A rousing Wellington Phoenix fightback has fallen just short, with Adelaide United clinging on for a share of the spoils at Sky Stadium.
The Phoenix have come from two goals down at halftime to draw 2-2 with Adelaide in their first home game of 2026.
After just one shot at goal in the first half, Wellington had 14 unanswered after the interval.
Isaac Hughes and Corban Piper scored a header each and the Nix struck the woodwork twice but ultimately they weren’t able to find the back of the net a third time to win the match.
Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano was disappointed with the first half showing but pleased with the fightback in the second half.
“I hate cliches, but that was definitely a game of two halves,” Italiano told media post-match.
“The intent in the first 10-15 wasn’t where it should be. We conceded, disappointing. Credit to them for their second goal, it was a top goal. We should have had more pressure on the ball.
“Second half, we changed a couple of things. We executed really well. I was really happy with the subs [and] the intention going forward.
“To be fair, with the amount of chances that we had, we probably should have capitalised and probably could have won the game.
“It was one of those games where I think we probably could have scored at least three or four times in that second half.”
All Whites fullback Tim Payne made his return after an 11-week injury layoff and provided the cross for Piper’s equaliser in the 65th minute.
“Payney was capped at 60 [minutes], so I was trying to push him as much as I could.
“I made the joke that I knew he was going to assist so I hooked him when he made that assist. I was really happy.
“I think it took him a bit of time before he started finding his feet and getting into the game.
“About 50 minutes, I could see he got a bit of a second wind. I don’t think he wanted to be subbed, but it was just precautionary.”
Giancarlo Italiano made two changes to the starting XI which started the 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar last weekend with Payne and fellow defender Lukas Kelly-Heald returning to the side in place of suspended wingback Carlo Armiento and Fin Roa Conchie, who moved to the bench.
Off-season signing Nikola Mileusnic and 16-year-old goalkeeper Joseph Chalabi were named amongst the substitutes for the first time.
After an uneventful opening 10 minutes the match came to life.
Ramy Najjarine produced a curling effort from the right edge of the box which Adelaide goalkeeper Joshua Smits acrobatically kept out of the top corner. Smits almost tipped the resulting corner into his own net.
Two minutes later Adelaide took the lead from a sweeping attack, which was finished by Ryan White passing into the Wellington net from six yards out.
Nix goalkeeper Eamonn McCarron kept out a long-range free kick a short time after and parried away a dangerous cross-come-shot midway through the half.
Smits was untroubled for the remainder of half, while his opposite was kept busy.
McCarron had to save a wicked goal-bound deflection from an attempted Payne clearance and also saved another long-range free kick before scrambled the loose ball out for a corner
Duzel doubled Adelaide’s lead three minutes before halftime, unleashing an unstoppable shot from outside the box after the ball fortuitously fell to him in a bit of space.
Italiano responded by making a couple of changes at halftime. He brought on young forward Luke Brooke-Smith in place of defender Lukas Kelly-Heald and switched to a back four.
Brooke-Smith made a couple of promising early runs down the right flank as the Phoenix made an encouraging start to the second half.
The Nix began to camp themselves in Adelaide’s half and exert pressure on the Reds.
They got their reward in the 56th minute when Hughes found the back of the net when he got a glancing header to a right-wing Najjarine corner.
Najjarine struck the woodwork four minutes later with a curling effort from outside the box that had Smits scrambling.
The Dutchman made a double save shortly after the hour mark, stopping Ifeanyi Eze’s stinging effort before snuffing out Najjarine’s follow up.
There was nothing Smits could do in the 65th minute when Piper nodded home a great near post cross Payne, who was substituted immediately after the goal celebrations with Paulo Retre taking his place at right back.
Retre came within millimetres of scoring two goals in two games when he rattled the right-hand post with a shot from outside the box in the 77th minute.
Italiano made his final substitution five minutes later, bringing on Mileusnic in place of Eze. In doing so the off-season signing became the 200th Phoenix player to feature in the A-League.
Mileusnic had an opportunity to score the winner a handful of minutes into his debut. He produced a powerful first-time shot in the Adelaide penalty area but it was well-blocked by some desperate Reds’ defence.
The Nix kept pushing and they had the ball in the back of the net in the third minute of stoppage time, but the goal wasn’t awarded as Najjarine was offside in the build-up.
Captain Alex Rufer had the final opportunity with one of the last kicks of the game but he blazed over the bar after finding some space on the right side of the Adelaide box.
The final whistle blew moments later and Wellington had to be content with a share of the spoils.
The Wellington Phoenix will quickly turn their attentions to a two game New South Wales road trip, starting with high-flying Sydney FC next Sunday.
Wellington Phoenix: 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 6. Tim PAYNE (8. Paulo RETRE 67th), 7. Ifeanyi EZE (10. Nikola MILEUSNIC 82nd), 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD (29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH 46th), 20. Ramy NAJJARINE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matthew SHERIDAN.
Unused substitutes: 60. Joseph CHALABI (gk), 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE, 24. Xuan LOKE, 37. Anaru CASSIDY.
Adelaide United: 22. Joshua SMITS (gk), 4. Panagiotis KIKIANIS, 7. Ryan KITTO, 10. Juan MUNIZ (18. Jake NAJDOVSKI 79th), 11. Craig GOODWIN (c), 12. Jonny YULL, 14. Jay BARNETT, 23. Luke DUZEL, 36. Panasha MADANHA, 44. Ryan WHITE, 87. Anselmo DE MORAES (42. Austin AYOUBI 79th).
Unused substitutes: 40. Ethan COX (gk), 52. Sotirios PHILLIS, 62. Fabian TALLADIRA, 65. Joey GARUCCIO, 74. Amlani TATU.
Goals:
44. Ryan WHITE (Adelaide United) – 14th
23. Luke DUZEL (Adelaide United) – 44th
15. Isaac HUGHES (Wellington Phoenix) – 56th
3. Corban PIPER (Wellington Phoenix) – 65th
Cards:
3. Corban PIPER (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 28th
18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 30th
14. Alex RUFER (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 40th
11. Craig GOODWIN (Adelaide United) – yellow – 54th
87. Anselmo DE MORAES (Adelaide United) – yellow – 72nd
