Wellington Phoenix deny Adelaide in Auckland

In front of a record crowd for a regular season game in the Hyundai A-League in New Zealand, Adelaide United failed to hold on to a slender one goal lead as the home side found an equaliser with six minutes remaining courtesy of a Boogard own goal.

Wellington Phoenix did more of the attacking in the opening period however they were limited to half-chances as the United defence did well to hold their ground. The Phoenix showed their attacking intent early on and although they had five corners in five minutes, the deliveries failed to cause any real threat.

For the visitors, Iain Ramsay had a great chance to open the scoring, after a quick counter attack which left the visitors in a three on one situation, Vidosic set up the young Australian who managed to blast his effort well over the bar.

Greenacre had an opportunity to score his third goal of the A-League season after a Bertos corner was flicked into the six-yard box by Smith, the Englishman however failed to clearly connect with the ball and watched his effort fly over the bar.

With only a couple of minutes remaining in the first half, Adelaide United took the lead against the run of play as Dario Vidosic delivered a picture perfect ball which Bruce Djite slotted past the rushing Warner.

United went into the break with a slender one-goal lead, much to the disappointed of the Eden Park faithful.

Both sides made their intentions known early in the second half, with the home side going on the attack early, while the visiting United were happy to sit back and try to hit their opponents on the counter attack.

Ricky Herbert decided to bring on the experienced Paul Ifill to add pace to the attacking third, while with twenty minutes remaining Brazilian Daniel was also introduced.

The substitution of Ifill paid dividends for Wellington as he constantly caused problems for the Adelaide backline, while also playing a crucial role in the equaliser. With seven minutes of normal time remaining, the former Millwall and Sheffield United winger delivered a wonderful cross into the area which Nigel Boogard headed into his own net.

The home side almost snatched all three points deep into injury time, as a Tim Brown shot was cleared off the line by Usucar.
Both sides had to settle for a draw, with only nine shots between both sides, proving that the result was nothing but fair. The Phoenix remain ninth spot on the ladder with six points, while Adelaide United jump up to seventh with Victory yet to play.

The Football Sack Player of the Year votes

3 votes - Ben Sigmund
2 votes - Paul Ifill
1 vote - Bruce Djite
WP – Tony WARNER, Manny MUSCAT, Tony LOCHHEAD, Tim BROWN, Leo BERTOS, Chris GREENACRE, Nick WARD (DANIEL 72nd min), Vince LIA (Brent GRIFFITHS 88TH min), Ben SIGMUND, Andrew DURANTE, Alex SMITH (Paul IFILL 58TH min). Subs not used – Mark PASTON.

AU – Eugene GALEKOVIC, Nigel BOOGARD, Jon MCKAIN, CASSIO (Osama MALIK 38th min), Zenon CARAVELLA, Dario VIDOSIC (Ricardo DA SILVA 89th min), Bruce DJITE, Cameron WATSON, Spase DILEVSKI, Iain RAMSAY (Fabian BARBIERO 81st min), Francisco USUCAR. Subs not used – Nicolas MUNRO.