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22Jan23
Rufer Ends Goal Drought As Wellington Sink Mariners
by Jeremy Ruane
Wellington Phoenix captain Alex Rufer ended his personal goal drought in the Isuzu Ute A-League on January 22, as he led his side to a 2-1 win over second-placed Central Coast Mariners at Sky Stadium, much to the delight of the 5543 fans in attendance.
Ufuk Talay's side were on the front foot from the outset in this encounter, Costa Barbarouses rattling the crossbar from close range just seventy seconds into the contest, after David Ball and the outstanding Callan Elliot had combined down the right.
Oskar Zawada fired a twenty yard free-kick over the bar soon afterwards, before Joshua Laws pinged one over the top from halfway for the Polish number nine to chase in the sixth minute. Danny Vukovic advanced to the edge of his penalty area to grab the bouncing ball before the striker had the chance to pull the trigger.
The Video Assistant Referee denied Wellington a penalty in the thirteenth minute, adjudging that Storm Roux had sent Lucas Mauragis flying just outside the area. The fullback landed in the box, prompting referee Casey Reibelt to point to the spot, but on this occasion she was mistaken.
The visitors were struggling to make any headway in the contest, and went close to opening the scoring in the twentieth minute. Barbarouses intercepted a pass from Brian Kaltak - a rare mistake by the former Auckland City defender - and instantly fed Ball racing up outside him. The striker's cross had Bozhidar Kraev's name written all over it until Vukovic's timely interception.
Wellington's momentum was briefly halted in the 24th minute when Beni Nkololo collided with Clayton Lewis, whose standing leg took the full brunt of the impact. That Lewis was able to complete the half in itself was remarkable - the footage suggested he'd picked up an injury of the long-term-absence variety, a road down which the well-performed midfielder has travelled previously. Hopefully it's not the case, both for Lewis and his club.
Following Lewis' return to the fray, Rufer and Ball worked a one-two on the right in the 29th minute. Ball had Barbarouses racing up outside him, and duly rewarded the speedster's run. Zawada was the target of his cross, but Kaltak had other ideas - 0-0 it remained.
But not for much longer. After Tim Payne had snuffed out a Central Coast counter-attack by cutting out a Marco Tulio pass intended for Michael Ruhs, then stepped in to clear the danger posed by Kaltak's header from a Tulio free-kick, Wellington broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute.
Lewis worked a one-two with Ball from a short corner, affording the injured player a different angle from which to deliver a cross to the far post. His delivery picked out Laws, whose angled header across goal found a team-mate stealing in to steer the ball home from four yards.
After 106 games without scoring, Alex Rufer finally had a goal for Wellington Phoenix to his name. And how he celebrated! He was engulfed by team-mates in front of the Wellington bench, players running from all over the park to share in the moment.
But while they were rejoicing, the VAR was reviewing the goal … it would have been cruel beyond words for Rufer to have been denied this moment to savour, particularly given his near-year-long absence from the game due to injury in the last twelve months. Thankfully, he was the right side of the lines when he turned the ball home, so the goal stood.
The visitors wasted little time in seeking an equaliser, with Tulio playing a through ball for Ruhs to latch onto in the 36th minute. Oli Sail dashed out of his penalty area to clear the sphere off the striker's toes, and on the stroke of half-time parried a shot from Ruhs after Josh Nisbet had swooped on a stray pass. Roux looked to turn home the rebound, only for Mauragis to intervene in timely fashion.
In between these incidents, Wellington doubled their advantage, although the visitors were seething about the fact after a wayward Sail pass towards Lewis allowed Tulio to pounce, only for Lewis to foul him in the 'D' in front of Wellington's goal.
Referee Reibelt - not a display she'll look back on with fondness, truth be told - allowed play to continue, and Laws, the first to react to the loose ball, instantly spread play to Mauragis, who raced up-field before bringing Kraev into play, just over the halfway line.
He switched play to the opposite flank, where
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Barbarouses quickly brought the overlapping figure of Elliot into play, the fullback's cross being deftly steered home on the volley from close range by Zawada, much to the ire of Mariners' goalkeeping captain - Vukovic charged out of his penalty area and let the referee know his displeasure in no uncertain terms.
Rufer rattled the stanchion with a twenty yard volley in the shadows of the half-time whistle, while after play resumed, Jacob Farrell - he had a nightmare first half - sent a dipping twenty-five yarder narrowly over the bar, to which Wellington responded via Barbarouses, who dragged his shot past the post after fine work by Kraev on the counter-attack.
The Mariners were clearly in the mood to pull a goal back, however. Samuel Silvera spotted the run of Nkololo in the fiftieth minute and duly delivered a measured lobbed pass into his path. The striker headed over with just Sail to beat, while the goalkeeper grabbed a twenty-yarder from half-time substitute Thomas Aquilina shortly afterwards.
After Vukovic had dealt with an Elliot cross intended for Kraev, arriving on the far post, the visitors threatened again just shy of the hour mark. Ruhs got the better of Payne on halfway and set sail for goal, only to be hunted down by both Payne and Laws on the edge of the home team's penalty area, much to the delight of the local fans, who then witnessed a period of play in which neither team made headway, which suited Wellington's cause perfectly.
But the visitors were clearly building momentum, with Daniel Hall, Tulio and Max Ballard all threatening before substitute Christian Theoharous hit the bar fourteen minutes from time, a strike which gave Central Coast renewed hope that all was not yet lost.
Time was increasingly their enemy, however. Five minutes later, Aquilina and Silvera linked on the right, with the latter pulling the ball back into the stride of Theoharous. His shot was blocked on the line by Steven Ugarkovic, with the ball rebounding straight to Sail.
Elliot's splendidly timed tackle in the area prevented Paul Ayongo from capitalising upon Silvera's turn and pass two minutes later, this seconds after Wellington boss Ufuk Talay's antics in the technical area earned him his second booking of the season - and this is someone who aspires to coach the All Whites?
The visitors were clearly missing goalscoring talisman Jason Cummings, but as the game entered stoppage time, they reduced the arrears through Nkololo, who struck from close range after working a headed one-two with Ayongo upon receipt of a ball forward from Kaltak.
At 2-1, Central Coast piled on the pressure, with Nectarios Triantis guiding a header onto the roof of the net before Kaltak's spectacular twenty-five yard volley was grabbed by Sail. As he looked to clear his lines, the final whistle blew, but Nkololo lunged dangerously at the goalkeeper, who responded by shoving the goalscorer to the ground.
Cue a post-match gathering of the clans, with Vukovic, who had raced up-field and plonked himself in Wellington's penalty area in the final minute in an effort to snatch an equaliser, one of very few players who didn't take part in the melee, having been racing back towards his own goal when the final whistle sounded.
It wasn't a good look, with Sail's jersey torn beyond repair, and coaching staff from both teams getting involved in proceedings. It's fair to say a lot of the pent-up frustrations of all parties stemmed from a number of non-decisions by referee Reibelt - not her finest hour-and-a-half by any stretch of the imagination!
Wellington weren't complaining, however, as they closed to within two points of the second-placed Mariners with the season having now reached the halfway mark. But Talay's team will be on the road for the bulk of the second half of the season, with three of their five remaining home games set to be played in other locations in New Zealand - their next game at Sky Stadium is six weeks away.
Wellington: Sail (booked, 90); Elliot (booked, 90), Payne, Laws, Mauragis; Ball (Surman, 82), Rufer (booked, 45), Lewis (Ugarkovic, 51), Kraev (Old, 77); Barbarouses, Zawada (booked, 90)
Central Coast: Vukovic; Roux (booked, 13) (Balard, 46), Triantis (booked, 90), Kaltak, Farrell (Hall, 73); Nkololo (booked, 24), Nisbet (Theoharous, 73), Steele (Aquilina, 46), Silvera; Ruhs (Ayongo, 59), Tulio
Referee: Casey Reibelt
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