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28Feb21
Newcastle Booed Off Pitch As Wellington Win
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix climbed off the bottom of the A-League table on February 28, overcoming a disappointing Newcastle Jets side 2-0 in front of 4,576 fans at McDonald Jones Stadium, whose boos of the home team come the final whistle were fully justified.
Newcastle enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, engineering the first opening of the game in the seventh minute when Roy O'Donovan burst through the inside right channel, only for his touch to allow Oliver Sail to dash off his line and block at the striker's feet.
A minute later, the well off-form Valentino Yuel casually but purposelessly ran through the inside left channel before slipping the ball inside to Luka Prso. He lifted the ball over the top for O'Donovan to get in a headed effort, but he did so with Josh Laws' boot in close proximity to his nose - one wondered why referee Jonathan Barreiro failed to blow his whistle for dangerous play.
Wellington made no impression as an attacking unit inside the first twenty minutes, by which time Newcastle had carved out two more openings, the first of which saw Matt Millar pounce on a stray eighteenth minute pass and send O'Donovan through the inside right channel once more. The striker's cross for Yuel was cut out by Liam McGing.
Seconds later, Steven Ugarkovic's angled ball in from the right was flicked on by the diving figure of O'Donovan to the far post, where Nikolai Topor-Stanley loomed large under the shadow of the crossbar. Sail somehow made a stunning reflex save to foil the defender, who, seconds later, headed a cross from Angus Thurgate over the bar.
Halfway through the second half, and completely against the run of play, Wellington opened the scoring with their first attack of the game. Clayton Lewis played the ball forward to Ben Waine, who rewarded Louis Fenton's run down the right with a pass into the fullback's stride.
He played the ball inside to Ulises Davila, whose deft touch afforded David Ball a yard of space in which to turn and shoot, the ball ricocheting into the net off the covering figure of Nigel Boogaard.
Rocked by the goal, Newcastle took a while to recapture their attacking mojo, which wasn't aided by Yuel's sluggish display - the youngster had a shocker, and it was a wonder he stayed on the park for as long as he did, as his contribution to proceedings didn't justify seventy minutes on the pitch!
After Ugarkovic had lashed a deflected twenty-five yarder narrowly past the post, O'Donovan sent a difficult volley sailing over the bar after Millar - another to under-perform in the all-blue kit had fouled Lewis while pursuing a Prso pass, an incident overlooked by referee Barreiro, who had a mixed bag of a performance.
So did the home team, for whom Ugarkovic's 39th minute corner proved to be the last chance of the half. Wellington scrambled the ball to safety after it had ricocheted off Millar.
The home team looked a tad livelier early in the second spell - in all honesty, much wasn't required for that to be the case - with Prso and Millar combining from the kick-off. Sail spilled the latter's cross, but no one in blue was on hand to punish the 'keeper's blunder.
Five minutes later, Prso and Topor-Stanley concocted an opportunity for Yuel, whose full-length diving header at the near post was splendidly turned round the post at full stretch by Sail - a wonderful save, and the only moment in the game that young Yuel looked up for the occasion.
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Newcastle were down and out in the 53rd minute, however, as Johnny Koutroumbis' failure to control a Lewis ball forward was pounced on by Waine. Without a second's hesitation, the youngster unleashed a scorching twenty-five yard grasscutter which flashed past the diving figure of Jack Duncan before burying itself in the keeper's bottom right-hand corner of the net - 2-0 Wellington, Waine's delight a delight to see.
He nearly bagged a second goal six minutes later, lashing the ball into the side-netting after a Reno Piscopo shot had deflected into his path, after which Newcastle started ringing the changes - four in a nine-minute period, only one of whom made a difference to Newcastle's display.
Before Ali Abbas' influence could be felt, Wellington went close to a third goal in the 64th minute. Fenton and Davila engineered an opening on the right which resulted in a cross into the danger zone. Boogaard's attempt to clear ricocheted off Ball, but fortunately for the home team, the ball rebounded straight to Duncan.
Twenty minutes from time, Abbas' corner was flicked on to the far post, where Topor-Stanley kept it in play. Young substitute Tete Yengi hooked the ball skyward in a vain attempt to lob the lanky figure of Sail, who made far more of catching the sphere than was really necessary.
By now, Wellington were starting to indulge in those irritating time-wasting tactics which do nothing for the image of the game. The best form of wasting time is to stick the ball in the opposition's net, a challenge substitute Tomer Hemed took on fifteen minutes from time, pouncing on a poor clearance to send a thirty-yarder sizzling narrowly past the post.
The Israeli only just failed to make it 3-0 eight minutes from time. Alex Rufer linked up with Ball, who brought Piscopo into play. His progress was thwarted by Koutroumbis, but Ball picked up the pieces and fizzed in a cross-shot which flew across the goalmouth, parting Hemed's hair as he attempted to head home from close range.
Duncan was out quickly to deny Hemed five minutes from time as he looked to get on the end of a Piscopo through ball, after which Ball went down in a tangle of legs with Topor-Stanley in the penalty area. Referee Barreiro was right there and saw no penalty offence, a view he maintained after being asked to have another look by the Video Assistant Referee - all should be delighted that its intervention was dismissed!
Newcastle tried to mount a late comeback, with Koutroumbis mounting a charge before feeding young substitute Archie Goodwin. The sixteen-year-old's cross picked out fellow substitute Apostolos Stamatelopoulos - surely one of the longest names in football! - who stabbed his shot straight at Sail.
The 'keeper spoiled a Ugarkovic free-kick soon after, but had done enough to earn his first clean sheet in the competition as Wellington kept the home team at bay, to the undisguised delight of their fans across the Tasman.
Newcastle: Duncan; Koutroumbis (booked, 76), Boogaard, Topor-Stanley; Millar (booked, 52) (Mauragis, 60), Ugarkovic, Thurgate, O'Toole (booked, 57) (Goodwin, 81); O'Donovan (Stamatelopoulos, 60), Prso (Abbas, 69), Yuel (Yengi, 69)
Wellington: Sail (booked, 90); Fenton, McGing, Payne, Laws (booked, 36) (McGarry, 46); Davila, Rufer (booked 67) (Hudson-Wihongi, 87), Lewis (Ridenton, 80), Piscopo; Waine (Hemed, 61 (booked, 74)), Ball
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
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