Eugene Dadi marked his arrival in the New Zealand capital with a superb double as the Wellington Phoenix ended its unbeaten run against the Brisbane Roar with an emphatic 3-1 victory at Westpac Stadium.
The big Ivory Coast man only landed in Wellington this week from Perth but was rushed straight into the starting line-up for Saturday’s Hyundai A-League match despite a lack of match fitness.
The striker produced one of the goals of the season- a scissor-kick over his head with his back to goal – to take the home side out to a 2-0 lead in the 56th minute and followed that up with his second just six minutes later to give his new team a 3-0 lead and its first victory over the Roar in nine attempts.
Tim Brown had earlier opened the scoring, sending a Manny Muscat cross through the legs of Griffin McMaster in the 26th minute.
Sergio van Dijk grabbed a late consolation for the Roar.
Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert was delighted to follow up last week’s win against Central Coast with another three points.
“I think we played really well again tonight. It was good Eugene getting involved – that’s always a bonus.”
“It proved to be the right decision (starting him). The players know what’s on the line now.”
“That’s a great three points for us but there’s still a lot of work to go.”
Dadi, who replaced the unlucky Adrian Caceres in the only change to the starting Phoenix side that beat Central Coast, had had the Wellington crowd on its feet as early as the sixth minute with some neat footwork to beat defender Ivan Franjic as the Phoenix pressed forward early.
He was well-marshalled by the Roar defence in the first half thereafter but showed all his class in the second to seal an important win for the Phoenix to lift it to fourth on the ladder.
Brisbane, which was minus Qantas Socceroos defender Craig Moore (overseas), Charlie Miller (Gold Coast) and goalkeeper Liam Reddy (Phoenix) since the teams last met in November when the Roar had a comfortable 4-1 win, found its chances few and far between in the first half.
Van Dijk forced a couple of comfortable saves from Reddy in the opening 10 minutes, while Reinaldo – in for the injured Henrique – also fired another attempt straight to his former team-mate.
Vince Lia could have opened the scoring as early as the seventh minute when he collected a good ball from Leo Bertos but just could not curl it past a diving McMaster.
The Phoenix continued to pour forward and the pressure finally told in the 26th minute when Brown notched up his sixth goal of the season after Muscat’s cross had beaten a leaping Dadi.
Dadi had another good chance in the 36th minute when he got on the end of a pin-point long ball close to the box but Josh McCloughan dispossessed the big striker as he surged on goal to clear the danger.
Ifill, looking for his ninth of the season, then blasted over.
The Roar won a late corner but Reddy dealt with Tommy Oar’s effort easily.
An error by Brisbane goalkeeper McMaster early in the second spell resulted in the Phoenix’s second goal when he kicked a Luke DeVere pass-back straight at Ifill.
From the resulting Bertos corner Andrew Durante headed the ball to Dadi who finished off in spectacular fashion.
The former Tranmere Rovers man quickly got his second, this time after some good build-up work from Bertos and Ifill which gave the striker a simple tap in.
Roar midfielder Matt McKay – captaining the side following Moore’s departure – then forced a smart save from Reddy but the Roar wasted the resulting corner.
Brown should have had his second with 13 minutes to go when Dadi picked him out leaving the midfielder with just the keeper to beat but he blasted over.
Instead it was Brisbane who had the final say with Van Dijk’s shot going in off the post.
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou was left to lament another poor defensive effort.
“I thought we started well. We had a couple of really good opportunities early on and in these kinds of games that first goal is always important,” he said.
“It looked like we were in control and causing them a few problems and then we conceded a pretty soft goal from our point of view.”
“That put us on the back foot and the second half we were chasing it a little bit and you’re always going to leave some gaps and again conceded two goals from crosses which was disappointing.”
“Overall I think we created enough opportunities in the front half but defensively we let ourselves down.”
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Brown 24′, Dadi 54′, 61′)
Brisbane Roar 1 (Van Dijk 87′)
