Wellington Phoenix 3-0 Newcastle Jets: Phoenix Dominate In The Wet

Photo Gallery

Zoom

Paul Ifill, Wellington Phoenix (Getty Images)

Related Links

Teams

• Newcastle Jets
• Wellington Phoenix

The Wellington Phoenix have thrown the race to the top-six wide open, courtesy of a comfortable 3-nil victory over the Newcastle Jets during their Round 10 A-League make-up match at Westpac Stadium Wednesday night.

Playing a game that was postponed four weeks ago due to New Zealand’s World Cup qualifier against Bahrain, Wellington were never really in doubt as they always seemed to have the upper-hand over the Jets, who continue to fail to impress away from home.

Both teams needed a win tonight to put themselves back in the mix, and coming in to this match, Newcastle was looking to climb off last spot on the ladder by capitalising on a fatigued Wellington, who were still recovering from their 3-1 loss to Sydney on Sunday evening.

But if the Phoenix were tired, they were not showing it in the opening exchanges, with Andrew Durante hitting a miss-timed header over the crossbar in the 9th minute.

From there the chances became agonizingly close for Wellington, with Jets goalkeeper Ben Kennedy almost letting in an own goal, before hurriedly tipping it over the crossbar at the last moment.

Rusty handling seemed to be a problem for both ‘keepers, with Reece Crowther, a last-minute inclusion for injured custodian Mark Paston, spilling a Jin-Hyung Song header, but luckily had time on his side as he was able to regather.

However it was Kennedy who was the first to pay for poor shot-stopping, as he dropped a Costa Barbarouses half-volley in the 28th minute, which allowed cult-hero Tim Brown to simply place it behind the back of the net.

While the Phoenix were dominating in attack up until this point, the Jets slowly seemed to find their feet and began to regain possession, but they were making no inroads on the goal-line, as Crowther was revelling in his promotion onto the starting line-up.

Desperate defence from both sides dominated the rest of the half, with Kennedy pulling a spectacular save to deny a Barbarouses drive, whilst also preventing Chris Greenacre from causing any damage moments later, as he allowed Newcastle to be only a goal down at half-time.

The second-half kicked off with the rain joining the teams onto the pitch, with the Jets trying to bring themselves back into the contest, however striker Labinot Haliti was unable to capitalise on a failed attempt by Crowther to punch away the ball.

Danger-man Paul Ifill once again showed his capabilities, as he hit a driven shot outside the box in the 55th minute, which Barbarouses skilfully flicked onto Greenacre, who finished it off in style, beating Kennedy to give Wellington an unassailable two-goal lead.

Newcastle tried to breathe some fresh life into the match, with captain Matt Thompson making an obvious attempt to change the state of affairs, but time and time again the Phoenix defence held strong as their opposition began to run out of ideas.

As the clock started to wind down, Wellington threw away some golden opportunities to turn the match into a rout, as Greenacre missed a penalty in the 84th minute, whilst Barbarouses and substitute Leo Bertos missed sitters minutes later.

But the Phoenix were always vying for a third, and they received it during injury time when Bertos crossed a well-timed ball to Ifill, who kicked it past Kennedy and ensured that his name would also be on the scoresheet.

Victory tonight shoots the Phoenix into 6th spot, with Round 14 to begin on Friday, whilst Branko Culina’s men lick their wounds on the bottom of the ladder.
 
Omar Dabbagh, Goal.com