Honours shared in Wellington

One point gained or two points lost – both the Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC were ruing what might have been after playing out an entertaining 1-1 draw in their Hyundai A-League 2007/08 clash at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday night.

After inspirational skipper Ross Aloisi had put the home side ahead with a close-range strike in the 28th minute, the Phoenix looked set to complete a treble of wins against the A-League’s glamour boys as the clock ran down.

But disappointment for the Phoenix and 8062 fans came in the 92nd minute when Ufuk Talay saved a point for Sydney FC with a penalty. It was a cruel finish for the home team, which had defended resolutely throughout in the face of intense pressure only to gift Sydney FC a point in the dying stages.

With competition points hard to come by for the Hyundai A-League’s newest club in recent times, a win against Sydney FC would have come as a welcome tonic and been all the more remarkable given that they were six missing players – and coach Ricki Herbert – on international duty. Adding to the selection headache for assistant coach Wayne O’Sullivan was the unavailability of Ahmad Elrich, the gun midfielder ruled out after being sent off the previous weekend.

While a draw was probably a fair result in the context of the match, with Sydney FC menacing throughout, Aloisi said the Phoenix were gutted to have only gained a point.

“The coaching staff made it clear all week and drove it all week that we came out here to win today. There’s no way in the world that we would have settled for a 1-1 draw. Unfortunately we coughed the ball up toward the end and conceded a penalty. It’s disappointing for the players but we’ve got to move forward now. It’s disappointing for the fans, too, three points were there to be taken.”

Steven Old’s late tackle handed Sydney the penalty opportunity, the Phoenix defender dismissed after receiving a second yellow card. Earlier, Sydney FC captain Tony Popovic had been marched in the 70th minute after also collecting his second yellow.

Aloisi was a rock in the midfield for the Phoenix and capped a fine performance with a goal, the skipper latching on to the end of a trademark curling corner from Daniel to score past Sydney keeper Clint Bolton.

Aloisi was pleased to have scored his second goal of the season in the crunch match, but the experienced Australian would have traded the glory of scoring for a competition win.

“Scoring a goal is always nice but at the end of the day I’m here to win three points for the Phoenix. It’s about our fans, the team, the culture here and taking things forward.”

O’Sullivan was rapt with the performance of his makeshift squad.

“Sydney have been on a roll lately and they’d publicly stated they would come here and win. I thought our boys were outstanding, they did everything they could possibly do and they were dead on their feet at the end.”

Several Phoenix players turned in stellar performances – Glen Moss cementing his reputation as the Hyundai A-League’s best keeper with several stunning saves, Michael Ferrante a real force in the midfield and new signing Kristian Rees – with the Phoenix less than a week – shoring up the defence alongside Karl Dodd and Old. But it was a complete performance from the Phoenix.

“You’d hate to pick out one individual from that game,” O’Sullivan said. “From Mossy at the back all the way through to Covs [Vaughan Coveny] at the front, there wasn’t a bad performance on the park. I think tonight the Wellington Phoenix produced what the Wellington people want, which is good football with lots of blood and guts behind it as well.”

Aloisi said his team would remain upbeat despite the disappointment of sharing the honours with Sydney.

“We have to stay positive. We made it clear at the beginning of the season that this was a building year for the club – on the field and off the field – but we’ve got to learn from these games and from our mistakes. These are learning experiences and you have to go through these things to learn not to make those mistakes.

“We’ve got to build on this and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”



Match summary

Wellington Phoenix 1 (Ross Aloisi 28’)

Sydney FC 1 (Ufuk Talay 90+2’)

HT: 1-0

Crowd: 8062 at Westpac Stadium, Wellington