Second half-goals from Dylan Macallister, Vince Lia and substitute Chris Greenacre sealed a vital 4-0 win for the Wellington Phoenix over a depleted Perth Glory as they kept their play-off hopes alive at a wet and windy Westpac Stadium on Sunday.
The vital three points lifted the Phoenix above the Newcastle Jets into seventh place – one point behind sixth-placed Melbourne Heart – with an away fixture against Brisbane Roar and a home tie against the Jets to come in the next seven days.
A goalkeeping blunder by Tando Velaphi gifted the home side their first goal early in the first half and they wrapped up the win in the second spell with a well-taken free-kick by Macallister, a nice volley home by Lia and a late header from Greenacre.
“I thought it was comfortable,” coach Ricki Herbert said of the win. “To score four at home again is nice and not to concede any it gets the job done but we keep moving on.”
The Phoenix had promised to take it to Glory from the opening whistle and they should have been a goal to the good inside the first minute.
Marco Rojas was quickly into the action and his perfect cross into the box found an advancing Tim Brown but the midfielder headed wide.
Instead it was Velaphi’s mistake that put the home side in front in the 10th minute.
Nick Ward’s header flew up off the crossbar and the Glory keeper flapped the ball into his own net under pressure from Brown.
Ten minutes later and Velaphi must have been wondering if the match could take any more strange twists as Phoenix stopper Danny Vukovic almost got on the score sheet when his huge clearance kick took one bounce and came back off the crossbar to be cleared by the visitors.
The Phoenix had another good chance to grab a second on 30 minutes but Lia-s shot came back off the post and Macallister couldn-t bundle the rebound home.
The Glory, missing Robbie Fowler (hamstring), Jamie Harnwell, Adriano Pellegrino (both suspended), Jacob Burns (baby due) and Andy Todd (released), were not without their chances in the first half but a lack of polish in the box proved their undoing.
While Josh Risdon was having difficulty containing young tyro Rojas at times, he looked far more assured when he pressed forward and he fired in a couple of excellent crosses from the right only for Mile Sterjovski and Todd Howarth to fail to even force a save from Vukovic.
Sterjovski ended up kneeing his effort out in the 27th minute then just before the break Howarth directed his header wide.
The Phoenix did not take long to double their lead once the game restarted when they won a free-kick in a dangerous central area just outside of the box and Macallister beat the defensive wall and left Velaphi stranded on his line.
Another dangerous run by Rojas almost got them a third but Josh Mitchell cleared the floated cross at the far post.
Rojas efforts were rewarded on the hour-mark though when he once again got past Risdon cut the ball back to Lia who flicked it up and volleyed home for his first Phoenix goal this season, and second of his A-League career.
With the points secured and given the tightly packed schedule Herbert not surprisingly turned to his bench bringing on Daniel for Ward, Chris Greenacre for Macallister then Oscar ‘Toto’ Cornejo for the impressive Rojas.
Ian Ferguson also emptied his bench with Adam Taggart replacing Tommy Amphlett then Cameron Edwards coming on for Howard Fondyke and Brent Griffiths on for Jelic.
It was Greenacre though who had the final say as Lia turned provider and the English striker headed home the Phoenix-s fourth goal to seal the crucial win.
“We’re going through the rebuilding phase at the moment,” said Ferguson. “We’ve got to try a few things and the last 15 or so minutes was pretty pleasing.”
“Even in the first half I felt we created some chances. They got their goal, a freakish goal at that, but the created a few chances as well.”
“The performance I can’t say I’m really pleased with it but there are some encouraging signs.”
Wellington Phoenix 4 (Velaphi og 9, Macallister 47, Lia 59, Greenacre 90)
Perth Glory 0
