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31Mar24
Early Goal Sends Wellington Six Points Clear
by Jeremy Ruane
A goal just 77 seconds into their clash with Brisbane Roar at Sky Stadium on March 31 secured a 1-0 win for Wellington Phoenix in front of 8225 fans as the Isuzu Ute A-League leaders extended their advantage at the top of the table to six points with four rounds remaining, although they've played a game more than their closest rivals.
Brisbane hadn't even touched the ball when Wellington opened the scoring. Scott Wootton sent the ball forward to David Ball, who laid the ball back to Alex Rufer. His angled pass found Nick Pennington on a forward charge, and he squeezed the ball under pressure to the overlapping Sam Sutton, whose raids were a feature of this contest.
The fullback's low cross was stabbed home from eight yards by Bozhidar Kraev, who guided the ball across Macklin Freke and into the far corner of the net to the delight of the local faithful, a number of whom were still making their way to their seats when what turned out to be the game's only goal was scored.
Brisbane looked to hit back swiftly, with Keegan Jelacic swooping on a stray Youstin Salas pass in the fourth minute. The New Zealand age-grade international slipped a pass into the stride of Thomas Waddingham, who curled a shot just past the far post from twelve yards.
Cue a bit of an arm wrestle for supremacy, which, after Costa Barbarouses tested Freke with a twenty-yarder on the quarter hour, gradually saw the visitors gaining the upper hand. Concerted Brisbane pressure culminated in an eighteenth minute piledriver from Jay O'Shea which drew a smothering save from Alex Paulsen, who then produced a flying save to his right two minutes later to prevent Jelacic from levelling the scores, after he'd caught Rufer in possession.
On the half-hour, Finn Surman blocked a Waddingham shot after Nikola Mileusnic had pounced on a stray Mohamed Al-Taay pass, while from O'Shea's resulting corner, Paulsen smothered a shot on the turn from Mileusnic as Brisbane kept on pressing for an equaliser.
There was a brief respite for Wellington when Sutton led a 34th minute raid down the left, with Kraev the chief beneficiary. His ferocious twenty yard drive was blocked by Freke, sparking a Brisbane counter-attack which saw Florin Berengeur storming down the left before unleashing a rising drive which was parried skywards by Paulsen, the 'keeper grabbing the dropping ball before anyone in white could exploit the opportunity.
A lot of Brisbane's pressure was coming from their left flank, where the indifferent defensive efforts of Al-Taay and Salas were frequently being exposed as they failed to adequately fill the void brought about by Tim Payne's absence through injury.
The visitors looked to continue using this in-road during the second spell, but it was Wellington who started the brighter of the teams after the interval. Ball pursued a lost cause down the left and managed to deliver a deep cross which found Salas in yards of space. He secured possession before picking out Kraev with a cross which the Bulgarian directed past the far post with his head.
Brisbane responded straight away, and Wellington got decidedly lucky when Wootton directed a pass straight to Berenguer, who was unable to capitalise on the gift, largely out of surprise! The home team recovered swiftly, engineering a splendid five-man move in which Pennington, Ball, Kraev, the stumbling Barbarouses and Al-Taay all contributed, the last-mentioned seeing his shot blocked by Freke.
The trailing side failed to clear their lines following this save, allowing Pennington another bite at the cherry. Alas for the league leaders, he failed to direct his volley on target. From the resulting goal-kick, it was Brisbane's turn to be adventurous, captain Tom Aldred leading the charge to the by-line, from where he delivered a delightfully weighted cross beyond the far post to Corey Brown. He headed the ball inside to Berenguer, whose shot was blocked to safety.
In the 56th minute, it was Brisbane's turn to
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construct an eye-catching five-man move, culminating in a clever piece of improvisation by Berenguer, a back-heeled effort which the alert figure of Paulsen grabbed to maintain Wellington's advantage.
Two minutes later, a vital clearance by Wootton prevented Mileusnic from picking out any of four Brisbane players storming into the penalty area as the playmaker made in-roads down the right. Wootton's clearance found its way to Ben Old, whose first touch as a substitute saw him play Barbarouses in. But his goal was ruled out by the offside flag, a call confirmed by the Video Assistant Referee - a great spot by the match official, because there were mere millimetres in it.
Brisbane must have sensed it wasn't to be their day in the 64th minute, when a driving run to the by-line by Jelacic resulted in his cross striking the incoming figure of Aldred and ricocheting straight to Paulsen.
He sparked a counter-attack in which Ball featured prominently before bringing Old into play. The newcomer evaded the clutches of Antonee Burke-Gilroy before unleashing a rising drive which Freke tipped over the bar. Sutton's resulting corner careered into the goalmouth and struck Aldred before ricocheting narrowly past the far post - it could just as easily have gone in!
Fifteen minutes from time, Sutton's covering run prevented substitute Jez Lofthouse from latching onto Henry Hore's delightful pass through the inside right channel. Four minutes later, Hore featured again, this time in a prone position with the ball sitting on his hamstring.
Rufer was swiftly in to take it off him, but in doing so "wiped his feet", if you will, a phrase which is appropriate to use in these circumstances as, in the immediate aftermath of kicking the ball, the kicking foot of Wellington's captain briefly landed on then moved upon the back of Hore's leg before reaching terra firma.
Brisbane instantly took umbrage at this development, and referee Tim Danaskos swiftly held aloft the yellow card. But the VAR had to have its tuppence ha'penny's worth, and requested the referee take a look at the footage of the incident. Mr Danaskos duly did so, and upgraded his decision to a red card for Rufer as a consequence.
Now it was Wellington's turn to be incensed, but just as was the case with the back of Hore's leg for Rufer, there was no ground for them to stand on - the home team were down to ten for the duration.
Brisbane piled on the pressure in the final minutes in their pursuit of an equaliser, with Paulsen forced to tip an O'Shea free-kick from the edge of the 'D' over the bar in the 86th minute. But in their desire to draw level, they left the back door open, and Wellington charged through it three times before the final whistle was blown.
On the first occasion, Aldred blocked an Oskar Van Hattum shot, while the substitute fired a twenty-yarder at Freke on the second occasion, Kraev and Old having fashioned the opening. The last raid saw Salas set off on a swashbuckling run from deep inside his own half through to the edge of the penalty area, from where he unleashed a drive which Freke turned round the post.
The final whistle sounded soon after, sending Wellington six points clear at the top of the table with four rounds remaining. Wins in three of them will all but secure the Premiership Plate for Giancarlo Italiano's side in the coach's first season at the helm - a remarkable achievement for a team which has been in the top three since the start of November.
Wellington: Paulsen; Salas, Surman, Wootton, Sutton; Al-Taay (Old, 57) , Rufer (sent off, 79), Pennington (Sheridan, 57); Ball (booked, 43 (Van Hattum, 66)), Barbarouses (Kelly-Heald, 83), Kraev
Brisbane: Freke; Burke-Gilroy (Majok, 90), Aldred (booked, 90), Trewin, Brown; Mileusnic (Lofthouse, 73), Berenguer, O'Shea, Jelacic; Waddingham, Hore (booked, 73 (Markovski, 83))
Referee: Tim Danaskos
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