Melbourne Victory have claimed bragging rights in their fledgling rivalry with the Wellington Phoenix.
The Victory have held on to beat the Phoenix 3-2 at Sky Stadium in Wellington, withstanding a late Nix fightback.
It’s just their third win over Wellington in their past eight meetings, breaking a deadlock between the two sides.
Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano was disappointed with the three goals his side conceded.
“I don’t mind losing, I don’t mind when teams outplay us, I don’t mind if a team tactically do things to make it hard for us, but for me I think we gave them three goals today,” Italiano told media post-match.
“To concede after three minutes I thought it was poor defending, the corner was poor defending…and then we get transitioned for the third goal.”
Nikolaos Vergos ran more than 50 metres unopposed before scoring Victory’s third, which frustrated Italiano the most.
“We had six players around the ball and we essentially gave up a shot from the top of the box so I was disappointed in that regard.
“It’s not acceptable to defend in those moments like that [when] you have the ascendancy and you have the players.
“We could have fouled. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? A yellow card?
“The defensive line could have stepped when they know there’s danger.”
Despite the defensive mistakes, Italiano felt they could have claimed a share of the spoils.
“What I liked about today was that we didn’t give up, which was good.
“A little bit more polish today with the ball [and] a little bit more control we probably would have scored the third or fourth.”
Giancarlo Italiano named the same XI which started Sunday’s 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets. He made two changes to the bench with Fin Roa Conchie and Jayden Smith replacing Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues and Lachlan Candy, who played for the reserves earlier in the afternoon with Sloane-Rodrigues scoring in a 2-0 win over Napier City Rovers.
The Victory took the early lead with Socceroos forward Nishan Velupillay slotting home with just three minutes on the clock.
The visitors came close to making it 2-0 moments later but Scott Wootton was able to clear Zinedine Machach’s shot off the line.
The Phoenix drew level in the 10th minute when Corban Piper toed home a free-flowing end-to-end attack.
It was Piper’s third goal of the season and second in as many matches at Sky Stadium.
The Victory continued to dominate possession after Wellington’s equaliser but weren’t able to test Josh Oluwayemi in Wellington’s goal for the next 20 minutes.
Oluwayemi was however kept busy after the half hour mark.
He showed his great short-stopping ability to keep out efforts from Machach, Velupillay, Nikolaos Vergos and Daniel Arzani, the last two of which were in quick succession and the pick of the bunch.
The Nix responded well to the visitors’ foray and finished the half strongly.
Sam Sutton thumped a volley that deflected over the bar for Wellington’s first corner of the match and Hideki Ishige struck the post after getting on the end of a direct ball from Scott Wootton. Ishige was eventually flagged for offside but it was a tight call that may have needed intervention from the Video Assistant Referee.
Machach restored Victory’s lead in the first minute of stoppage time when he headed home their ninth corner of the match.
The Phoenix created an opportunity to equalise on the stroke of halftime but Isaac Hughes blazed his effort over the bar.
Vergos gave the visitors a two goal advantage five minutes into the second half with a stunning solo effort. He drove forward from deep inside his own half and then unleashed a shot from the edge of the area, which kissed off the post and into the back of the net.
Italiano responded by making a triple change soon after, bringing on Paulo Retre, Luke Brooke-Smith and Lukas Kelly-Heald on in place of Ishige, Kazuki Nagasawa and Matt Sheridan respectively.
Retre got the Nix back in the match with quarter of an hour remaining.
He found the top left-hand corner of Victory’s goal with a quality first-time finish after Tim Payne picked out the substitute on the edge of the D at the top of the visitors’ box.
Unfortunately, Retre injured his hamstring moments before shooting and had to be replaced soon after by Nathan Walker.
Wellington continued to push numbers forward in search of an equaliser and they earned a few set pieces in the final third, but were ultimately unable to test Victory ‘keeper Mitch Langerak.
Piper, who was a constant threat throughout, came closest in the 90th minute when he headed a right-wing cross from Payne narrowly over the bar.
But Melbourne Victory held on to claim all three points.
The Wellington Phoenix head back across the Tasman next week to play Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Good Friday.
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Scott WOOTTON, 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 9. Hideki ISHIGE (8. Paulo RETRE 56th (41. Nathan WALKER 79th)), 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES (5. Fin ROA CONCHIE 87th), 19. Sam SUTTON, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA (29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH 56th), 27. Matthew SHERIDAN (18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD 56th).
Unused substitutes: 35. Dublin BOON (gk), 39. Jayden SMITH.
Melbourne Victory: 1. Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 4. Lachlan JACKSON, 6. Ryan TEAGUE (27. Reno PISCOPO 56th (18. Fabian MONGE 80th)), 7. Daniel ARZANI (23. Alexander BADOLATO 66th), 8. Zinedine MACHACH, 9. Nikolaos VERGOS (10. Bruno FORNAROLI 80th), 14. Jordi VALADON, 17. Nishan VELUPILLAY, 21. Roderick MIRANDA (c) (5. Brendan HAMILL 65th), 22. Joshua RAWLINS, 28. Kasey BOS.
Unused substitutes: 25. Jack DUNCAN (gk), 16. Joshua INSERRA.
Goals:
17. Nishan VELUPILLAY (Melbourne Victory) – 4th
3. Corban PIPER (Wellington Phoenix) – 10th
8. Zinedine MACHACH (Melbourne Victory) – 45+1
9. Nikolaos VERGOS (Melbourne Victory) – 50th
8. Paulo RETRE (Wellington Phoenix) – 75th
Cards:
4. Lachlan JACKSON (Melbourne Victory) – yellow – 57th
5. Brendan HAMILL (Melbourne Victory) – yellow – 78th
