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Phoenix 0 Wanderers 1
Fulltime
Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Yeboah 73') Wellington Phoenix 0
90th minute + 4: Piscopo's left corner is deflected out for another on the right. This one is headed on goal by Ball, but deflected for another corner, which is finally cleared as the final whistle sounds.
Wanderers hold on for a win that keeps their playoff hopes alive, while the result is a setback for the Phoenix hopes of finishing second.
90th minute + 3: Cacace makes another run down the left and is brought down by Adam. Piscopo's set kick is deflected out for a corner.
90th minute +1: Cacace probes into the box, but he's confronted by two defenders and throws himself to the ground, trying to draw a penalty, but to no avail.
90th minute: Four extra minutes added on.
88th minute: A Wanderers corner is meet by Duke, but his header is high.
85th minute: Phoenix continue to mount attacks, but so far, Western Sydney are equal to them. Waine comes on for Steinmann, so Talay trying to pull a goal back in the dying stages.
84th minute: Ball is again brought down on the edge of the area and McGowan is shown yellow.
Piscopo's free-kick can't clear the wall this time.
82nd minute: Wanderers have brought on three subs at once, so some fresh legs for the final moments of this clash.
81st minute: Duke sprints down the left and crosses, but Cox can't connect in front of goal, while McGing is left floundering.
80th minute: Piscopo's kick clears the wall, but keeps rising over the crossbar.
78th minute: Sotirio crosses well from the right, but misses Ball in the area.
The ball bounces around and Ball is brought down outside the area for a free-kick. They're actually creating some chances, albeit a man down.
76th minute: Piscopo gets in behind the defence and his ball across the face of goal is deflected out for a corner, which is cleared.
74th minute: GOAL to Yeboah
Russell curls a cross from the right and finds Yeboah's head, deflecting past Marinovic and into the far side of the net. DeVere would have cut that ball off, but he's not there.
That's probably just reward for Wanderers, but Phoenix have been very disjointed and struggling to manufacturer any chances of their own.
72nd minute: Russell has the ball down the right, but he's corralled by two defenders and the ball is eventually herded over the byline by Cacace.
67th minute: Schwegler's kick deflects off the three-man wall harmlessly.
Talay brings on McGing and Sotirio, with Davila leaving the field. One man down, Phoenix are now playing for a draw.
65th minute: DeVere brings down Yeboah on the edge of the box and he's shown a second yellow for the game - he's gone.
Phoenix are lucky that happened just outisde the area, so no penalty, but they must defend this free-kick.
62nd minute: Davila has a real chance down the left, but his cross finds no-one and is cleared.
Tempers are getting heated, with some harsh words and shoving. Devlin earns a yellow card for his part, while Talay is also booked.
58th minute: Jurman cops a stray elbow from Ball and is bleeding from the mouth.
Another Wanderers attack breaks down, when Cox collides with DeVere in the area and concedes a clearing free-kick.
54th minute: Finally, Phoenix are building outside the Wanderers box, but the move breaks down.
Wanderers break quickly, but Duke is felled by DeVere, who has a yellow card. Free kick outside the box curls towards the far post, but Marinovic covers Zeigler's deflection.
52nd minute: Phoenix are looking very out of sorts here, struggling to get out of their own half, as Wanderers play the ball back and forth outside the box.
50th minute: Cacace turns the ball over deep inside his own half, but the Phoenix are quick to regather.
46th minute: Wanderers have made a change with Schwegler coming on for O'Doherty.
Davila unleashes a left foot from outside the box, but it's way high.
45th+6 minutes: Whistle blows for halftime. Neither team has managed to find the net, although Ball's early effort found both posts and may have been worth more with technology available.
45th+3 minutes: Fenton's throw-in is stolen by Wanderers, who again penetrate the area, before Cox's effort is defused by Fenton and Marinovic.
45th minute: Six extra minutes have been added, after it took a while to get Muller off the field injured.
Wanderers manufacture a chance, with Duke making ground down the left and then getting a return pass from Cox in front of goal. Luckily, Marinovic is equal to the task.
43rd minute: Duke spends way too much time trying to decide his next move and is robbed from behind by Devlin.
Wanderers venture into the area and Marinovic somehow clears off an advancing attacker.
42nd minute: McCowatt puts a nice ball through for Cacace to meet, but his first-time left foot is easily cut off by the defence.
40th minute: Wanderers building up outside the box, but the Yeboah hasn't read it and and the ball dribbles over the byline.
News on Muller is good - he has a cut lip and a bruised jaw, but nothing serious.
36th minute: Wanderers concede a free kick on the edge of their area, although no-one can quite figure out why.
McCowatt's kick clears the wall, but curls directly into keeper Prendergast's arms.
35th minute: Wanderers clear quicly and Georgievski centres from the left, but Marinovic reads it well and cuts it off, before Duke can connect.
34th minute: Nice Phoenix build-up on the right, Davila cross to the far post and Cacace earns a corner, as his shot deflects off a defender.
32nd minute: Steinmann plays up the left sideline to McCowatt, but he's confronted by two defenders and can't beat them.
30th minute: Taylor concedes a corner, after the ball defelcts off him. The cross is cleared easily by Hooper.
28th minute: Devlin goes down after a challenge from behind. Not much in that, but the Phoenix players must beware some retaliation for their recent indiscretions.
Fenton is booed next time he touches the ball.
21st minute: As the Wanderers take off up field, Muller is lying on the ground, out cold. Replays show Fenton's mid-air challenge catches his rival under the chin with his head.
Fenton has a yellow card and really got away with another ugly tackle earlier in the game that could have seen him ejected with a second yellow. A couple of the Phoenix players living dangerously.
Medics have brought out a stretcher for Muller, so this is taking a bit of time. Yeboah replaces him, as he's carried off.
19th minute: O'Doherty is booked for a crude tackle on Ball, giving the Phoenix a prime attacking free kick on the right. Wanderers clear quickly and Russell takes a lash from 40m out that just clears the Phoenix cross bar.
18th minute: Devlin incurrs three quick free kicks, so he's skating on ice.
15th minute: Cacace plays a long ball up the left, Ball crosses, but Fenton gets tangled with a defender and another teammate, and can't connect cleanly.
12th minute: McCowatt has the ball on toe into the box, but his shirt is being tugged from behind - undetected.
Three defenders eventually close the Phoenix player down and clear.
11th minute: Wanderers enjoying some more possession and have a lash from outside the area, but well wide.
Eighth minute: Nice ball into the Western Sydney box, but they clear.
Cacace sends another into the area, Hooper is chasing, but ball again cleared.
Third minute: Good build-up from the Nix and Ball unleashes a left from the edge of the penalty box, hitting the left post and then the right, without actually crossing the line.
How did that not score? No video review here, so play continues.
Phoenix earn a corner, but Davila's cross swings into inside the near post.
Second minute: DeVere earns a goalkick, playing the ball into Muller on the byline.
First minute: Western Sydney to kick off, but initial exchanges take place in midfield.
Pre-game: Biggest surprise in the Phoenix starting line-up is Cullum McCowatt in for Reno Piscopo up front.
Seven changes from the side that lined up against Adelaide last week.
Wanderers are coming off a disappointing draw with Central Coast Mariners on Monday - their first outing since the competition restarted. They still have a chance to snatch a top-six playoff spot, but they need a win tonight.
Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the A-League regular season clash between Wellington Phoenix and Western Sydney Wanderers.
Since resuming the Aussie football season this month, the Phoenix have managed a win over Perth Glory, a loss to top-of-the-table Sydney FC and drew with Adelaide United last week.
They probably should have won that Adelaide game, after dominating the second half, but Mexican striker Ulises Davila missed a penalty late in the game that would have given them maximum points.
That result means Sydney cannot be caught atop the ladder, but it also put Wellington into second spot - on goal difference - over Melbourne City.
The Phoenix and Melbourne have now played the same number of games, with three more each to play in the regular season, so these last couple of weeks are now a straight sprint for that coveted second spot into the playoffs.
With three games in eight days, Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay elected to rotate his roster to distribute playing time, while also not overtaxing his frontline players. He has promised to field his best line-up over the next three outings, as he prepares his team for a deep run into the post-season.
Wellington Phoenix: 1-Stefan Marinovic (GK), 2-Liam McGing, 3-Luke Devere, 5-Matti Steinmann, 7-Reno Piscopo, 8-Cameron Devlin, 9-David Ball, 10-Ulises Davila, 11-Jaushua Sotirio, 12-Brandon Wilson, 13-Liberato Cacace, 14-Alex Rufer, 16-Louis Fenton, 17-Callan Elliot, 21-Callum McCowatt, 27-Steven Taylor (c), 30-Zac Jones (GK), 31-Ben Waine, 32-Sam Sutton, 88-Gary Hooper
Western Sydney Wanderers: 4-Dylan McGowan, 5-Daniel Georgievksi, 6-Matthew Jurman, 7-Mitchell Duke (c), 8-Jordan O’doherty, 9-Nicolai Muller, 10-Simon Cox, 11-Bruce Kamau, 13-Tass Mourdoukoutas, 16-Mathieu Cordier, 17-Keanu Baccus, 19-Pirmin Schwegler, 22-Nick Sullivan, 27-Kwame Yeboah, 28-Fabian Monge, 33-Tate Russell, 34-Patrick Ziegler, 35-Mohamed Adam, 40-Nick Suman (GK), 50-Tristan Prendergast (GK)
TAB: Wellington Phoenix $2.20, Western Sydney Wanderers $3.10, Draw $3.50
Phoenix coach defends Davila after costly penalty miss
Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay refuses to lay blame on Ulises Davila for his poor penalty attempt during his side's 1-1 draw against Adelaide United on Saturday night.
Davila had his penalty kick saved by Adelaide keeper Paul Izzo in the 87th minute, ending the Mexican's perfect record from the spot this season.
The goal would've secured a come-from-behind win for the Phoenix, who trailed 1-0 midway through the second half.
Adelaide hit the front through Norwegian striker Kristian Opseth in the 60th minute, but that was quickly cancelled out, when Josh Sotirio found the back of the net five minutes later.
Despite the result, the Phoenix moved above Melbourne City into second place on the A-League standings, although the draw means Talay's side can't catch Sydney FC atop the ladder.
"Uli has scored a lot of goals for us this season and won a lot of games for us," says Talay. "I'm sure he's disappointed that he's missed, but that's football sometimes.
"I'm very proud of the group and proud of the depth in the squad we have. We could have walked away with three points, but that's football."
After beating Perth Glory 72 hours earlier, Talay made six changes to his team, with youngsters Callan Elliot and Sam Sutton earning their first A-League starts.
Regular starters Luke DeVere, David Ball, Cameron Devlin and Matti Steinmann did not feature in the match, while Gary Hooper and captain Steven Taylor both came off in the second half for well-earned rests.
"We had three games in [nine] days, so there was always going to be a chance that we'd have to rotate and rest players," Talay adds.
"When you think about it, having 3-4 months off and playing three games in a short span was always going to be tough."
Their next outing is against Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday.
