Phoenix pick up all the points in A-league’s ‘distance derby’
The Wellington Phoenix continued their mini-revival on Sunday night, with an impressive result in Perth.
The visitors stunned the Glory with three second-half goals, to bank a deserved 3-1 victory.
It’s their second consecutive win and keeps their playoff hopes which looked forlorn earlier this month, well and truly alive.
In a strong team effort, captain Ulises Davila was the standout, having a hand in all three goals and tormenting Perth with his movement and deception.
For the Phoenix, it’s their first win in Western Australia since 2015 and broke a run of six straight losses.
Ben Waine, Louis Fenton and Jaushua Sotirio were the Phoenix goal scorers, in a match where their swift transitions were key. The home side dominated possession throughout, but the Phoenix were always dangerous on the counterattack.
Davila had a couple of first half chances — including a delightful chipped effort, that for a moment reminded of Karel Poborsky’s wonder goal at Euro 96, before drifting wide — but the best opportunity fell to Sotirio, who dragged his attempt off target from the edge of the area.
The Phoenix looked relatively comfortable defensively, happy to soak up pressure, though there was a close shave when Carlo Armiento was upended in the box, as Tim Payne won the ball with a strong challenge.
Last season it may have been a penalty — with the trigger happy VAR system in operation then, but thankfully on Sunday the officials called it right, as Payne cleared the ball before collecting the shin of the Perth midfielder.
The Phoenix shifted up a gear after halftime.
Cameron Devlin hit the post early in the second half, then Davila drew a good save from Liam Reddy.
Something was brewing, and when the breakthrough came it was a beauty, as Waine chipped a stranded Reddy from more than 35 metres, after the keeper had rushed out of his goal to tackle Sotirio, who had been released near halfway with a precise Davila through ball.
The Phoenix celebrated wildly, and maybe got distracted, as Perth found an equaliser less than two minutes later.
It was a wonderful strike from Joel Chianese, but the way he found space on the edge of the area will disappoint Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay.
The visitors could have
been deflated, but regained their composure quickly, before another twist.
Davila engineered space to get a shot away, which Reddy could only parry into the path of Fenton, with the fullback tucking in his second of the season in the 66th minute.
With Perth pressing hard for an equaliser, the Phoenix found the ultimate sucker punch 10 minutes later, with Sotirio’s crisp finish past Reddy.
The Phoenix had won the ball near halfway, before Davila timed his pass perfectly to put the Australian through on goal.
And they came close to a fourth, with Davila’s finish being rubbed out for a handball in the lead-up.
Perth pressed hard in the final 15 minutes, with a fine save from Oli Sail denying Chianese his second, but the Phoenix hung on to bank a vital three points. — NZ Herald