Wellington Phoenix secure first win on the road

The depressing weather matched the depressingly, but unsurprisingly, empty stadium at Skilled Park for Wellington Phoenix's visit to the Gold Coast for Sunday evening's Hyundai A-League match.

Denied an opening round win at the same stadium thanks to an 89th minute stunner from James Brown, Wellington were still yet to register a win on their travels going in to the match against the cellar-dwellars, who themselves had only managed three wins to date.

The hosts went in to the match unchanged, while the visitors made four changes to their starting line-up from last time out, most notably Mark Paston replacing Tony Warner in goal for the first time since these two sides met in round one.

In that match Chris Greenacre gave the visitors the lead with almost the first attack of the game, and it was almost a carbon copy again as the former Manchester City striker forced Jerrad Tyson to tip his controlled volley over the bar in just the second minute.

A perfect playing surface made slick by the rain resulted in a frenetic start to the match as both sides looked to play an up-tempo style of play.

For all the attacking endeavour of the two sides there was very little in the way of genuine chances for either side in the first half hour.

While Gold Coast had the lion's share of possession their attacking threat was limited to Ben Halloran, attempting to find the space to shoot from the edge of the area. That was until the 39th minute, when a crossed ball fell for Paul Beekmans six yards from goal, who was denied thanks to a point-blank save from Paston.

The half time statistic of 17 shots between the two sides but only 4 on target gave a fair reflection of a first half lacking in quality in the final third.

Gold Coast United's coach Miron Bleiberg gave his charges instructions to get more shots on target in the second half, and it took just 22 seconds for left back Adama Traore to burst into the penalty area and have his shot smash against the upright.

Within the first 180 seconds of the half Traore, Beekmans, James Brown and Maceo Rigters had all pulled trigger, but it was Peter Jungschlager who was the most unlucky. The Dutchman managed to squeeze his low drive under Paston, only for the ball to be hacked clear by Manny Muscat just as it was crawling over the line.

Phoenix coach Rikki Herbert looked to have responded in kind, sending on Leo Bertos, whose first involvement was a rasping drive which sailed just over the crossbar.

Chris Greenacre, who had been largely anonymous since his opening minute effort, almost opened the scoring in fine style on the hour mark. Again on the volley, Greenacre saw Tyson off his line and sent a dipping strike from all of 25 yards which grazed the top of the crossbar.

Jimmy Downey really should have opened the scoring for the visitors 10 minutes later, after being handed a gift-wrapped opportunity by Jonas Salley. Playing in an unfamiliar centre-half role, Salley's attempted back-pass from the half way line was horribly under hit and allowed Downey to pounce and go through clean on goal, only for the former Perth Glory man to shoot weakly and allow Tyson to rescue his team mate by saving low down to his right.

Phoenix sub Daniel then looked to return the gift to the hosts, his poor pass easily intercepted by James Brown who streaked clear before attempting to lay the ball off for strike partner Rigters, only to play the cut-back straight into the legs of the desperate covering defender as the chance was wasted.

Moments later Brown's error was compounded, as the Phoenix took the lead from a set piece. This time it was James Brown's namesake, Tim, who rose highest to place a powerful header into the corner of the goal from Daniel's free kick and fire the visitors on their way to their first away win of the season.


Player of the Year points:

3. Ben Halloran
2. Tim Brown
1. Manny Muscat