Wellington Phoneix have qualified to the quarter finals of the 2022 Australia Cup defeating Melbourne City at Casey Fields.
The first competitve game at Casey Fields saw 2067 spectators in attendance and a cagey start between the two teams, which was end to end in the middle of the park.
Melbourne City displayed more of an attacking threat through their dominance in possesion with the Phoenix holding a strong defensive shape.
City’s domination in possesion was disrupted by Wellington who hit Melbourne City with the first major chance with a Ben Old shot from the byline striking Thomas Glover’s left-sided post in the 14th minute.
Five minutes later, Wellington’s new international signing Bozhidar Kraev had a strike ricochet off City’s Curtis Good and landed in front of Kosta Barbarouses outside the six-yard box where he slotted it in to give Wellington the lead.
Wellington got on the scoresheet again through a Ben Waine header in the 36th minute where Sam Sutton crossed the ball from the left-hand side to the New Zealand forward and gave the Phoenix their second of the night.
After the break, Melbourne City lifted the intensity and were able break through the Phoenix defensive structure numerous times and seemed more of an attacking threat compared in the first half.
The many opportunities City created led to a powerful header by Matthew Leckie in the 84th minute, but it was too little too late for City seeing them eliminated from the Cup.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
PHOENIX STOOD STRONG DEFENSIVELY
The New Zealand based club came into this game as underdogs but showed Melbourne City and their home fans at Casey Fields a strong defensive performance earning their place in the quarter finals.
Wellington’s shape defensively kept City’s offensive game passive and at some points stale seeing them almost score a couple more goals in the first half just from pressing from the front.
Although Phoenix weren’t able to obtain the clean sheet, their structure throughout the course of the game limited the amount of chances City had at goal especially in the first half.
CAPTAIN OLLIE SAILS WELLINGTON INTO THE QUARTER FINALS
A key standout in Wellington’s strong defensive perfromance and win was Captain Oliver Sail making crucial saves in the second half when City looked like they were edging back into the game.
Sail and the Wellington Phoenix defence overcame a Melbourne City side with exceptional attacking talent and earned a hard fought win, which demonstrates promising signs in their next Australia Cup matchup against Dwight Yorke’s Macarthur FC.
“We were comfortable in our block defensively, and then on a negative pass or bad touch, we steped up and press them up and made them go back,” said Sail regarding Phoenix’s defensive plan.
CITY’S FORWARDS LACKED FIRING POWER
Although Melbourne City dominated possession throughout most of the game, their forwards such as Jamie Maclaren and Andrew Nabbout lacked that attacking threat they would usually possess.
Maclaren had one shot in the whole game against Wellington with 23 touches and didn’t seem to be involved in much of the build-up especially in the first half, which was highlighted as a massive miss for City.
Nabbout on the other hand had three shots, one of them being on target. Similary to Maclaren, he was rarely seen in build-up play and it was a definetly a night to forget for the former Newcastle Jets man.
FINAL SCORE:
Australia Cup Round of 16
Melbourne City 1 (Matthew Leckie 84m)
Wellington Phoenix (Kosta Barbarouses 19m, Ben Waine 36m)
