Adelaide United stunned as Wellington Phoenix break Hindmarsh drought
Wellington Phoenix have recorded their first win at Hindmarsh Stadium in five years after coming from behind to shock high-flying Adelaide United. WATCH THE MATCH HIGHLIGHTS.
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Wellington Phoenix caused a major upset beating Adelaide United 2-1 at Hindmarsh Stadium on Sunday.
The Phoenix recorded its first win at the venue in five years after coming from behind.
Nikola Mileusnic wasn’t having the best of games until the 57th minute when he scored one of the most delightful goals of the season.
It is sure to be asked to be repeated again in his own time.
The left footed volley with the outside of the boot was sublime after Riley McGree provided the assist with a header.
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David Ball equalised when he latched onto a cutback from Jaushua Sotirio 10 minutes later to quickly erase the ecstasy of Mileusnic’s wonder goal.
Two minutes later Phoenix was in front when Liberato Cacace won a spot kick.
Ulises Davila smacked the ball home with a perfect left footed strike to give Phoenix consecutive A-League wins.
THE MATCH
Phoenix clearly created the better chances of the first half and rookie coach Ufuk Talay outfoxed the experienced Dutchman Gertjan Verbeek.
The visitors with the ball looked great as Mexican Davila controlled the tempo with a beautiful left foot.
Reno Piscopo used his street smarts to beat Reds defenders and David Ball always gave his side options.
Luckily goalkeeper Paul Izzo was very aware as he made super saves from Ball, Jaushua Sotirio and Piscopo as the visitors had 11 shots to three in the first half.
Phoenix without the ball were in difficulty via Adelaide’s leg and ball speed and relentless press but they were impotent for the first 45 minutes except for a Michael Maria header which was deflected for a corner.
THE REDS WINNING STREAK
By half time Verbeek had seen enough and the five game winning streak was under serious threat.
He predicted correctly on Saturday pregame when he said United would lose more games because he wasn’t entirely convinced by Adelaide at times.
He was right.
So at half time he hooked Ben Halloran and Al Hassan Toure for Kristian Opseth and George Blackwood and changed the rhythm using hold up play and thought rather than speed in a bid to quell Wellington’s dominance.
He changed formation when Phoenix was up 2-1 deploying Ryan Kitto off the bench as the left winger, Mileusnic moved to the right flank and McGree was benched.
Blackwood moved to the No.10 role but Phoenix prevailed.
VAR
Referee Adam Fielding was spared a howler when he pointed to the penalty spot on the half-hour when Sotirio was up-ended by Adelaide skipper Michael Jakobsen - inside the box thought the match official.
The video assistant referee Kris Griffiths-Jones despite being more than 1000km away did his job correctly before Fielding’s obvious error was amended to a free kick outside the box.
A prime example of why VAR is a good thing but it still has it faults.
ADELAIDE UNITED (Nikola Mileusnic 57m)
WELLINGTON PHOENIX (David Ball 67m, Ulises Davila 79m) at Coopers Stadium
Crowd: 6207
Adelaide (4-3-3): Izzo; Strain, Marrone, Jakobsen, Maria; D’Arrigo, Troisi, McGree (Kitto 79m); Halloran (Blackwood 46m), Mileusnic; Toure (Opseth 46m)
Phoenix (4-2-3-1): Marinovic; Payne, Taylor (c), Devere, Cacace; Rufer, Steinmann (Hooper 66m); Sotirio (McCowatt 83m), Davila, Piscopo (Devlin 72m); Ball
Referee: Adam Fielding
Yellow cards: - Cacace (Phoenix)
Red cards: —