For about seventy-five minutes that was an incredible, enthralling, enjoyable, and encouraging performance from the Nixies... and then it got very weird very quickly. From a 1-0 lead against the top side looking every bit worth the advantage to losing 3-1 and not entirely understanding how it happened. Fantastic advertisement for the A-League restart, sure, but a tough one to get a handle on as a Phoenix fan.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter too much. It’s a missed opportunity for a statement result against the inevitable premiers but the Phoenix still have two games in hand on Melbourne City (who are in NSW quarantine at the mo’) and are only four points back on them for second place. Take care of results elsewhere and there’s no dramas. Perth Glory are next up, with no Diego Castro, and that one was supposed to be played in Perth so it’s already swung closer to the Phoenix’s favours even without worrying about the personnel yarns. Perth came into the restart in fifth place and are probably the lowest ranked team that could feasibly catch the Nix so a win there creates even more distance between them and the pack.

Play the way they did against Sydney FC with something more closely resembling their top eleven and they’ll do it too. Let’s be honest, Sydney FC were gonna get that premiers plate either way. It would have been cool to delay the coronation but the Phoenix are firmly targetting second place here. Anything less than that given the way the cards have turned would be disappointing, as I wrote in the newsletter on Friday the path to championship contention has never been clearer for the Phoenix.

That’s one thing that this A-League return has confirmed for me: these are the two best teams in the competition. I just don’t see any of those other teams being able to keep up. They play the best football, they both still have full-strength squads, they have all the motivation and belief, they have the top two spots on the ladder entirely under their own control... methinks we haven’t seen the last of this particular fixture this season and if the fates should deem them to meet again then the Nix will roll up with an extra chip on their shoulder thanks to the wacky last fifteen minutes of this bad boy.

(A note on the ‘best football’ point: Uffie’s pretty clearly reading from the Sydney FC blueprint with how he’s set the Phoenix up, there’s a heap of influence there from his last job. Not a coincidence at all.)

THE GOOD STUFF FIRST

The vibe was still pretty positive from Ufuk Talay afterwards. Disappointed in a few of the decisions and the result and all that but he knows that this is about the long haul and what we saw from his fellas showed that they’re still the Wellington Phoenix we knew and loved from before lockdown. That’s not something to underestimate, aye.

The Nix came out playing that quick passing footy and looking to make things happen. There was some sloppiness from both teams in the first half in particular but that’s to be expected and especially from the Nix when their two most dangerous attackers were on the bench. Hence a lack of ruthless efficiency up front yet for most of this contest they were still the more aggressive, more affirmative team. One of two slippery moments at the back and Big Stef Marinovic did have to get his gloves dirty a couple times but hey we were playing the top side in the comp here, what did you expect? This performance, or the first 75 mins at least, was so heartening because it proved that the lockdown was only a pause and not a reset button for this team... which is going to be the toughest hurdle for all these teams to clear.

Two fellas stood out for me not only because of their efforts but also because of their situations: Alex Rufer and Louis Fenton. Both only playing because regulars Cam Devlin and Tim Payne were suspended - Payne’s still got a few more games to see out while Devvers will be back for the Perth game – and you could tell they were desperate to prove their cases for ongoing footy. Rufer was a combative force but he also mixed that up with those sneaky inlet passes into the frontline, keeping things progressing on attack. Great mobility to his game. Even had a couple half-chances to shoot. He was really good and that game was a reminder that he was only ever dropped to the bench because of the excellence of Cam Devlin and not because of any dramas of his own. Meanwhile Louis Fenton was solid at the back and a constant support out wide on attack. A few decent crosses too. Plus crucially his fitness was all good given he hadn’t played since the fourth game of the season. He’s gonna be an important player for the next few games so this was all nice and promising.

Also... didn’t Louis Fenton look a whole lot like Ivan Vicelich with the long hair and the headband thing? Alex Rufer had a similar look going on, pretty clear to see they weren’t backing the amateur hair-cutting attempts of their teammates. Fair enough too.

Plus Ben Waine got a start! His first of the season after eleven substitute appearances. He didn’t do a huge amount, got involved a few times on the break but otherwise couldn’t find much room through the middle, and was replaced by Callum McCowatt at the break although that did feel more like a tactical tweak than anything personal against Waine, with CMC going out on his usual left wing rather than a straight swap through the middle. Shout out to reserves keeper Zac Jones who was on the bench for his first ever A-League matchday squad (with Oli Sail out suspended) and also Callan Elliot snuck on in injury time for his first appearance of the season... I didn’t even notice that at the time but there you go. With three players suspended, only three others had to miss the matchday squad: Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, Walter Scott, and Sam Sutton were the unlucky ones.

Reno Piscopo had a quality game too. Gotta love how involved he was, we know he’s got the ability but here he led the team in shot attempts and cross attempts as he tried to spark things for his team. Might have been the absence of Uli Davila as the focal point that allowed Piscopo to have more influence, dunno, but Reno really stepped up when his team needed him. And typical excellence from Libby Cacace too. If he throws down another month of those ones then David Dome can add another zero to his asking price. Libby won the penalty and Piscopo scored the penalty. I though for a sec they might sub on Davila to take the spottie with his first touch but instead it was Piscopo with his final touch and he definitely deserved that goal, his second of the season.

A FEW RESERVATIONS

The biggest problem the Nix had in this game was having to balance the restart situation with their own ambitions. Uli Davila and Gary Hooper both started on the bench having been the last to join the squad in New South Wales (flying back directly from Mexico/England) and remember at the start of their stints here they each took a few games to build up to full pace. Hooper especially whose fitness was always a question and he didn’t play ninety minutes until his tenth match. He’s proven a useful bench option at times so it’ll be no big deal to ease him in that way although the Nix have been at their best with that Hooper/Ball combination out there so that’s what we’re building towards. But it might take a few games to get there.

David Ball was really quiet in this game, aye? Probably another reasoning in the Ben Waine substitution, as it mean Ball got to push further forward having started in that Davila role in the pocket.

As for Davila, he only needed that one game at the start of the season before he began scoring goals and showing what he’s capable of. A poor debut was followed by nineteen games of Johnny Warren Medal contention but there were shades of his debut against SFC as he got re-accustomed to things. This was his first substitute appearance for the Nix. For a player whose game is more about rhythm and control it’s a gig that doesn’t really suit him and that rustiness was there for all to see. Gave away the penalty, obviously. Also lost the ball a couple times including the turnover that led to SFC’s second goal. He’ll be all good from here on – better to jump straight on into a chilly swimming pool than to dip your toes – but his messy cameo did justify the decision to have him on the bench to start. And also showed why he probably won’t ever start on the bench again. (And even then he nearly sparked a winning goal... put a bookmark in that one until Decision #4).

Would those two disgusting counter attack goals from Trent Buhagiar have been scored if Matti Steinmann was still on the park?

Not too sure about that one. The first had a lot to do with Marinovic completely misjudging things although at the same time it was also the first (and then subsequently second) time in ages that the one blatantly obvious weakness in our centrebacks was exposed: a crippling lack of pace. Marinovic’s part was messy but I was surprised Taylor didn’t get a challenge in as Buhagiar rounded the keeper... he just couldn’t keep up. Meanwhile Luke DeVere wasn’t even in the picture.

Dunno if Steinmann would have specifically made a difference in either situation but he is one of those dudes whose influence is most noticeable when he’s not out there. Either way, horrible goals to concede and the nature and timing really left a hollow, shellshocked feeling given how well the game had been going.

THE DECISIONS

Which brings us to the main talking point. There were two penalties awarded in this game, one more decent shout declined, and an offside goal disallowed. Four major decisions and three of them went against the Wellington Phoenix... and there was no VAR to save them.

Why is there no VAR? That’s a bloody good question. IFAB have given leagues the option to suspend it during the pandemic and the A-League seem to have quite happily taken up that option. VAR has been a bit of a distracting factor at times and maybe they wanted to get back to the grassroots spirit of the sport without those lengthy technical deliberations... or maybe it’s just a cost-cutting scheme after Fox Sports held the league to ransom over a renegotiated broadcast deal during the break. It pisses you off, honestly, all these petty conflicts which don’t actually have the integrity of the sport in mind. Three quarters of the season had one process in place, now the last quarter has a different process... and they’re talking about maybe bringing it back for the finals? Not a lot of consistency there.

Granted the VAR hasn’t exactly proven foolproof in saving the Nix (and other teams, sure) from dud decisions. It’s not even about right and wrong, it’s more like there’s two distinct ways of refereeing: with VAR and without, where the same call is ruled differently depending on which one is in place. Marginal offsides that would never be spotted ordinarily, for example. Or sneaky handballs which look worse in freeze frame and slo-mo. Speaking of which...

Decision #1

14th minute, Nix with a corner, some ping pong football in the box, and Alex Rufer volleys one against Rhyan Grant. He had his arm outstretched though it caught him closer to the underarm region. I don’t really think that’s penalty-worthy myself but the other day Chris Wood won one for Burnley that was less of a handball than that. Nearly bicycle-kicked Matt Doherty in the face and Doherty put his arm up to protect himself and the ball hit that arm. Ref pointed to the spot, VAR upheld the decision... and The Woodsman mashed it into the top corner for the 96th minute equaliser. This would have been soft but given the way VAR adjudicates them suckers you’d have to think there was a fair chance it would’ve been given and Uffie therefore had every right to have a cheeky word at the half with the ref, elbow pointed to the sky in mimicry of Grant’s motion and everything.

Decision #2

Deadset penalty, no worries there. Libby being Libby with that rapid footwork and that deceptive pace off the mark and while he was maybe taking the ball too deep to recover he was also clearly hacked at by Ryan McGowan. Clearest one of the lot.

Decision #3

About ten minutes after the Phoenix took the lead from the spot, Adam Le Fondre levelled up from the opposite spot after Ulises Davila gave away a strange penalty himself. No doubt that the ball his his arm. Right about the same part of the arm that the Rhyan Grant one hit, albeit in different circumstances. Davila initially controlled it (awkwardly) on his chest with nobody around him but then it kinda rolled up his arm. S’pose you’ve gotta give that although part of the new(est) handball interpretations does include a thing about extra leeway for deflections. But since Davila’s arm was outstretched and since it was his own bad touch that led to it I’m not sure we can really complain.

Decision #4

Davila shoots, Hooper deflects it into the goal as he wrong-foots Andrew Redmayne with the touch. But the flag goes up for offside. This would have made it 2-1 to the Phoenix and instead they went on to lose it 3-1. But was McGowan actually playing Hooper on?

This angle isn’t definitive. We can’t see where McGowan’s back foot is and from a more clearly side-on angle Hooper’s back shoulder might still have done him in (his arm doesn’t count). It’s hard to tell. It looks like he’s onside from here but from a linesman’s point of view, because of the motion of attacker and defender heading in opposite ways, it’s naturally going to look like an offside. The thing is, back in February this would have been definitively judged one way or the other by the video ref and now in July we don’t get that clarification because the A-League’s moved the goalposts mid-season.

Ah well, it’s all more fuel for the fire that is the Welly Nix Title Quest (WNTQ for future reference). They might have let it slip towards the end but on another day a couple decisions go their way and the scoreline is reversed. Rather that other day be in a grand final than in a mostly meaningless regular season game. Signs are good.

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