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30Mar19
Williams Hat-Trick Leaves Wellington On Brink
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix all but assured themselves of Hyundai A-League play-offs football for the first time in four seasons on 30 March, overpowering Newcastle Jets 4-1 in front of 9,028 fans to propel themselves eleven points clear of their seventh-placed opponents with just four rounds remaining.
The home team couldn't have got off to a better start if they'd tried, scoring quite possibly the quickest goal scored in Wellington's history. Just 33 seconds after they had kicked off, Newcastle were fishing the ball out of their net.
Having pinged the ball forward in search of an early goal, Newcastle swiftly saw it make its way from Louis Fenton to Alex Rufer to David Williams on half-way, where he played a one-two with Sarpreet Singh, whose perfectly measured return pass found Williams tearing through the middle of the park, from where, without hesitation, he fired the ball past the advancing figure of Glen Moss into the back of the net.
This was dreamland for Wellington, but Newcastle very quickly took charge of the game and sought a way back into it. Andrew Durante was forced to head clear from Nikolai Topor-Stanley as the defender sought to get on the end of Dimitri Petratos' third minute free-kick, while a timely tackle from the Wellington captain thwarted Johnny Koutroumbis' progress four minutes later.
The ball broke for Daniel Georgievski, who had a terrific first half as he rampaged up and down the left flank remorselessly. On this occasion he whipped in a low cross for the completely unmarked figure of Jair, who somehow steered his effort wide from ten yards.
Four minutes later, Newcastle were caught on the counter-attack for a second time. Petratos' corner was punched out by Filip Kurto to Singh, who stormed downfield before feeding Max Burgess on his left. The striker, starting in place of the suspended Roy Krishna, took on two opponents before drawing a solid save from Moss.
The lively nature of the opening phase of the match continued soon after, with both Jair and Singh curling shots past the far post of their respective opponents' goal, after which the visitors began to gain the ascendancy and dominate possession.
They did very little with it in terms of threatening an equaliser, however, with Kurto dashing out of his goal to deny Roy O'Donovan half-way through the first half before punching then gathering a Petratos free-kick just shy of the half-hour mark, at which point Burgess saw another twenty-yarder turned away by Moss following the ball-winning efforts of Williams and another measured pass from Singh.
Ten minutes before half-time, the sight of Durante joining the attack against his former club, just minutes after having clocked up 27,000 minutes playing A-League football, had all-comers hoping he would mark the milestone with a goal, but alas, his twenty-five yarder skidded narrowly past the far upright.
Back came Newcastle, Petratos' set-pieces the source of much of the havoc they caused. A 38th minute free-kick wasn't cleared, inviting Nigel Boogaard to whip in a cross which Lachlan Jackson headed over from close range. Georgievski then saw a shot blocked by Ryan Lowry after tormenting the right-hand side of Wellington's rearguard for the umpteenth time in the contest.
On the stroke of half-time, two things occurred within seconds of each other, with Fenton forced out of the contest after coming off second-best in a tussle for possession with Steven Ugarkovic which left the Wellington player with a suspected broken foot. His young replacement, Callan Elliott, acquitted himself well in the circumstances.
The other saw Petratos fire in a cross from the left which Antony Golec failed to clear - a summary of his game, it must be said. It presented the unchallenged figure of Koutroumbis with a great chance to equalise, but the midfielder directed his header over the bar.
Newcastle came out all guns blazing early in the second spell, forcing a string of corners, but it was Wellington who fired the first shot in anger, Singh curling one past the post from twenty yards to cap off a 52nd minute counter-attack.
Back came the visitors via another Petratos corner, this one ricocheting goalwards off Golec. Kurto made a fantastic reflex save to prevent his team-mate from putting through his own net, only to
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present the ball to Boogaard. From point-blank range, he fired wide - a gilt-edged chance to equalise which should have been taken.
Things were to get worse for Boogaard in the 57th minute, as he clipped Williams on the edge of the penalty area. He was booked for his troubles, but worse was to come for the defender, as the Video Assistant Referee revealed that the foul had incurred just inside the box - a penalty, rather than the free-kick which had been awarded instead, just outside the area.
Up stepped Williams to double Wellington's lead from twelve yards, a feat he achieved with aplomb. But while the home team were still celebrating, Newcastle dragged themselves back into the contest within two minutes, O'Donovan deftly hooking home after Petratos' latest corner had been headed down to the striker by Topor-Stanley on the far post.
Wellington's response to this 62nd minute setback was to score twice in the next eleven minutes and put the game beyond Newcastle's reach. The first of these strikes followed a Mandi Sosa corner which was only partially cleared, after Lowry's header had been blocked on the line by substitute Joey Champness.
The visitors thought they had weathered the storm after this threat, only for Singh to slip a pass into the stride of Williams, who cut inside before unleashing an unstoppable curling twenty yarder which beat Moss all ends up as it arced over him before crashing into the net via the far post to complete his hat-trick in style.
3-1 became 4-1 in the 73rd minute. Liberato Cacace's charging run in off the left culminated in a pass to Singh which invited him to check inside before curling a well-taken shot around Moss' despairing dive and in by the right-hand post.
There was no way back for Newcastle after this, and Wellington piled on the pressure in search of a fifth goal. Alex Rufer smashed a twenty yarder straight at Moss in the 77th minute, at the end of a string of passes, each of which drew an "Ole" from the crowd.
Seconds later, Burgess sent one flying over the bar before he was played through by Singh ten minutes from time. The striker found himself with just Moss to beat, and he duly rounded the 'keeper, only to be forced wide of the target in the process. That was all the incentive Ugarkovic needed to race back and produce a goal-saving tackle on Burgess, who should really have scored in the circumstances.
Singh drilled a shot across Moss and past the far post seconds later, before a Sosa corner was flicked on by Durante. Newcastle failed to clear the danger, and the result was a collision between Lowry and Jackson which left the defender sporting a large-sized egg near his right eye - remarkably, he saw out the match, but methinks he won't be playing too many more games this season with that injury.
Newcastle looked to finish with a flourish late on, with Koutroumbis unleashing a piledriver which flew past the upright before Ugarkovic whipped in a delicious cross which only needed a touch to turn the ball home.
No visiting players were in the vicinity, however, not even the goal-hungry O'Donovan, whose absence through suspension for half the season has undoubtedly played a big part in Newcastle's play-off hopes now being on life support.
Wellington went close to netting the fifth goal they coveted in the dying minutes, with Sosa shooting straight at Moss before the 'keeper saved bravely at the feet of debutant Ben Waine as he looked to turn home a cross from Singh in injury time.
Cillian Sheridan was denied a goal with the last kick of the game by the offside flag, but that was of scant concern to the home side, whose emphatic win not only leaves them perfectly placed to secure a top-six finish, but well poised to confirm home advantage in the play-off quarter-finals.
Wellington: Kurto; Lowry, Durante, Golec (booked, 23); Fenton (Elliott, 45), Rufer, Sosa, Cacace; Burgess (booked, 55) (Sheridan, 82), Williams (Waine, 90), Singh
Newcastle: Moss; Jackson, Boogaard (booked, 57) (Sheppard, 74), Topor-Stanley (booked, 71), Georgievski (booked, 36) (Champness, 54); Koutroumbis, Kantarovski (Cowburn, 71 (booked, 71)), Ugarkovic; Petratos, O'Donovan, Jair
Referee: Matt Conger
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