Phoenix power electrifies 24,000 faithful as Lewis flicks on home fire
Wellington’s own Clayton Lewis was the hometown hero as the Phoenix marked their first game at Sky Stadium in 433 days with a scintillating 3-0 win over Western United yesterday to keep their A-League finals’ hopes alive.
Playing his first game for the Phoenix in Wellington, Lewis got the club’s record regular season crowd of 24,105 on their feet when he took a pass from Steven Taylor, turned into space and let rip with a wicked left-footed strike.
The shot took a deflection off Brendan Hamill and beat goalkeeper Ryan Scott to give the Phoenix a deserved lead in the 38th minute.
It had been a cagey affair up until that point, with the Phoenix keeping Western camped inside their own half without managing to find the required breakthrough.
That was until the newly resigned midfielder took the game by the scruff of the neck and produced a moment of individual brilliance that he would have dreamed about when he was a junior coming through the grades at local club Wellington Olympic.
With his team-mates in tow, Lewis sprinted towards the sidelines and punched the air in celebration.
It proved to be the turning point in the match as the Phoenix romped home in their first game at Sky Stadium since March 15, 2020, adding two second-half goals from Reno Piscopo and Tomer Hemed.
‘‘Every time we scored I got a little bit emotional because,’’ Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said.
Scott looked nervous in the opening 30 minutes, but he pulled off two vital saves after the Phoenix went ahead, batting away a close-range header from Hemed and blocking a David Ball shot with his legs.
He could do nothing about Piscopo’s vicious 57th-min shot which saw the Phoenix double their lead.
Piscopo, who was asked to shoulder the creative duties in the absence of injured captain Ulises Davila, dribbled through the Western defence before blasting an unstoppable shot.
‘‘Once the game opened up, you could see the quality that he has – the talent that he has.
‘‘It’s always nice for your attacking midfielders to score goals.’’
Desperate for a win to keep themselves in the hunt for the top-six, the Phoenix continued to apply the pressure and soon enough it was 3-0 as Hemed soared high to meet a cross from Louis Fenton to complete the rout.
‘‘We said every game is a final for us. We need to win every game if we want to be in the topsix.’’
Talay sprung a surprise by including uncontracted teenager Ben Old amongst the seven substitutes and the club’s fairytale evening continued when he was injected into the game with 10 minutes remaining.
Old only joined the team for training this week and was supposed to be playing for Lower Hutt in Masterton yesterday.
The emphatic result moved the Phoenix back within three points of sixth-placed Brisbane.