wide invited Zullo to whip in a first-time cross to the near post from the left flank. Arriving on cue was Van Dijk, whose darting run across Dodd gave him the opening he needed to steer the ball home inside the near post of the helpless figure of Moss. The helter-skelter start to the second spell continued, with Bertos attacking down the left once more just five minutes into the half. Initially thwarted, he eventually conjured the space from which to send a cross to the far post, where Dodd rose majestically to send the ball soaring across

Reddy towards the top far corner. The 'keeper produced a superb flying one-handed save to keep the scores level, then looked on as Nichols blazed wildly over at the other end of the park seconds later, after a Minniecon cross had picked out Van Dijk, who calmly held play up before cleverly back-heeling the ball into Nichols' path inside the penalty area. Wellington were holding firm in the face of a stream of Queensland crosses - Zullo was far from the nigh on anonymous presence he had been in the first forty-five minutes, and were looking to use the counter-attack as their prime means of seeking a third goal. In the 65th minute, Brown led the charge for the visitors, with Bertos and Smeltz in support. The midfielder's hesitance as he approached the edge of Queensland's penalty area was punished, however, and the home team survived on this occasion, and again six minutes later. This time, a long Tony Lochhead throw-in picked out Smeltz inside the penalty area. The league's leading goalscorer's brilliant turn left Craig Moore standing, but the veteran defender recovered swiftly and superbly, executing a splendid tackle to deny the striker in the act of shooting. Cue the building up of another head of Queensland steam, as the home team went all out for the win they needed to retain second place on the table, a position they enjoyed at the start of the round, but which had changed as a result of subsequent matches. Sixteen minutes from time, a Nichols cross was spilled by Moss, allowing Zullo to pounce. Manny Muscat cleared off the line on this occasion, but the defender had less success against Queensland substitute Tommy Oar six minutes later. The youngster did the fullback a treat before fizzing a low cross across the penalty area. Zullo was crowded out by the combined efforts of Dodd and Durante on this occasion, the defensive duo's efforts sparking a Wellington counter-attack which saw McKain surge downfield before working a one-two with Smeltz, only to shoot at Reddy from the edge of the penalty area. The 'keeper instantly launched a Queensland counter-attack, Oar the outlet. His cross found Nichols, whose delightful cushioned header fell invitingly for Van Dijk to lift the ball over the advancing figure of Moss into the net. Both sphere and striker went over the 'keeper, but as Queensland pleaded for a penalty, referee Williams responded by awarding a goal-kick, the ball having drifted inches past Moss' left-hand upright. Not surprisingly, Queensland kept pounding away, the tireless Murdocca leading the charge. He picked out Nichols with a cross which allowed the striker to turn Dodd with distinction, the defender literally having to hang onto his opponent's shirt just to keep tabs on him. Nichols shrugged off Dodd's attentions, however, only to shoot poorly towards the target. Lochhead and Moss combined to deny him this time round, but the fullback was done like a dog's dinner by Zullo near the touchline, as the game headed into stoppage time. Away sprinted the youngster, and while Lochhead came back at him well, Durante was an obstacle Zullo simply couldn't avoid as he looked to enter Wellington's penalty area at pace. Down went the Queensland flier under the clumsy challenge of Wellington's captain, who was promptly sent from the field by Williams for his second bookable offence of the night, and one which was virtually identical to his first half misdemeanour. It meant Wellington had to survive injury time with ten men on the park in their bid to hold out for a point. But barely thirty seconds after Durante's departure, they found themselves beaten by a blistering free-kick from the unlikeliest of sources. "Oar-some" is one way to describe what happened. From the edge of the penalty area, seventeen-year-old Oar stepped up and simply hammered an unstoppable free-kick over the wall and into the roof of the net with such pace and venom that Moss barely had a chance to move in response to it. Quite breathtaking! It certainly put an oar in Wellington's play-off prospects, because the defeat leaves the beaten fifth-placed team three points off the play-off spots, four points behind second-placed Queensland, and five points off the top of the table. With just eighteen matches in total remaining in the premiership phase of this Hyundai A-League campaign, six of which feature clashes between the teams currently occupying play-off places, Wellington probably need to win at least three of their final four matches if they harbour realistic hopes of a top-four finish, starting with their next encounter, at home to outgoing champions Newcastle Jets on Sunday. Queensland:     Reddy; Devere, Moore (booked, 68), McCloughan (booked, 62) (Packer, 78); Murdocca, Grossman, Nichols, McKay; Minnie on (Oar, 69), Van Dijk (Smits, 88), Zullo Wellington:     Moss; Muscat (booked, 86), Dodd, Durante (booked 37, 90 - sent off), Lochhead; Bertos, Brown (booked, 45), McKain (booked, 87), Ferrante (Christie, 60), Hearfield (Kwasnik, 70); Smeltz Referee:     Ben Williams