The Wellington Phoenix have gone top of the embryonic A-League table.
A comfortable 2-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners at Hnry Stadium has given the club their best ever start to an A-League men’s season.
Rafael Durán scored his first for the side, before Corban Piper bagged straight afterwards to seal the three points.
Head coach Chris Greenacre is delighted with the step up in performance throughout the game.
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t pleased with the performance in the first half,” he told media post-match.
“I don’t really feel we got into our rhythm, how we can play and that was quite frustrating.
“To be fair, Mariners wanted it a lot more than we did. There were a lot of 50-50 challenges they were in front on, and we had a couple of words at halftime and tried to tweak a couple of bits.
“Delighted with the way we came out in the second half and to get two goals at home quite quickly sort of sealed it.”
And Piper’s contribution was key.
“He gets the fans off their seats, he’s a real problem, he causes mayhem to be brutally honest, and he’s really difficult to play against.
“He’s worked really hard in pre-season, we’ve tweaked and refined his game a little bit and he’s still got loads to improve.
“He’s still at a young age where there’s lots and lots of potential there and he can take the game as high as he wants to take it.”
The Wellington Phoenix made one change to the lineup that beat Melbourne Victory 2-1, with captain Alex Rufer replacing Luke Mitchell, who dropped to the bench.
It was a cagey start with both sides feeling each other out.
The first flashpoint came 19 minutes in, when Bill Tuiloma produced a stunning piece of defending.
Oli Lavale had snuck in behind the Nix defensive line and dinked the ball over Henry Gray, but Tuiloma somehow managed to sprint full pelt and hook the danger clear from right on the goal line.
And just a couple of minutes later, the Nix were denied by equally fine margins.
Corban Piper spun his man and played in Rafael Durán, who accelerated clearly before unselfishly squaring back to Piper to tap home.
A lengthy VAR check concluded that the Mexican was a shade offside initially, and the goal was ruled out.
Piper almost made up for it instantly, sprinting in behind and just failing to get a clean shot away under heavy pressure from the Mariners.
It was constant Nix pressure for the rest of the first half, but they were unable to find the right quality in the final third to take the lead.
It didn’t take long for them to produce that extra gear in the second half however.
James McGarry was played down the left and flashed a cross for the onrushing Bryce Duke, who saw his header well saved by Andrew Redmayne.
The ball was not cleared, finding its way to Matt Sheridan on the byline, who for the second consecutive week stood up a perfect cross.
Durán duly powered a header home from close range.
And the afternoon became even better when Durán was sent through by Duke, forcing Redmayne to tip wide, but only to Kazuki Nagasawa’s feet.
Nagasawa showed great presence of mind to tap back to the open Piper who had a simple finish to make it 2-0.
More chances kept flowing, McGarry firing over from an angle and Max Anderson passing when perhaps better placed to shoot.
The first Nix change came on 70 minutes, Riley Bidois replacing the goalscorer Durán.
There was almost a third soon afterwards, Tuiloma stretching to make contact with a free kick and crashing the ball against the bar, although he may have been offside regardless.
Piper was in the mood for more, and only Redmayne could deny him after Bidois had sent him clean through.
That was his last action as both he and Duke departed the field, replaced by Nathan Walker and Luke Mitchell.
The Nix comfortably saw out the game, and almost added more to the scoreline on the counter-attack before the final whistle.
The Wellington Phoenix men are on the road next weekend, travelling to reigning premiers Newcastle Jets to play next Saturday.
Wellington Phoenix: 13. Henry GRAY (gk), 7. Bryce DUKE (17. Nathan WALKER 84th), 8. Max ANDERSON, 9. Rafael DURÁN (11. Riley BIDOIS 70th), 14. Alex RUFER, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 23. James MCGARRY, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matthew SHERIDAN, 28. Bill TUILOMA, 99. Corban PIPER (35. Luke MITCHELL 84th).
Unused substitutes: 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 5. Walter SCOTT, 24. Xuan LOKE, 34. Dylan GARDINER.
Central Coast Mariners: 30. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 3. Diesel HERRINGTON, 5. Lucas MAURAGIS, 6. Haine EAMES (45. Jesse MANTELL 61st), 8. Chris DONNELL, 9. Oliver LAVALE, 12. Noah MCCANN, 37. Bailey BRANDTMAN (43. Luke BECVINOVSKI 62nd), 39. Alex BOLTON (22. Arthur DE LIMA 46th), 51. Ty MCKIBBIN (41. Shumba MUTOKOYI 62nd), 72. Ali AUGLAH (42. Max NAYLOR 72nd).
Unused substitutions: 50. Jai AJANOVIC (gk), 46. Callum MCASKEY.
Goals:
9. Rafael DURÁN (Wellington Phoenix) – 55th
99. Corban PIPER (Wellington Phoenix) – 57th
Cards:
72. Ali AUGLAH (Central Coast Mariners) – yellow – 59th41. Shumba MUTOKOYI (Central Coast Mariners) – yellow – 90+2
