It has been a topsy-turvy season for Wellington Phoenix but they celebrated just their second win of the Isuzu UTE A-League season and star captain Oli Sail expressed his pride.
Wellington moved up to fourth in the standings thanks to Saturday’s 3-1 victory over 10-man Adelaide at Sky Stadium.
Despite Craig Goodwin’s amazing free-kick to cancel out Oskar Zawada’s opener, the Phoenix were too good in Wellington thanks to Bozhidar Kraev and Yan Sasse’s deflected shot.
The result snapped a four-game winless run against Adelaide – who had Ben Halloran sent off early in the second half.
“I had a shambles of a 90 minutes but the boys carried me through,” Sail told Sky Sports New Zealand post-game. “Pretty chuffed with our efforts. We deserve it.
“We haven’t’ really rewarded ourselves this season with a complete performance. It could’ve been a lot more. My opposite number in goals had a fantastic afternoon.
“Where we are in the table probably doesn’t reflect how confident we are in the way we are playing. We just haven’t got the results so it was nice to finish it off in front of our fans.”
‘Everything went amazing’ – Zawada
Polish striker Zawada got the ball rolling with back-to-back home goals for the Phoenix.
Zawada scored inside three minutes before Goodwin’s free-kick levelled proceedings.
But Kraev restored Wellington’s lead prior to Harollan seeing red as Sasse’s deflected strike sealed the points.
“We are really happy. We played a really good game. I scored a goal. Everything went amazing,” Zawada said.
“But we can’t be happy with this. We have to analyse the game because of course we made some mistakes and we have to keep pushing forward.
“We have to win more games. We have a really good team, coach and players.”
Phoenix star Kraev maintained his red-hot run.
The Bulgarian has now scored in four consecutive A-League Men games for the Phoenix – matching Roy Krishna (x2), Jeremy Brockie (x2), Ulises Davila and Ben Waine. Only Tomer Hemed (five) has scored in more successive appearances in Wellington history.
“Very confident. I feel in good shape. Obviously four goals in a row very good,” Kraev said. “I’m playing good.”
Goodwin: ‘We made them look good’
There was a moment for Craig Goodwin’s Adelaide that would have made David Beckham or the late Sinisa Mihajlovic proud.
Socceroos star and Adelaide captain Goodwin scored an incredible free-kick to bring the visiting Reds level but it all fell apart for the third-placed visitors.
Goodwin’s left-footed free-kick stunned the home crowd – the Australia international channelling his inner Mihajlovic after the Serbian legend and fellow leftie passed away from cancer.
However, Goodwin cut a frustrated figure post-game.
“To be honest you could say the bested us in effort but I don’t think it was a case that Wellington were unbelievable,” Goodwin bemoaned.
“We were poor. We made them look good. We weren’t good enough today.”
On the free-kick, Goodwin added: “Obviously it was a good free-kick and happy to score. But right now, it’s shaded by the performance and loss.
“We’re a good side this year and we will do good things but this is not our best performance and we need to rectify it in our next home game.”
Report – AAP
Craig Goodwin’s world-class free-kick was not enough to earn Adelaide United an A-League Men win in New Zealand, where Wellington Phoenix triumphed 3-1.
The Phoenix’s foreign imports Oskar Zawada, Bozhidar Kraev and Yan Sasse all scored to lift Ufuk Talay’s side to fourth in the Isuzu UTE A-League table on Saturday.
It might have been even worse for the Reds, who finished with 10 men after Ben Halloran was sent off on 51 minutes.
Joe Gauci produced a wonder save from a Kraev penalty, diving low to his right to deny the Bulgarian a double.
Wellington turned it on for their best 90-minute performance of the season, hitting the lead after just 71 seconds.
Tim Payne hoisted a long ball forward for Polish striker Zawada, who powered a volley home.
The Reds equalised soon after through the boot of their World Cup hero Goodwin.
On his return to club action, the Socceroo scored a sumptuous free-kick from the top of the box after Clayton Lewis’ handball.
The curling rocket beat a diving Oli Sail, bouncing off the underside of the bar on 12 minutes.
The winger wheeled away in delight, pointing his fingers on both hands to the sky to mimic a favourite goal celebration of Lionel Messi as the Argentina forward prepares for the World Cup final on Monday (AEDT).
Goodwin’s deflected shot against Argentina two weeks ago in Qatar earned Australia’s goal in the agonising 2-1 last-16 exit to the South Americans.
At Sky Stadium, the 31-year-old’s strike was as good as it got for the Reds, as Wellington took over.
David Ball was denied twice before the break – once by a superb one-handed save from Gauci, and then by Alexandar Popovic on the goal-line with the gloveman beaten.
A well-worked corner routine gave Phoenix a go-ahead goal, with Callan Elliot crossing for Kraev at the back post, who scored for the fourth-straight game.
After the break, Halloran got his marching orders for a stomp on Lewis which brought his second yellow of the game.
The Phoenix were rampant, and Yan Sasse – who was sent off against the Reds in October on his A-League debut – finished the job.
The Brazilian, who troubled Adelaide all afternoon, scored a deflected goal from a corner he won and celebrated with Zawada, who lifted him high in the air.
The match featured fan protests at the A-Leagues decision to stage grand finals in Sydney for the next three years, with fans moving to a side of the ground which was out of sight of broadcast cameras on 20 minutes.
