It was anything but a Good Friday for the Wellington Phoenix as an inability to score goals, on the road, again cost them dearly as they were beaten 3-1 by Adelaide United.
When Logan Rogerson converted an 83rd minute penalty kick he had earned himself, it was only the eighth goal the Phoenix have scored away from home this season.
After a bright start, the Phoenix faded as the game progressed, but it could have been so different had Roy Krishna scored in the third minute instead of hitting the upright, but to be fair to him, the Phoenix should have been taking a penalty when he had his shot.
How the VAR wasn’t brought into play when Nathan Burns was tripped in the penalty area by Ben Garuccio, only referee Peter Green and whoever was running the VAR will know.
Instead of probably being one up, the Phoenix had goalkeeper Oli Sail to thank for only being one down at the halftime break.
Adelaide had 10 shots to the Phoenix one in the first 45 minutes and Sail produced six top-class saves to keep his team level till he was finally beaten in first half injury time by a close range Johan Absolonsen header from a superb cross by Michael Marrone.
Garruccio made it 2-0 in the 60th minute when he slipped past fullback Scott Galloway and unleashed a shot that Sail had no chance of stopping.
Three minutes later the game was safe in Adelaide’s hands as Konstandopoulos scored their third goal after a goalmouth scramble.
The visitors finally got some reward for their efforts in the 83rd minute when Logan Rogerson was brought down in the penalty area.
Rogerson, who scored his first A-League goal against Brisbane earlier this week, picked himself up, grabbed the ball and didn’t give any of his experienced team-mates the chance of taking it off him.
He hit the ball straight at goalkeeper Paul Izzo but it went under the custodian and into the net.
Asked after the game about his determination to take the spot kick Rogerson said he wouldn’t have slept had he let someone else take it.
