Phoenix robbed by red card as VAR mugs Rufer
THE Wellington Phoenix have secured the first point of their 2020-21 A-League campaign after drawing 1-1 with Macarthur FC last night, despite being reduced to 10 men for the final half hour thanks to a controversial VAR call.
Midfielder Alex Rufer was sent off when video assistant referee Kris Griffiths-Jones judged him to have lashed out with his boot at Denis Genreau after making a tackle and prompted the man in the middle, Stephen Lucas, to reassess his original yellow card decision.
It appeared to be an extremely harsh call, as there didn’t seem to be any intent, nor any recklessness, on Rufer’s part, but he was shown a red card and sent on his way and Macarthur equalised through Markel Susaeta soon after.
David Ball had put the Phoenix in front in the 39th minute, but neither side could find awinner in the closing stages.
Playing in a teal away kit they only unveiled on the morning of the match, the Phoenix immediately imposed themselves on their hosts, going close on several occasions in the opening 10 minutes.
Bulls defender Ivan Franjic
made a couple of crucial interventions – first clearing a cutback from Cam Devlin down the right out for a corner, then getting in front of an attempted back heel from point-blank range by Ball.
The Phoenix were dominating possession and their two No 10s – captain Ulises Da´vila and All White Clayton Lewis – both looked dangerous whenever they were able to get on the ball and pick out a pass, while new striker Tomer Hemed was also a creative force whenever he dropped deep.
Macarthur did begin to find their feet and Susaeta went close to opening the scoring, getting to a free kick directed towards the back post from the right-hand side of the field only to find Phoenix goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic’s legs in the way of his shot.
Marinovic was then forced to make amore conventional save when Ben˜at Etxebarria sent a free kick from dead in front curling towards the bottom right-hand corner of his goal.
Just as it looked like they were going quiet, the Phoenix took the lead through Ball, who was on the spot to fire home a cutback after All Whites fullback James McGarry was played in down the left by Da´vila.
That strike in the 39th minute meant the Phoenix went in at halftime in front, though they had to see out the final few minutes without Hemed, who suffered a cut to the head and was then replaced by Jaushua Sotirio five minutes into the second spell.
Lachie Rose produced Macarthur’s best moment of the match to that point soon after, beating Phoenix right back Tim Payne then shooting from just inside the box straight into Marinovic’s hands.
Luke DeVere made a crucial tackle to stop a rampaging Rose on the edge of the area at the end of a counter-attack which followed the tackle that led to the VAR intervention.
Ben˜at then found Susaeta in space on the right and the
Spaniard fired past Marinovic at his near post in the 67th minute to set up a frenetic finish in Sydney’s south-west.
Da´vila was replaced byMatt Ridenton as Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay looked to shore things up, but it was Macarthur that went closest to finding awinner, when Matt Derbyshire hit the crossbar with a header in the 94th minute with Marinovic feeling a leg strain.
The Phoenix now have two weeks until their nextmatch, a visit to their WIN Stadium home in Wollongong on January 24 by the Newcastle Jets, who lost to Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night.