Sydney FC have regained third spot on the Isuzu UTE A-League table after taking three points home from Wellington in a 1-0 win at Hnry Stadium.
Alexandar Popovic scored the decisive goal three minutes after half time, turning in a sharp cut back from Ben Garrucio.
It was Chris Greenacre’s first match in charge of Wellington Phoenix in his latest stint as caretaker manager, his fourth time sitting in the interim chair in his four years at the club.
Greenacre’s biggest decision was whether to play goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi after his highly-publicised error and subsequent half time substitution in last week’s NZ Derby, and he elected to stick with the former Tottenham man.
Greenacre was also without talismanic striker Ifeanyi Eze due to an accumulation of cards, which may have contributed to a subdued start to the game from both sides.
Corban Piper fired the first shot in anger in the 20th minute, forcing Sydney custodian Harrison Devenish-Meares to make a good save after being cleverly played through by Ramy Najjarine.
The game’s first real flashpoint came just after the half hour mark, when referee Tim Danaskos pointed to the spot after Rhyan Grant appeared to nudge Kazuki Nagasawa to the floor as Ramy Najjarine’s cross came towards the back post.
VAR then encouraged Danaskos to review his decision, and after two minutes of deliberation the referee decided that no foul had occurred – much to the chagrin of the Phoenix players and fans.
Piper’s effort remained the only shot on target for either side in the first half, but the match came alive immediately after the restart.
Sydney had a penalty shout of their own when Joe Lolley flicked the ball into Manjrekar James’s hand at close range, and the Englishman was involved again a moment later when he arrived late into the area to connect with a Ben Garrucio ball and force Oluwayemi into his first save of the match.
It was from the second phase of that corner that the game’s decisive goal came, with Garuccio playing a smart one-two with Grant to get to the byline and cut back to Popovic who tapped in from two metres out.
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The Phoenix responded by throwing everything they had at Sydney, which Devenish-Meares stood up to.
He made another save from Piper – this time a header straight at him – and brilliantly tipped over another headed effort from Lukas Kelly-Heald in the 85th minute that could have leveled the scores.
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The win pushed Sydney up above Adelaide United to third on the Isuzu UTE A-League table, putting them just two points Auckland in second spot with seven games remaining in the season.
The first of those for the Sky Blues is a blockbuster Big Blue vs Melbourne Victory at Allianz Stadium next Saturday night, while Wellington make the trip to face Adelaide at Coopers Stadium on Friday.
