Phoenix blow two-goal lead against Glory
WELLINGTON Phoenix blew a golden opportunity to enhance their A-League playoff hopes in Albany last night, letting slip a 3-1 lead, to draw 3-3 with Perth Glory.
The Phoenix went from a side in total control of the game for nearly all of the first half and most of the second, to one that looked in complete disarray defensively and were lucky to come away with a point.
With five games to go and the Phoenix sitting out of the top six, the two points dropped in this game could prove to be decisive.
Goals from Gui Finkler, Roy Krishna and Kosta Barbarouses gave the crowd at QBE Stadium plenty to cheer about.
Phoenix co-coach Chris Greenacre said on Friday that they needed to treat every game from here on in like a cup final and that’s how they played, with passion, high energy and a mindset to play attacking football.
Roly Bonevacia, Ryan Lowry and Tom Doyle, the three Phoenix players who were stood down from last weekend’s remarkable 2-1 win over Brisbane, were all recalled, but only as far as the substitutes bench.
It continues the streak of the Phoenix never losing in Auckland, with now four wins and three draws from their seven games in the city.
Adam Taggart had the opening shot on goal in the second minute, but his effort went straight to Phoenix goal keeper Glen Moss.
Two minutes later Roy Krishna took the ball forward for the Phoenix and Barbarouses’ strike was deflected for a corner.
Already the signs were there that this was going to be a high GETTY IMAGES scoring affair and it didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken, with Finkler getting his name on the scoresheet in the 10th minute. The Brazilian’s shot took a wicked deflection off the outstretched boot of Joseph Mills, giving Liam Reddy no chance.
The Phoenix continued to dominate after that goal with Barbarouses causing all sorts of trouble for the Glory defence.
In the 25th minute the second goal came when Roy Krishna took the ball on the edge of the box from Shane Smeltz, cut inside one defender, then launched a rocket that the outstretched Reddy had no chance of reaching.
But route one tactics got the Glory a goal in the 34th minute, with the lofted pass from Dino Djulbic finding Andrew Keogh, who chested the ball down then blasted it into the edge of the goal.
Rain fell during the halftime break, but stopped before the players came out and two minutes after the resumption Barbarouses pulled off a superb banana kick to bend the ball around Reddy and the Glory defence to reinstate the Phoenix’s two-goal lead.
That should have been game over, but the Phoenix were guilty of sloppy defending and it proved costly. in December, was hoping to push past his rival Brown for a breakthrough win in Taupo.
Currie had been part of the lead group of swimmers, including Bozzone, Albert, Clayton Fettell and Graham O’Grady, before Bozzone pulled away to lead by almost 6min during the cycle leg.
‘‘I just managed to sit on [Terenzo’s] feet [during the swim], blowing some bubbles,’’ Currie said.
‘‘Then I got on that bike and hit the climb and obviously my mountainbiking background came too and I managed to, I didn’t even want to, but managed to pull away by myself.
‘‘It didn’t take too much longer once we hit the flats for [Terenzo] to peg me back, and he pulls up besides me and says, ‘you think this is a one lap race, mate’. But then he took off, so I don’t know what he was thinking. I didn’t have any game plan after that.’’
Meanwhile, a huge upset saw five-time champion Meredith Kessler beaten by fellow American Jocelyn McCauley.
McCauley, a former amateur Ironman athlete and crosscountry runner, ran down Kessler early in the marathon final leg, and showed no signs of slowing as she built a lead of more than 10min. She crossed the finish in 9:08.30, Laura Siddell took second, 12min back, with Kessler third, a further 5min behind.