Phoenix win with Singh brace
At the end of a dreadful A-League season, the Wellington Phoenix have offered a bit of hope, beating Melbourne City 2-1 at QBE Stadium in Auckland last night.
Teenage midfielder Sarpreet Singh scored both their goals – further proof, if any was needed, that former coach Darije Kalezic was misguided in largely ignoring him for the first two-thirds of the season.
The Phoenix moved up to ninth on the ladder, but need the Central Coast Mariners to lose to the Newcastle Jets late on Saturday night to stay there.
If they do avoid the wooden spoon, it would be of little relief at the end of a campaign where they set or equalled record lows in terms of wins, losses, points per game, and goals conceded.
Yet in Singh, they have a young Kiwi talent they can build around, at least for the next two years, the only ones where they are guaranteed a place in the league. Their new coach, whoever it ends up being, will surely see that.
City seemed to be going through the motions, for the most part, having sealed third place the night before when Melbourne Victory were beaten by Sydney FC.
While City fullbacks Scott Jamieson and Nathaniel Atkinson probed the Phoenix defence early, it was the home side that generated the first chance of note, when midfielder Matija Ljujic started an attack on the right flank with a nifty backheel, and the ball found its way to Singh on the other side.
The 18-year-old then sent in a lovely cross, finding Roy Krishna, whose header from point-blank range went straight at City keeper Dean Bouzanis.
His Phoenix opposite, Oli Sail, was called into action soon after, when Oliver Bozanic drove the ball at goal, and City then took the lead in the 20th minute, when the Phoenix defence failed to clear, and the ball fell to Bruno Fornaroli on the left side of the box. The Uruguayan hit the ball perfectly first time and it curled into the far corner.
The visitors weren’t able to press home their advantage, however, and in the 33rd minute the Phoenix drew level, with a goal that ensured they didn’t finish with the worst goalscoring record in their 11-season history.
Singh received the ball in the middle of the box, surrounded by defenders, yet managed to wriggle free and send his shot into the bottom right corner.
Ljujic and Krishna both tested Bouzanis from distance as the second half began, but it was from a more speculative shot, taken by Singh in the 58th minute, that they went in front – with some help from City defender Bart Schenkeveld, whose touch helped it past his keeper and into the back of the net.
It was the Phoenix who looked more likely – with Singh playing another cross from the left to find Krishna at the far post in the 72nd minute, only for the Fijian to send the ball wide.
58’) 1-1
(Sarpreet Singh 33’, (Bruno Fornaroli 20’).