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28Dec24
Better Team Beaten As Wellington Arrest Slump
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix ended their run of three successive Isuzu Ute A-League defeats on 28 December, overcoming Newcastle Jets 2-1 in front of 5460 fans at Sky Stadium, a result which was decidedly flattering for the victors.
Newcastle were by far the better side for long periods of this contest, but found themselves having to chase the game after a stray Mark Natta pass in the second minute was pounced on inside the centre circle by Costa Barbarouses.
He instinctively let fly from fifty yards, sending the ball soaring over the head of Ryan Scott, who was well off his line and powerless to deny the scorer his 99th goal in A-League football, much to the delight of the Wellington faithful.
For the neutral, however, this was the worst thing which could have happened in the game, because when Wellington score early, they immediately go into anti-football mode - shut up shop and play to not lose, relying on massed ranks in defence to repel the numerous threats which their opponents come up with.
That's exactly what happened here, the home team repelling Newcastle attacks aplenty throughout the bulk of the first half. Daniel Wilmering fired their first shot in anger over the crossbar in the seventh minute, while three minutes later a Wilmering corner was punched out to the edge of the penalty area by Josh Oluwayemi.
The ball fell kindly to Eli Adams, whose shot was blocked by Scott Wootton on this occasion. Further attempts by Newcastle's number seven inside the next ten minutes went closer still, the first of them forcing Oluwayemi into a scrambling save after Ben Gibson had set off on a buccaneering run down the left in the nineteenth minute.
Wellington allowed his progress to go unchecked, because the ball struck referee Jonathan Barreiro before it reached the Newcastle man. Standard protocol per the Laws of the Game when this happens is for the referee to stop play and resume it via an uncontested drop ball.
But Mr Barreiro allowed play to continue, affording Newcastle an advantage about which Wellington were, rightly, livid - had Adams' effort found the net, and not been saved, what would Mr Barreiro have done then?
Soon after that close call, Adams produced something out of nothing, a shot on the turn which sizzled narrowly past Oluwayemi's left-hand post. And after a lull in which Wellington came back into the game without creating anything of note, Newcastle kept Oluwayemi busy on four occasions before the half-time whistle.
Lachlan Bayliss battered a low twenty yard drive towards the target which the goalkeeper saved well to his left, Oluwayemi repeating the dose when Adans chanced his arm once more from distance in the 36th minute.
After Hideki Ishige forced Scott into his first save of the match four minutes later with a long-range effort, the visitors came back strongly before the
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interval, with Wootton and Oluwayemi combining to keep out the efforts of Clayton Taylor, Gibson and Adams in a frantic ten seconds, before Wellington's goalkeeper brilliantly kept out a thunderbolt from Bayliss which had "top corner" written all over it with the half-time whistle just seconds away.
The second half saw Wellington on the front foot early, Alex Rufer leading the charge via two fiercely struck drives which were both blocked by Aleksandar Susnjar. The latter effort earned a 59th minute corner, with Ishige's delivery being cleared to the edge of the penalty area. Paulo Retre was lurking with intent, and slammed an unstoppable twenty yard volley through the gathered throngs and into the net - 2-0 Wellington, very much against the overall run of play.
Ishige wasted two free-kick opportunities soon after, after which Newcastle laid siege to Wellington's goal for the balance of the contest. Thomas Aquilina sent a volley flying across the face of goal on receipt of Taylor's cross-field ball in the 66th minute, but when Newcastle next attacked with intent, they finally gained an overdue reward.
Aquilina secured possession on the right from a Phillip Cancar pass. The winger's low cross found Adams at the near post, with Wootton in close attendance. The ball ricocheted off the central defender to Gibson, who slammed the ball into the net from six yards - 2-1, game on!
But for Oluwayemi, Newcastle would have won this game comfortably. He made another super save in the 76th minute, denying Gibson after Aquilina had caught Sam Sutton in possession on Wellington's left, the fullback compounding his error by stopping playing, anticipating he'd be getting a free-kick for a perceived foul. What he got instead was a right royal rocket from his goalkeeper for dereliction of duty - well in, Josh!
Alas for Newcastle, that proved to be their last chance, although they tried everything they could to get an equaliser which no one would have begrudged them. They were the better team in this contest, by some distance, but Wellington outscored them, and could have bagged a third five minutes from time when Nathan Walker sent the ball soaring over the bar after being released by fellow substitute Mohamed Al Taay.
2-1 it remained in the home team's favour, a win they needed after a recent form slump sent them sliding down the league table. Slump arrested, but please, Giancarlo Italiano, give your players licence to play attacking, entertaining football - that's what the fans pay their money for, not this playing to not lose lark.
Wellington: Oluwayemi; Payne, Sheridan, Wootton, Sutton; Nagasawa (Al Taay, 74), Retre, Rufer, Brooke-Smith (Piper, 46); Barbarouses, Ishige (Walker, 83)
Newcastle: Scott; Cancar, Susnjar, Natta (Santos de Oliveira, 67); Aquilina, Timmins, Bayliss (Scarcella, 88), Taylor (Vidic, 85), Wilmering; Adams (Dobson, 85), Gibson
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
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