The Wellington Phoenix snatched a 2-2 draw from the jaws of defeat after a 98th minute Brooke Nunn equaliser stunned the Brisbane Roar at Kayo Stadium.
A frenzied opening half was punctuated by three goals in the space of 20 minutes as the Phoenix and Roar traded goals of outstanding quality.
Wellington’s opener came through a stellar bit of quick thinking from Manaia Elliott as she caught Chloe Lincoln out of position from 40 yards. The Roar goalkeeper had offered herself for a pass while the hosts played out from the back, but Elliott took the chance to shoot from distance when Momo Hayashi was caught in possession. Her shot skidded off the turf, onto the post and into the back of the net in the 15th minute.
But the Wellington celebrations were short-lived as Ashlyn Miller equalised with her first Ninja A-League goal less than two minutes later. A sharp move down the Roar’s left side was capped by Sharn Freier squaring a pass on the edge of the area for Miller to finish smartly with her left foot across goal.
And while the Roar’s opener was an impressive bit of teamwork, their go-ahead goal was all of Ava Piazza at her brilliant best. Phoenix goalkeeper Victoria Esson punched a set-piece ball clear of the area but straight into the defender’s path at the top of the box, only to see it fly right back past her thanks to Piazza’s thunderous strike from 24 yards.
Incredibly, the scoreline remained unchanged for almost all of the second 45 as a valiant Roar defence resisted a number of Phoenix attacks.
A goalmouth scramble in the 57th minute saw a Marisa van der Meer attempt hit the crossbar, before Ellie Walker’s follow up strike in the same play was inadvertently blocked by teammate Sabitra ‘Samba’ Bhandari on the goal line.
The Phoenix were denied yet again in the 77th minute from a corner when Walker headed a certain goal off the line into the path of Samba, only for goalkeeper Esson to get enough of a fist to it to keep Samba from heading goalward.
That passage of play proved to be Samba’s last for the match as she was substituted from the field with an apparent leg injury.
But the visitors’ persistence finally paid off in the 98th minute, in heartbreaking circumstances for the Roar, with Brooke Nunn’s innocuous cross deceiving goalkeeper Lincoln by dropping in under the crossbar at the near post to snatch the Phoenix’s first point in Queensland in the Ninja A-League.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
WHAT THEY SAID
Ava Piazza talks through her goal of the season contender against Wellington Phoenix
Ellie Walker reflects on her side’s thrilling 2-2 draw with Brisbane Roar
