Phoenix stunned by Western’s late show
A first-half penalty miss from Kosta Barbarouses came back to haunt Wellington Phoenix after they surrendered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Western United at Sky Stadium yesterday.
The Phoenix looked to be heading for their second straight win of the A-League Men season after goals from import signings Oskar Zawada and Bozhidar Kraev had them 2-0 up and cruising on 59 minutes.
But they suffered a meltdown in the final half an hour, conceding three times, including one in the fifth minute of stoppage time, as defending champions Western snatched their first win of the season in the most dramatic fashion.
Western captain Alessandro Diamanti completed the stunning comeback by curling a left-footed free-kick over the wall and past an outstretched Oli Sail.
Zawada opened the scoring for the Phoenix with his first A-League goal in the 22nd minute, tapping home from close-range after the ball fell kindly to the Polish striker when Kraev’s attempted pass to Barbarouses bounced off Western defender Leo Lacroix.
Zawada won a penalty when he was clipped by Josh Risdon in the box as tried to control the ball from a Barbarouses lob in the 39th minute.
Barbarouses stepped up to take the spot-kick but he was unable to capitalise. His attempt down low to the right was saved by Jamie Young.
The Phoenix did eventually double their lead, when Kraev got on the end of a Clayton Lewis freekick and fizzed the ball past Young with a low-driven shot in the 59th minute.
At that stage, it looked like the Phoenix would romp home and head into the World Cup break on the back of consecutive wins.
But momentum shifted when former Phoenix defender Jacob Tratt pulled a goal back for Western six minutes after Kraev’s goal, nodding the ball past Sail from a corner kick.
Western coach John Aloisi then turned to his bench and brought on Diamanti, a former Italian international and Aleksander Prijovic, the man of the match from last season’s
At Sky Stadium, Wellington:
(Jacob Tratt 65’, Aleksander Prijovic 84’, Alessandro Diamanti 90+5’)
(Oskar Zawada 22’, Bozhidar Kraev 59’) 0-1
Western United 3
Wellington Phoenix 2
HT:
grand final.
The double substitution took the champions to another level.
Prijovic got on the end of a Ben Garrucio cross to equalise in the 84th minute, before Diamanti stepped over the ball and bent a world-class free-kick from the right corner of the 18 yard box past Sail in the 95th.
With four weeks until their next match, the Phoenix will have a long time to stew over that one.