Adelaide ruin Dura’s night as Nix crash
ANDREW Durante’s milestone party has been ruined by Adelaide United.
The Wellington Phoenix captain equalled the record for the most A-League games played when making his 278th appearance at Westpac Stadium in Wellington last night, but he was unable to stop his side losing 1-0, courtesy of a first-half George Blackwood goal.
The Phoenix were dealt a blow before the game even started with livewire winger Roy Krishna ruled out with a hamstring injury. His absence would be keenly felt as Adam Parkhouse was unable to replicate the threat the Fijian would have posed to the Adelaide defence.
It meant their attack lacked any real thrust and was onedimensional as they struggled to create any clear-cut chances.
Despite that, the Phoenix did make a promising beginning, but it wasn’t long before Adelaide found their rhythm.
They would go on to gain 63 per cent possession in the first half, although they didn’t always look threatening in what was tactical stalemate for large parts.
The big moment came in the 32nd minute as Blackwood broke the deadlock, with the Phoenix at fault in two areas.
First, their defence on halfway was poor as they let two headed passes split them wide open. Durante stepped up and allowed Blackwood in behind him, while makeshift centre back Goran Paracki was too far away from Durante to cover him, allowing Blackwood to race free towards Lewis Italiano’s goal.
Italiano came out and made himself big, but left a gap between his legs which Blackwood rolled the ball through and into the goal. Many will blame Italiano for the goal, but his defence let him down mightily as well. A case could also be made for exiled defender Ryan Lowry to have been given a chance to prove his worth, with regular centrebacks Marco Rossi and Dylan Fox out, but he clearly is not in coach Darije Kalezic’s plans.
The goal didn’t exactly jolt the Phoenix into life as their sole remaining chance of the half was a deflected shot from long range by Parkhouse, which Adelaide goalkeeper Paul Izzo athletically tipped over his crossbar.
Adelaide could well have doubled their lead in the 52nd minute after nice build-up play, but Blackwood sliced his shot from close range horribly wide of the goal.
The Phoenix were devoid of any real spark at that point, which Kalezic tried to change with the introduction of attacking midfielder Sarpreet Singh for striker Andrija Kaludjerovic in the 58th minute. It was not immediately clear if the latter was injured, with midfielder Matjia Ljujic pushed into the No 9 role.
Four minutes later the Phoenix almost levelled in fortu- GETTY IMAGES itous fashion when Matthew Ridenton hit the crossbar with a wayward cross.
The Phoenix dominated the closing exchanges, as they were likely to do given they were chasing the game, but they could not supply the 6746 fans with a winning goal, although substitute Alex Rufer did rattle the crossbar with a late volley at the back post.
The loss means the Phoenix remain last on the table, while Adelaide move to within a point of the top four.