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16Feb22
38 Fans Witness Continuing Rise Of The Phoenix
by Jeremy Ruane
A rare opportunity to announce the crowd changes to the players was missed at Leichhardt Oval on February 16, as Wellington Phoenix closed to within three points of the Isuzu Ute A-League lead by accounting for Brisbane Roar 3-0 in their rescheduled fixture in Sydney.
A mere 38 fans witnessed a contest which saw both teams go close to scoring inside the first four minutes of play. Reno Piscopo set the tone with an enterprising second minute raid, forcing a corner after jinking between two opponents then taking on a third.
The set-piece was played short to Clayton Lewis, who evaded a challenge before delivering quality to the far post for Joshua Laws, who headed narrowly over the bar. The defender was in more familiar surroundings two minutes later, diverting a Jack Hingert shot to safety after Rahmat Akbari and Juan Lescano had worked a one-two on the edge of Wellington's penalty area.
Lewis continued his fine start to the contest in the tenth minute, thundering a thirty yarder narrowly past the diving figure of Macklin Freke and the far post, two minutes before rattling the opposite upright with a beautifully flighted twenty-five yard free-kick deserving of better fate.
Brisbane responded with a slick raid on the quarter hour, Kai Trewin's clearance sparking an attack which featured Henry Hore's industry and culminated in Nikola Mileusnic shot, which was blocked by Wellington's rearguard, which also managed to suffuse the follow-up attempts by both Lescano and James O'Shea.
Unperturbed, the travelling team threatened again halfway through the half as Mileusnic caught Scott Wootton in possession near the halfway line and tore downfield, only to lose momentum when the covering figure of Alex Rufer challenged his progress.
Mileusnic eventually found a way past Wellington's captain, but by this time, Wootton had recovered his ground, and this latest opportunity to break the deadlock went west, unlike a stinging twenty yarder from Hore five minutes later - this was brilliantly saved by Oliver Sail, who launched himself to his left to tip the ball over the bar.
Wellington responded to this string of Brisbane attacks by breaking the deadlock in the 33rd minute. Lewis delivered a corner to the far post, where the backpedalling figure of Wootton was still able to rise above all-comers and guide the ball home from four yards.
The goal stunned Brisbane, and they could have found themselves two goals down three minutes later. Piscopo cleverly evaded three challenges before being taken out after laying the ball off just outside the penalty area. Referee Alex King played on as the beneficiary of the pass was David Ball, who engineered space to unleash a low twenty yard drive which careered narrowly past the near post.
That was the last attack of note in the first spell, and, indeed, until five minutes into the second spell, when Wootton sent Jaushua Sotirio scampering away down the right, from where he left Trewin trailing in his slipstream before unleashing a shot straight at the unfortunately named Freke - having a name of that nature must be the stuff of nightmares, particularly around the likes of Halloween, etc..
Wellington went close again on the hour, Sandoval delivering a gorgeously flighted free-kick onto the chest of Ball, who set up Rufer with the lay-off. Had the skipper only known where the ball was in proximity to himself, he could well have broken his goalscoring drought.
Brisbane cleared their lines and instantly counter-attacked, Hore leading the charge. He scythed inside off the right flank before unleashing a
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fulminating drive from the edge of the penalty area which careered past Sail, only to crash against the far post.
Lescano was unable to capitalise, Payne blocking his shot, while Laws thwarted an attempt to equalise by Brisbane substitute Nicholas Olsen seconds later, as the visiting team pressed hard for a goal which would get them back on level terms.
Six minutes later, any hopes they harboured of parity or victory had been dashed by two Wellington goals in four minutes which took the game away from the Queenslanders. Sotirio dashed down the left in the 63rd minute before checking his run and picking out the unmarked figure of Sandoval inside him.
Given time and space aplenty by the Brisbane defence, he made the most of it, curling a gem into the top far corner to double Wellington's advantage, and leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.
Mt Isa became Mt Everest in the 67th minute, as the home team engineered a marvellous team goal. Payne picked out Sotirio on the right-hand touchline, and his exquisite first-time pass inside found Sandoval looming up in support.
The Mexican held onto the sphere for a second before playing a through ball, onto which Sotirio hurtled at breakneck pace - the head start Corey Brown enjoyed was swiftly gobbled up by the speedster, whose next trick involved picking out the unmarked figure of Piscopo, ten yards out on the far post, with a measured cross. His composed finish killed the game off as a contest.
With ten minutes to go, Brisbane started toying with the idea of scoring a consolation goal, and nearly paid the price for leaving themselves wide open in defence. O'Shea's corner was headed out by Wootton to Lewis, who quickly found Sandoval.
His super through ball invited Sotirio to set sail once more, and one defender later, he found himself with just Freke to beat, but shot straight at him from ten yards out when scoring seemed the easier option.
Another O'Shea corner three minutes later gained greater reward, Olsen seeing his shot deflected to safety. Akbari gathered the loose ball and crossed to the far post, where a posse of maroon-clad players were lurking with intent.
None of them could get a decisive touch on the sphere, however, but possession was quickly retrieved and substitute Cyrus Dehmie invited to have a go. Oh, how he did, brilliantly weaving his way through four opponents, only to see his shot blocked by the legs of Sail - an effort which deserved better fate.
Back came the victors, substitutes Oskar Van Hattum and Ben Waine combining, with the latter, on the occasion of his fiftieth appearance for Wellington, seeing his 86th minute shot deflect to safety, then, upon being picked out by Sam Sutton, evading a couple of challenges before lashing a twenty yarder narrowly past the post.
Wellington had more than done enough to win the contest, however, and less than a fortnight after being rock-bottom of the competition, they now find themselves just three points off the top rung on the ladder. Amazing what a four-match unbeaten run can do …
Wellington: Sail; Payne (Fenton, 81), Wootton, Laws, Sutton; Sandoval, Rufer, Lewis, Piscopo (Hooper, 90); Ball (Waine, 73), Sotirio (Van Hattum, 82 (booked, 87))
Brisbane: Freke; Hingert (Zabala, 73), Neville (booked, 77) (Mlinaric, 78), Trewin, Brown; Hore, Akbari, Steinmann (Daley, 73), Mileusnic (Olsen (46); O'Shea, Lescano (Dehmie, 64)
Referee: Alex King
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