While You Were Sleeping The Welly Nix Lost A Bonkers One In Perth
A trip to Perth is the toughest fixture the Wellington Phoenix have any season. Last time out the Nix played twice in Western Australia and lost 3-0 and 5-0, it’s not a particularly fun trip – they call it the Distance Derby for a reason. But then if you do have to travel 5255km for a game of football then it stands to reason that it’s best to do so when you’re coming off a bye week after winning four of your previous five games. With a mostly clean bill of health too (compared to the Glory being without superduperstar Diego Castro)... although that idea took a blow when Matti Steinmann was ruled out with illness.
Luckily Alex Rufer was ready to go again, starting alongside Cam Devlin in midfield. Still a pretty excellent midfield but Steinmann’s absence was extremely notable last time so yeah not ideal. The other two changes to the team included an expected one with Reno Piscopo replacing Callum McCowatt after returning from Aussie U23 duty and also a curious pick as Jaushua Sotirio came in for Gary Hooper.
It’s a funky one. Sotirio gives you a much bigger range of movement but Hooper has that central presence and he’s the most natural goal scorer at the club. But also those two had three full games between them so whoever you start probably isn’t gonna be there for the end of the game, hence it becomes a genuine debate as to how to juggle these dudes. Is Super Hooper best used as an impact forward off the bench? There’s a fair case to it... although gotta remember that his two previous goals both came in the first halves of games he started alongside David Ball. It’s probably a case of horses for courses (as the Blackcaps would say) and away in Perth perhaps the best bet is to keep things close for as long as possible and then unleash the beasts for the last 35 minutes or so.
For about forty minutes that theory seemed to be manifesting itself. It was a scrappy game in which the Nix midfield was pushed deeper than it wanted to be, meaning that getting numbers forward was a difficulty – it was only really on the rare counter attack that the Nix mustered anything in attack and even then the Perth back three was handling it. Back threes are becoming something of a weakness for this Phoenix team. But they were scrapping. Neither side was pulling out of any challenges. Yellow cards were popping up like whack-a-moles. Joel Chianese and Bruno Fornaroli each caused a couple of alarms to go off in the form of a barking Stefan Marinovic, who made a couple one-handed saves, but for the most part it was a first half to put a lot of kiwi fans to sleep as the clock ticked well into tomorrow.
Then David Ball got a bit of space and could have scored, driving his shot across the goal (the angle was pretty tight to be fair... but the set up from Piscopo was superb). Was the game suddenly opening up in the last five minutes of the half? Yeah mate you’d better believe it was... but not in a good way. A couple minutes later Tomislav Mrcela nudged one in from a messy looking corner kick and then in stoppage time Chianese and Fornaroli combined to set up Nicholas D’Agostino and all that work had been undone. Two goals in the last five minutes of the half away from home, you just can’t be doing that. And it really helps if you can avoid going 3-0 down within ten minutes of the second stanza starting as well, D’Agostino with his second. That’s just... nah bro. Not good. This is a Nix team that has only scored more than twice in a game on one occasion under Ufuk Talay. 3-0 down in Perth and it was pretty much all over already.
Or so you may have thought. But if you went to bed before 1am... which, I mean, can’t really blame ya... but if you did then you missed one hell of a game the rest of the way. Gary Hooper was subbed on for Sotirio straight after the third goal and with that the game took on a different complexion... if only it had been 0-0 or maybe even 1-0 at the time and not a desperate 3-0. Like, regardless of everything else that happened and almost happened and should not have happened... the Nix blew this one in the five minutes before half-time, conceding twice in a hurry when they were so close to getting out of the stanza unscathed.
At first the Glory kept on pecking at the entrails for a fourth but then, 68th minute, the Welly Nix found some room down the right side and Tim Payne put in one of those glorious Tim Payne crosses right onto the head of Hooper and number eighty-eight knows what to do from there, it’s automatic. Then Tim Payne went from hero to... victim? He got caught running across the back of D’Agostino and clipping his heels as Perth were looking to flow forward and the ref figured a second yellow was the idea. Off you go, son.
It was clearly accidental contact. A free kick made sense because it stopped the move but a yellow was bloody harsh and you don’t need me to tell you that if you’ve seen it. But I also don’t wanna moan about refs. It’s kinda lame to fall back on excuses like that – the Nix were already 3-1 down at the time. What I will say however is that somebody was gonna be sent off before the end of it. If it wasn’t Payne then it would’ve been Devlin and if it wasn’t Devlin then it would have been Rufer (although Roof got outta there without having conceded a single foul, how about that?). Plenty of potentially bookable challenges went unpunished in this one (including a few from the home side, which Talay wasn’t happy about). It’s just sort of the risk you take.
But even down to ten men the Nix still made a contest of it. Reno Piscopo drew a good save out of Liam Reddy from a free kick before Gary Hooper did something that no other Nix player is capable of, getting the ball at his feet in the box, holding off his man, and smacking it inside the near post on the turn. Such a beautiful striker’s goal. Suddenly it was 3-2 and a miracle comeback was just a goal away... then Bruno Fornaroli whipped one in from the edge of the area and it finished 4-2. Again, the risks you take. Committing forwards with ten men is always gonna leave pockets for a guy like Fornaroli to work in. You have to take that gamble and sometimes this is how it happens. Frustrating... but the Nix can take plenty from a second half performance like that. They outscored the Glory 2-1 while Hooper was on the pitch. Some very dumb goals were conceded and a confusing red card was given. Even still they were one moment of magic away from getting something out of the match with five minutes remaining.
Gary Hooper is the first Phoenix player to score twice in a game this season. He’s now the second top scorer for the team with four goals, trailing Davila’s 10. But then you already knew this team has had trouble making the most of their chances. There’s a really tough month of February to get through now, starting with this game and with home games against Melbourne City and Western United before they go away to Sydney FC. In other words the four teams that they lost to at the start of the campaign. They’ve already lost another but this was probably the hardest of the lot. This stretch does coincide with Reno Piscopo’s availability again while if Gary Hooper’s gonna keep banging them in like this then that’s really something. Uffie’s got some options to play with.
Uffie’s also got a decision to make with Tim Payne out suspended next week. There’s been some chatter around the traps about Walter Scott’s injury exposing a lack of depth at left back behind Libby Cacace but, like... I don’t wanna break it to ya but that lack of depth still existed even when Wally was fit. The same issue is true on the right side with Louis Fenton out for the season. Callan Elliot has been playing some left back for the WeeNix apparently so he shapes to be next in line on that side while Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi closed the Perth game at RB after coming on for Rufer in the wake of Payne’s red card. Brandon Wilson is supposed to be an option at fullback too though TAHW getting the nod ahead of him suggests he’ll get the same next week at Eden Park. Cool for Hudson-Wihongi... he hasn’t actually made an A-League start for the Phoenix yet. And he’s a solid enough player with the right skillset to do a job there, no dramas.
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