The biggest crowd to ever watch a club football match in New Zealand saw Adelaide United steal three points from Westpac Stadium on November 30, as the visitors edged Wellington Phoenix 2-1 in front of 18,345 parochial locals, despite having ten men on the park for the last twenty minutes. Adelaide were greatly indebted to referee Craig Zetter for his contribution towards their triumph, as he disallowed what appeared to be a perfectly good goal by Daniel which would have drawn Wellington level just before half-time, then proceeded to deny the home team two clear-cut penalties in a second spell which saw Adelaide penned deep inside their own half for lengthy periods. (He even booked a Wellington substitute who never saw any game-time - go figure!!) It was the visitors who enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges, Paul Agostino volleying over in the fifth minute before opening the scoring with a splendid header four minutes later. It stemmed from a Tim Brown error in midfield, Wellington's captain presenting possession to Lucas Pantelis, who powered forward before picking out the completely unmarked Agostino some fifteen yards out from goal with a precise cross. The striker had plenty to do, but did it brilliantly, guiding his header beyond the despairing dive of Glen Moss and into the bottom far corner of the net - 1-0 Adelaide. United looked to press home their advantage at the expense of a shell-shocked Wellington combination. Straight from the resumption, Nathan Burns buccaneered down the right and linked with Kristian Sarkies and Richie Alagich, who steered the ball into the path of Diego Walsh. He was allowed to run at goal by the jockeying figure of Michael Ferrante, the Brazilian eventually letting fly from the edge of the penalty area. Moss dived to his right to smother the shot. In the twelfth minute, Alagich broke out of defence and released Travis Dodd down the left. The burly striker outpaced Kristian Rees before firing in a cross for Agostino, who had drifted off his marker, Karl Dodd, to engineer some space for a shot which flashed past the near post. Wellington looked to hit back soon afterwards through a Felipe Campos free-kick, which Eugene Galekovic grabbed as it headed towards the top left-hand corner of the net from twenty-five yards. It was one of very few saves Adelaide's custodian had to make in the match, despite the home team's growing confidence in attack throughout the first half, and almost complete dominance of the second spell. All too often, an inaccurate final pass or the intervention of defiant defenders undid Wellington's measured approach work, much of which was eye-catching. Ten minutes before half-time, United, who by now were coming under increasing pressure to the extent that the counter-attack was their prime means of relief, sprung such a raid through Agostino, who chased a lost cause and gained due reward when Rees under-hit his pass back to Moss. The game's lone goalscorer, to this point, stumbled on the ball in his eagerness to get in a shot, which Moss thwarted at close quarters. Two minutes later, Moss was an onlooker as Sarkies curled a free-kick in from the right, towards the incoming figure of Pantelis. Ahmad Elrich stepped in to cut off the threat posed by the youngster as he looked to volley home, and immediately sparked a Wellington counter-attack which had Adelaide scrambling. Shane Smeltz led the charge, running at the short-staffed Adelaide rearguard before playing the ball into Daniel. His crafty back-heel set up Brown for a shot, but his attempted chip of Galekovic saw the goalkeeper produce a fine save to keep his team in front. From the resulting Felipe corner, however, Wellington should have been level. But Daniel's celebrations for slamming the ball into the net from close range were cut short by referee Zetter, who spotted some shenanigans in the goalmouth as the ball arrowed towards it and ruled in the defending team's favour … the sound of over 18,000 fans howling as one in protest said it all - he got this call way wrong!! Frustrated, Wellington continued to press, but in the dying minutes of the half, it was Adelaide who enjoyed opportunities to double their advantage. On each occasion, however, Moss came to the home team's aid, firstly saving at the feet of Burns after Dodd had stormed down the left and into the penalty area. Burns was again denied by Moss in the last act of the half, one immediately preceded by a Wellington raid which their goalkeeper started. Throwing the ball out to Elrich allowed Daniel to move forward down the right at pace, from where he fired over a cross to the near post for the fast-arriving figure of Felipe. Galekovic proved equal to this effort, Wellington's last prior to a second half which was largely one-way traffic. The bulk of it was headed towards Galekovic's goal. Straight from the kick-off, Felipe forced his way down the left and managed to squeeze in a cross which Daniel acrobatically volleyed past the near post. Adelaide swiftly responded in kind - both goals were threatened inside the first ninety seconds of the half. In United's case, Pantelis led the charge, and his cross was sent bulleting past the post by the head of Agostino. For the next thirty minutes, there was only one team in the contest. With Daniel and Felipe well and truly in the mood, Wellington were all over Adelaide like the proverbial rash. But the visitors, by and large, stood firm in the face of intense pressure, although they did skirt that fine line between fair

and foul on numerous occasions in order to stave off the challenge facing them as best they could. On other occasions, they simply rode their luck. In the 51st minute, Felipe conjured up some magic courtesy some sleight of foot which completely bamboozled two opponents before he worked a one-two with Smeltz in order to power into the penalty area beyond the last defender. The Brazilian deserved better than to see his shot slam into the side-netting. Nine minutes later, Galekovic was right behind Daniel's twenty-five yard free-kick, which curled low around a wall containing three players who had been booked inside the last nine minutes for indiscretions various in nature. Another was committed in the 61st minute, as Campos was sent crashing to earth just inside the penalty area by the back-tracking Dodd's deliberate trip. A clear-cut spot-kick if ever there was one, and over 18,000 fans were already voicing their agreement. Referee Zetter, however, thought otherwise, a feat he repeated in the 72nd minute when substitute Vaughan Coveny was sent tumbling by Dodd's despairing lunge. As before, referee Zetter waved play on - the howls of derision which greeted his decision could be heard at Hindmarsh Stadium. Minutes earlier, those howls had been hurrahs, as Wellington finally restored parity. In the 67th minute, Daniel's corner was cleared back to him, allowing the Brazilian to head the ball back into the danger zone. Galekovic punched it clear, but only as far as Vince Lia, who let fly with a twenty yard volleyed snapshot which careered past the post. The resulting goal-kick saw possession swiftly secured by the home team, who, prompted by Elrich, raced down the right, the fresh legs of Coveny leading the charge. The former All White striker got in behind the defence and was cutting in from the by-line inside the penalty area when Milan Susak scythed him down mercilessly. Referee Zetter, on this occasion, couldn't do anything but award a penalty - had he not done so, a riot would have been on the cards. As it was, the red card was fast approaching Susak's immediate line of sight, having committed his second bookable offence of the game in bringing down Coveny. Daniel took responsibility from the penalty spot, and drilled the ball unerringly into the top right-hand corner of Galekovic's goal as the 'keeper plunged towards the diagonally opposite corner - 1-1. The goal spurred Wellington on, understandably, and after the second Coveny penalty incident, the substitute spurned a glorious chance to put his team in front in the 73rd minute. Daniel and Felipe were up to no good, as far as Adelaide was concerned, on the left, and the pair engineered an opening which allowed the goalscorer ample room in which to whip in a cross into the heart of Galekovic's goalmouth. There, diving at full length to meet the sphere was the unmarked figure of Coveny, who headed his effort inches past the far post when scoring seemed the easier option! A couple of Felipe efforts followed, prior to Adelaide regaining the lead eleven minutes from time, a goal which came completely against the run of play throughout virtually the entire second half. Burns barrelled down the left and cut in towards the edge of the penalty, knowing that Agostino was there in support. He was, but so was Pantelis, who was galloping forward at a great rate of knots, and was perfectly placed to stride onto Agostino's sumptuous round-the-corner flick, after the striker had received Burns' pass. Pantelis had plenty to do, of course, such is the form which Moss has produced in recent weeks. But the young midfielder squeezed the ball past the advancing goalkeeper, and the sight of it rolling into an empty net silenced an entire stadium - 2-1 Adelaide, their opponents stunned. Try as they might, Wellington struggled to revive their attacking momentum - indeed, Agostino was more frequently sighted in a goal-threatening situation over the course of the next ten minutes. But the locals kept battling away, and twice came close to restoring a parity they richly deserved. In the 89th minute, Daniel's beautifully angled pass put Elrich in on the right, from where he whipped in a low cross. Coveny directed his diving header across the face of goal, while deep in stoppage time, Daniel's corner picked out the head of Tony Lochhead, whose powerful header was headed off the line by Tomi Milardovic. Seconds later, referee Zetter blew the final whistle to the delight of the Adelaide squad, and the despair of Wellington, whose fans and players realised that this, the first of three successive home games, may well have been the one which put paid to their play-off hopes in their maiden season. Still, they do have some compensation - an exhibition fixture inside twenty-four hours against Los Angeles Galaxy, featuring some chap named Beckham, whose mere presence in NZ has seen the usually rugby-oriented media outlets go football gaga, and raised the prospect of the 34,500-capacity "Caketin", as Westpac Stadium is known, playing host to the best-attended football match in New Zealand's history. Wellington:     Moss; Rees, K. Dodd, Lochhead; Elrich, Ferrante, Brown (Coveny, 65), Daniel, Lia; Campos, Smeltz - also, non-playing substitute Christie (booked, 90) Adelaide:     Galekovic; Alagich, Milardovic, Erdogan (booked, 90), Susak (booked 50, 68 - sent-off); Burns (Barbiero, 90), Sarkies (Ontong, 73 (booked, 90)), Walsh (booked, 58), Pantelis (booked, 59) (Giraldi, 90); T. Dodd, Agostino Referee:     Craig Zetter