Substitutes come to rescue for Phoenix
Ulises Davila scored his 10th goal of the A-League season and set up another to save Wellington Phoenix’s blushes and clinch a 2-1 win over strugglers Newcastle Jets in Wellington last night.
Davila was on hand to finish from close-range after surprise substitute Alex Rufer’s shot cannoned off Jets defender Nikolai ToporStanley in the 69th minute.
It was a lucky escape for the previously in-form Phoenix, who were well short of their best, particularly in the first half, and relied on a late flurry of saves from Stefan Marinovic to secure the three competition points.
Without a permanent coach and sitting seven places below the Phoenix on the A-League ladder, the Jets were impressive in the early exchanges and should have scored the go-ahead goal but were let down by poor finishing.
Jets striker Jason Hoffman produced a miss of the season contender when he skied one from in front following a strong run from right-wingback Matt Millar.
But the Phoenix substitutes, including Rufer who was surprisingly included on the bench despite being listed as unavailable due to his ongoing knee injury, provided some much-needed impact in the second half.
Jaushua Sotirio, the player who made way for fit-again forward David Ball, broke the deadlock moments after his introduction, sprinting on to a through ball from Davila before cooly finishing with his first touch.
Abdiel Arroyo then punished the Phoenix for some poor defending, scoring after the initial shot from Dimi Petratos deflected off Luke (Jaushua Sotirio 53’, Ulises Davila 69’) (Abdiel Arroyo
Wellington Phoenix 2
Newcastle Jets 1
HT: Attendance:
66’). 0-0.
8503
DeVere.
But Davila eased the Phoenix’s nerves three minutes later, firing a shot off the right-hand post before Marinovic made two crucial saves to seal the narrow victory.
With Matti Steinmann ruled out with suspension, new signing Brandon Wilson was handed a debut alongside the impressive Cameron Devlin. Wilson was steady but not spectacular, with Steinmann’s composed passing game sorely missed.