Season ended for faltering Phoenix

Wellington Phoenix closed the doors to their 2013/14 A-league season after going down by a convincing 4-1 to Melbourne Victory.

The game started with a bang with Victory attacking straight off the center line to slide a goal right past the Phoenix in the first 20 seconds of the match.

With an early lead to Victory the Phoenix seemed to crumble under the pressure with an inexperienced team out on the field including Jacob Spoonley in goal. 

This was only Spoonley's second game in the A-League, his first being the Phoenix' opening game of the season. 

A new player who in this game showcased his improvement from the beginning of the season was Tyler Boyd. In the 13th minute Boyd did some superb work beating one Victory player to take a shot at goal that unfortunately was saved.

Seven minutes later the Phoenix got their first solid chance when a free kick was awarded due to a rough tackle from Ansell on Kenny Cunningham. 

This gave Carlos Hernandez the chance to even it up but unfortunately he hit the kick straight into the defence wall Victory had set up.

Then in the 29^th minute Victory’s attack proved to strong with James Troisi putting a left foot shot straight across into the top right corner of the goal.

Spoonley seemed to be struggling in goal but then in the 39^th minute produced a great save which kept them at the 2-0 bay.

Then Guy Finkler pulled out an amazing run just before half time with Victory all pooling together to get the ball up the field and see them head into half time with a 3-0 lead.  

With the Phoenix down 3-0 it didn’t seem like it could get much worse.

Then, Shaun Timmins was awarded a red card for taking out a Victory player right in front of goal leaving the Phoenix down to 10 players and also giving Victory a free kick to put them even further in front.

Mark Milligan took this opportunity and used it, sending the ball straight into the top right corner putting Victory in a 4-0 lead position.

With play getting sloppy and the Phoenix all but seeming to give up in the final minute of the game Jeremy Brockie reminded everyone why they deserved to be supported next season with an amazing left foot kick heading straight into the top right corner of the goal.

This ended the match on a high and also showed supporters the Phoenix hadn’t given up on themselves, and neither should they when next season comes around.



Melbourne Victory: 1. Nathan COE (GK), 3. Adama TRAORE, 4.Nick ANSELL, 5. Mark MILLIGAN (c) 6. Leigh BROXHAM (C), 7.Gui FINKLER, 9. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10. Archie Thompson, 14. James TROISI,, Leijer, 24. Scott GALLOWAY SUBS: 11. Connor PAIN, 17. James JEGGO, 20. Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 22. Jesse MAKAROUNES, 25. Jason GERIA


Wellington Phoenix: 2.Manny MUSCAT  5.Michael BOXALL 9.Kenny CUNNINGHAM Adams, 11.Jeremy BROCKIE 12.Tyler BOYD  17.Vince LIA, 21. Carlos HERNANDEZ 22.Andrew DURANTE 25.Shaun TIMMINS, 30.Jacob SPOONLEY (GK) SUBS: 1.Glen MOSS (GK), 10.Stein HUYSEGEMS 15.Jason HICKS 23.Matthew RIDENTON, 24.Roy KRISHNA