Phoenix inched out of thriller
Wellington Phoenix have come out on the wrong side of a seven-goal epic after substitute Tomer Hemed was denied a late equaliser by the width of his shoulder in a 4-3 defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Israeli international looked to have snatched a point at the death on a drama-filled Monday night in Parramatta, only to have his second goal disallowed by a marginal offside call following Video Assistant Referee intervention.
‘‘It’s a game of inches,’’ Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay lamented. ‘‘It’s disappointing. It probably needs to be looked at because footballers don’t score with their hands and I think his hand is just offside.
‘‘I’m very pleased with our team’s performance, I thought we were the better side overall. You score three goals away from home and you should win games.’’
The Phoenix led three times during the pulsating 90-minute encounter, which will long live in the memory, but were left stunned when Kwame Yeboah struck with six minutes remaining to clinch a remarkable comeback win for the Wanderers.
Despite Louis Fenton’s injury forcing a last-minute reshuffle, with Cameron Devlin thrust into the starting XI and Alex Rufer dropping back to do a job in the less familiar role of right-back, the Phoenix made a perfect start when Ulises Davila fired the visitors ahead after just seven minutes.
But it required a world-class strike from Devlin to drag them back in front for a second time after Daniel Wilmering ghosted in at the far post and levelled the score at 1-1 following a lack of communication between the defenders.
Devlin ended his 2000-minute A-league goal drought in spectacular style, bringing the ball down with his chest and launching a wonder goal from long range.
‘‘He scored a cracker of a goal. It’s funny how football works. Louis got injured in the warmup and he’s come in and did a great job.’’
The poor setpiece defending that has plagued the Phoenix cost them again in the second half when Jordon Mutch rose above Rufer and James Mcgarry to meet a corner and head the ball past goalkeeper Oli Sail to make it 2-2.
Desperate for a goal, Hemed stepped up to convert a penalty, won by Reno Piscopo, midway through the second half to restore the Phoenix’s one-goal advantage.
But it was immediately cancelled out when Mitchell Duke nudged Tim Payne out the way, controlled the ball on his chest and hit a sweet volley to level the score.
‘‘I thought there was a slight nudge that put Tim off but we’re a little bit naive at times. If Timmy feels that he needs to go down because if you go down generally the referees give a freekick.’’
Hemed, who was cheered on by a large group of Jewish supporters he invited to the game, thought he had salvaged a draw in the fifth minute of stoppage time, but replays showed that his shoulder had strayed offside when competing for the long ball from Tim Payne.