Wellington Phoenix are destined for the Australia Cup playoffs in May after a 1-0 loss to Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Florin Berenguer’s second-half strike sealed all three points for the Roar, who have picked up seven of their 18 points for the season in their last three games in a strong finish to the campaign by Ruben Zadkovich’s side.
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The result killed off Wellington’s slender hopes of finishing ninth on the Isuzu UTE A-League table and avoiding an Australia Cup playoff in May; last season’s Isuzu UTE A-League Semi-Finalists, the Phoenix are now certain to finish in the bottom four in 2024-25, as they trail ninth-placed Newcastle Jets by five points with just one game left to play.
The four teams that finish 10th to 13th on the Isuzu UTE A-League table will travel to Darwin in mid-May for two playoff fixtures, to determine which two clubs join the top-nine finishers on the table in the 2025 edition of the Australia Cup.
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For Brisbane, meanwhile, a late-season resurgence has helped create a four-point gap to bottom-placed Perth Glory. Brisbane went 410 days without a home win before beating Western United 2-1 on April 17; they then drew to Adelaide United before beating Wellington 1-0 to get to 18 points with one game to play.
Perth have a considerably worse goal difference than Brisbane and, with two games to play, will need to win their final two fixtures against Auckland FC and Wellington, and hope Brisbane drop points to Central Coast next weekend, to avoid their second-consecutive wooden spoon.
Brisbane came into Saturday’s contest off the back of a win and a draw in their last two games, and Ruben Zadkovich’s side continued their improved form through a dominant first half in which they took 12 shots to Wellington’s two – but couldn’t find reward on the scoreboard for their overall impressive play.
Young forward Samuel Klein almost added to his growing catalogue of stellar strikes in the 10th minute, with a long-range effort that rattled the inside of the post.
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Roar captain Jay O’Shea then threatened from a pair of free-kicks; he flashed his first attempt just wide of the bottom-right corner and called Phoenix keeper Josh Olwayemi into a save with his second.
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In first-half stoppage time, Klein latched onto a header from a Roar free-kick and Oluwayemi scrambled across his goal line to make a save as Wellington survived to half-time on level terms.
The Roar onslaught continued early in the second half as Henry Hore sprung into life. Having dribbled past Phoenix defender Isaac Hughes into the box, Hore benefited from a fortunate deflection off the heel of Hughes which bounced fortuitously into his path for a powerful volley – but Oluwayemi once again came to Wellington’s rescue.
Brisbane were unrelenting in their pursuit of the opening goal and, after 58 goalless minutes, finally broke through as Asumah Abubakar teed up Florin Berenguer for a clinical strike off his weaker left foot into the bottom-left corner.
It wasn’t until Wellington fell behind that the visitors finally showed signs of life as they launched a rapid response to Berenguer’s opener.
Nathan Walker, Corban Piper and Kosta Barbarouses all had chances in quick succession, with the latter’s curling strike from outside the box only just missing the target.
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But after their flurry of chances, Wellington failed to create another genuine goalscoring opportunity as Brisbane held on to win 1-0 and record their first clean sheet of the season in their final home game of 2024-25.
