A narrow defeat for the Wellington Phoenix men upon their return from the international break.
The Phoenix have been beaten 1-0 by Macarthur FC at Sky Stadium in Wellington, with substitute Harrison Sawyer scoring the match-winner for the Bulls seven minutes from fulltime.
Macarthur ‘keeper Filip Kurto made a spectacular save in the third minute of second half stoppage time to deny Nix wingback Carlo Armiento a dramatic late equaliser.
It was Wellington’s only shot on target, but head coach Giancarlo Italiano doesn’t believe it tells the whole story of their performance.
“We still had most of the possession,” Italiano told media post-match. “Second half we improved significantly with the ball. We just couldn’t create effective chances.
“I was disappointed when we conceded late. It really wasn’t a dangerous phase. I felt as though we could have defended the cutback better as well.
“Overall, it felt like we hadn’t played for two weeks and that was the most disappointing thing, that we couldn’t take the form we’d had for the last six weeks.”
Italiano was full of praise for his goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi, who made some big saves to keep the Phoenix in the match.
“The one-on-one was exceptional. It was a top save at a crucial moment.
“The one before half-time I think he should make, but he got down well.
“Joshy is a good goalkeeper, he’s got big saves in him and he’s very capable of making those saves.”
Giancarlo Italiano made one change to the starting XI which started the derby defeat to Auckland FC with Canadian centre back Manjrekar James returning from a quad strain in place of New Zealand U-20 fullback Xuan Loke, who was named amongst the substitutes. Captain Alex Rufer took his place in midfield little over 48 hours after playing for the All Whites in New Jersey.
Macarthur settled the quicker of the two sides and centre back Matthew Jurman found the back of the net in the eighth minute from a well-worked short corner. Jurman’s delight was short-lived however as the assistant referee’s flag went up soon after as two Bulls’ players were offside.
Jurman showed his defensive prowess moments later to snuff out the Phoenix’s first opportunity. The veteran defender threw himself at Ramy Najjarine’s shot from the top of the box and Nix wingback Matt Sheridan sliced the follow up wide of target.
Armiento had an audacious effort on goal from wide on the left midway through the first half but it sailed well off target.
Ifeanyi Eze headed a Kazuki Nagasawa free-kick over the bar on the half hour mark before Macarthur came closest to breaking the deadlock.
Josh Oluwayemi made a sharp reflex save to keep out a toe-poked shot from South Korean forward Dong-won Ji.
Fin Roa Conchie shot over the bar from outside the box in the 39th minute before Eze had a half chance to put the Nix in front when he got on the end of a ball from Armiento. Unfortunately for him and Wellington he stabbed his first-time effort off target.
The Phoenix had more control of the game in the second half but it was Macarthur who had the first big goalscoring opportunity after halftime when Croatian forward Sime Grzan got in behind the Wellington defence and raced through on goal in the 61st minute.
Oluwayemi kept the Nix in the match with a top-drawer save, staying big and saving Grzan’s shot with his left leg.
Wellington had a chance to take the lead in the 70th minute when Sheridan delivered a cutback to the near post, but Macarthur centre back Tomislav Uskok was able to deny Nagasawa a shot on goal.
Italiano made his first substitution soon after, bringing on Corban Piper in place of Najjarine.
Piper almost made an immediate impact with a flicked on free-kick just eluding him at the back post.
Eze found the back of the net in the 77th minute, sweeping home from six yards out but the goal was quickly ruled out for offside in the build-up.
Issac Hughes came agonisingly close to ending the stalemate a couple of minutes later when he headed a pinpoint left-wing free-kick from Armiento narrowly wide of Macarthur’s right hand post.
Instead the Bulls found the back of the net in the 83rd minute when Sawyer squeezed a cutback past Oluwayemi.
The ‘keeper made another good stop soon after to deny Grzan a second time and keep the Phoenix in the game.
Armiento found some rare space in the third minute of added time and unleashed a thumping left-footed shot that Kurto acrobatically saved to secure Macarthur all three points.
The Wellington Phoenix will be back at Sky Stadium next Saturday to square-off against inform Adelaide United.
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE (17. Gabriel SLOANE-RODRIGUES 89th), 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 20. Ramy NAJJARINE (3. Corban PIPER 70th), 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matthew SHERIDAN (23. Luke SUPYK 89th).
Unused substitutes: 40. Eamonn MCCARRON (gk), 12. Dan EDWARDS, 24. Xuan LOKE, 37. Anaru CASSIDY.
Macarthur FC: 12. Filip KURTO (gk), 5. Matthew JURMAN, 6. Tomislav USKOK, 7. Sime GRZAN (11. BERNARDO 90+2), 10. Anthony CACERES, 13. Rafael DURAN MARTINEZ (28. Harrison SAWYER 76th), 19. Harry POLITIDIS, 22. Liam ROSE (17. Oliver RANDAZZO 76th), 25. Callum TALBOT, 26. Luke BRATTAN (c), 33. Dong-won JI (8. Luke VICKERY 65th).
Unused substitutes: 1. Alexander ROBINSON (gk), 14. Kristian POPOVIC, 18. Walter SCOTT.
Goals:
28. Harrison SAWYER (Macarthur FC) – 83rd
Cards:
14. Alex RUFER (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 27th
27. Matthew SHERIDAN (Wellington Phoenix) – yellow – 80th
