Phoenix leave it late to snatch points from the Reds

Wellington Phoenix came from behind to snatch victory in the fourth minute of stoppage time against second placed Adelaide United at AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Sunday.

In front of a crowd of over 14,000, Wellington’s ‘Yellow Fever’ were in full voice early on with the Phoenix having the better of the early exchanges in an open and entertaining start. Both Paul Ifill and Nick Ward had decent early sights at goal but were wasteful.

The Kiwi crowd were soon silenced however as Sergio van Dijk scored against the run of play in the 14th minute. Cassio’s pin-point free kick found the Dutchman whose header ricocheted off the upright and into the top corner past the stranded Mark Paston.

Adelaide continued to press, and had further chances in the first half from Fabian Barbiero and van Dijk but the scores remained 1-0 to the Reds at the break.

After their poor start, Wellington looked a brand new team in the second half, and came out firing. They equalised in just the first minute after the interval after some tidy play down the right saw Ben Sigmund cross perfectly for Tim Brown to stab home into an empty net.

Adelaide, clearly rattled after Wellington’s flying start, began to ease their way back into the contest though with Cassio and Marcos Flores beginning to find some rhythm.

Former Sydney FC youth player Iain Ramsey then missed a golden to put the Reds back in front when he attempted to chip Paston when through on goal, but his effort sailed harmlessly over.

At the other end, Ifill then had a contender for miss of the season when he fluffed a great chance after an inviting cross from the young substitute Marco Rojas.

The winner of the ‘Retro Ricki Youth Scholarship’ from the Yellow Fever was looking dangerous and fashioned another great chance for the Phoenix which was eventually charged down by the covering Reds defence.

Phoenix’s pressure continued with only Eugene Galekovic preventing Brown from doubling his tally for the afternoon with a smart save after the Kiwi international was found by Ifill’s brilliant chip. Galekovic was again the saviour for Adelaide saving a powerful effort from Rojas.

Things became even tougher for Adelaide when Travis Dodd was controversially sent off for what seemed to be minimal contact on Vince Lia.

Wellington have been almost unplayable at home in the past few seasons, and they continued to push for the winner as they looked to rediscover some of that unassailable home form with Ifill and Brown going agonisingly close in the final minutes.

Just as the game looked headed for a stalemate, Ben Sigmund eventually took advantage of Wellington’s numeric superiority, heading home from a Rojas corner in the final minute of stoppage time to send the home supporters into raptures.

The win gives Wellington a valuable three points boosting their hopes of a top six finish, while Adelaide will be ruing their missed chances as they try to make up ground on runaway leaders Brisbane Roar.