Phoenix teen puts Berisha in his place At a glance
Sam Sutton has introduced himself to the A-League – and the competition’s record scorer – after responding to a taunt from opposition striker Besart Berisha to set up the game-winning goal against Western United on Sunday night.
The 19-year-old was handed a surprise start at left-back but it proved to be an inspired selection as Sutton combined with fellow academy graduate Ben Waine to seal a dramatic 3-2 win in the 90th minute.
Berisha, who opened the scoring from the penalty spot, was caught on one of the effects microphones saying ‘‘who are you?’’ to the inexperienced Sutton during a verbal exchange between the pair in the second half.
But the promising young Aucklander had the last laugh, replying ‘‘I’m Sam Sutton’’ before lofting a perfectly weighted cross for his mate Waine to head home at the near post with just seven seconds left in regulation time.
‘‘I think Besart will know who he is now,’’ Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said.
‘‘That will be massive for both of them. They both played a very good game, they worked hard for the team, Waineo got some into good areas and I’m very pleased for him and for Sutts for setting it up.’’
Sutton has had to bide his time in his first season as a fully contracted player, playing the fewest minutes of any player in the Phoenix squad before Sunday’s five-goal thriller.
But Talay said he felt he needed to change things up after back-toback defeats and opted to start the childhood Phoenix fan in the unfamiliar position of left-back
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Ulises Davila pen-45+1’, Jaushua Sotirio 53’, Ben Waine 90’) Western United 2 (Besart Berisha pen-32’, Iker Guarrotxena 56’).
HT: 1-1.
ahead of
McGarry.
‘‘I think Sutts has been working well with us since pre-season and I just felt we needed a change there,’’ Talay said.
‘‘He’s been fantastic with us in training and we gave him an
All
White James opportunity and he’s done a fantastic job for 90 minutes so I’m very pleased for him.
‘‘It’s been unfortunate for him in the sense that we haven’t had our reserve team here because he would’ve got a lot of game time playing in that position, which would have helped him.
‘‘But at the end of the day we’ve thrown him in the deep end tonight and he’s done well.’’
Sunday’s win saw the Phoenix leapfrog Perth Glory into ninth place ahead of their second meeting of the season in Perth this weekend. They then play Western again in Tasmania the following Thursday.