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18Mar22
Newcastle To The Four Against Under-Strength Wellington
by Jeremy Ruane
An under-strength Wellington Phoenix combination was unable to hold off Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on March 18, the home team delighting the 4,353 fans present by dishing out a 4-0 hiding to the visitors for the second time this season.
Newcastle enjoyed the better of the first half exchanges, but it was Wellington who carved out the first opportunity, in the fourth minute. Nicholas Pennington, deputising for captain Alex Rufer who is out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury, won the ball in midfield and fed Jaushua Sotirio on the left.
Sam Sutton stormed up inside him and duly received a pass which allowed him to fire a low cross towards the penalty spot, but just behind Pennington, who had raced forward to support the attack after his initial involvement.
Seven minutes later, Sutton was leading the charge on the left again, and found himself one-on-one with Jason Hoffman, who attempted to fell the fullback on a couple of occasions in the penalty area as Sutton got the better of him, only to run out of real estate.
Newcastle responded via Savvas Siatravanis' delightful chipped cross for Beka Mikeltadze, but he was denied receipt of the ball by Scott Wootton's diving headed clearance. Siatravanis himself went close with a headed effort soon after, guiding the ball past the post after Daniel Penha and Olivier Boumal - a beautifully weighted cross to the far post - had combined on the left.
Back came Wellington, Sutton and Sotirio combining on the left on the quarter-hour, with the resulting cross picking out Louis Fenton. His low drive ricocheted off Gary Hooper straight to Michael Weier, off whom the ball rebounded to Matt Jurman, who completed an unorthodox clearance.
Newcastle stepped up the pace at this point, with Boumal crowning a slick three-man move with a twenty-yarder which sizzled over the bar. Mikeltadze just failed to get on the end of a teasing Saitravannis cross soon afterwards, while in the 24th minute Boumal volleyed narrowly over from eight yards on receipt of an Angus Thurgate cross.
Wellington responded via a dipping twenty-five yard volley from Gael Sandoval which narrowly cleared the crossbar, but there was no doubt the home team was in the ascendancy, as vital interventions by Fenton and Tim Payne prior to the half-hour mark thwarted Boumal and Mikeltadze respectively as they bid to break the deadlock.
Another Newcastle raid on the half-hour nearly delivered on that score. Fenton's headed clearance sat up perfectly for Thurgate to thrash a twenty yard volley through a forest of legs, including those of goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who was very fortunate to prevent the ball from going any further.
There was a lack of quality in both sides' play during the final fifteen minutes of the half as passes failed to stick. In Wellington's case, that was understandable, with so many of their regular starters either on international duty in Qatar with the All Whites or sidelined by injury.
The visitors came out all guns blazing at the start of the second spell, with Sutton squandering a glorious chance to open the scoring just twenty seconds after play had resumed. He then shot straight at Weier two minutes later, having worked an opening with Hooper - the earlier chance saw James McGarry heavily involved in creating the opportunity.
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Newcastle responded by opening the scoring in the 51st minute. Boumal cut in off the right and let fly, only for Pennington to block his shot. The striker played the ball to Penha, whose twenty yard drive was parried by Paulsen, straight to the feet of Boumal … 1-0.
Wellington looked to hit back straight away. Following a partially cleared corner, Pennington's chipped ball over the top allowed Sotirio to pick out Wootton on the far post. The former Liverpool junior - he played for LFC's U18s aged just fourteen - slipped the ball inside to Hooper, whose back-heeled effort was blocked.
The rebound sat up nicely for Sotirio, who rifled the rebound over the bar from close range. Sadly, it was the striker's last act, for he added to Wellington's walking wounded when pulling up with a hamstring problem soon afterwards.
Given their lack of experience on the bench - Ufuk Talay handed debuts to substitutes George Ott and Jackson Manuel in this match, Wellington were always going to struggle once the time came for substitutions to be made, and Newcastle wasted little time in making their superior experience pay in these circumstances.
After Pennington's timely intervention had denied Thurgate in the act of shooting on the hour mark, two goals in four minutes soon afterwards ensured the home team of the points long before the final whistle.
Siatravanis led the charge in the 63rd minute before setting up Boumal to batter a twenty-yarder into the bottom corner of the net. Four minutes later, Thurgate and Penha combined to present Mikeltadze to end his recent goal drought, and his fifteen yard curler duly clinched victory.
Wellington looked to get back into the contest, with Hooper - a brilliant touch to control a challenging cross from Fenton - setting up Sandoval with his next touch. The Mexican's drive was tipped over the bar by Weier, who was largely unoccupied until the final minute, when he looked on as Sandoval lashed a thirty yard free past the post with the last kick of the match.
The visitors were well beaten by this time, of course, having scored a fourth goal seven minutes from time. After Sutton had blocked a Siatravanis shot, Murnane loomed large on the left and duly delivered a delightful cross which invited substitute Eli Babalj to rise above all-comers and power home a header from six yards.
Fellow replacement Lucas Mauragis went close with a twenty yarder soon afterwards, while Paulsen saved from Hoffman and substitute Valentino Yuel went desperately close to affording Newcastle a nap hand in stoppage time.
For the second time this season against Wellington at this venue, however, four goals was their lot, a result which has allowed Newcastle to close to within three points of their opponents, who face a challenging few weeks given their injury crisis and players on international duty.
Newcastle: Weier; Hoffman, Elsey, Jurman, Murnane; Thurgate, Penha, Al-Taay (booked, 34) (Wilson, 62); Boumal (Yuel, 70), Mikeltadze (booked, 77) (Babalj, 78), Siatravanis (Mauragis, 78)
Wellington: Paulsen; Fenton, Wootton, Payne (Surman, 78), McGarry (Ott, 84); Sandoval, Pennington (Manuel, 78), Laws (booked, 4), Sutton; Sotirio (Elliot, 57 (booked, 74)), Hooper
Referee: Alireza Faghani
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