Wellington Phoenix won their first match in the season after a convicing 2-1 victory at home against Brisbane Roar. Phoenix did not count with their full back Louis Fenton that had a shoulder injury in their previous match and also the English striker Gary Hooper that was in the bench and did not feature in the game.
Despite the absence of Fenton in the right side, the All Whites member Tim Payne had a fantastic performance – according to New Zealand journalist Jason Pine, Payne was his choice as best player of the game, as his statement in social media.
If it was not the benched Hooper to score, another Englishmen could find the nets for Phoenix. The captain Steven Taylor headed it home after a superb cross by the Mexican playmaker Ulises Davila.
Phoenix kept ahead in the match and seemed very dangerous especially trough the quality of Ulises Davila. Alex Rufer almost netted his first A-League goal after passing two defenders, but being denied by the opposition goalkeeper Max Crocombe.
Steven Taylor also saved Phoenix to suffer an early equalizer – just after his goal – after clearing a shot in the goal line. The cross was flicked by Taylor to his own penalty box but he could recover and deny Roar goal.
The second half started very well for Phoenix since the playmaker Ulises Davila scored from a long-range shot to double the lead for the home side. The Wellington Phoenix import is having a fast impact in the team since this is his fourth goal in the league.
The same Davila managed to score a third goal for Phoenix but he saw his brace denied by the referee that called an offside in the beginning of the play finished by the Mexican.
Stefan Marinovic, differently from the previous matches, did not have much job. A clean sheet seemed very close for the Phoenix custodian – the addition of the young defender Liam McGing to add more barries for Roar to find a goal seemed a clever move by the coach Ufuk Talay. Despite their efforts, Roar managed to find a late goal scored by Stefan Mauk. The club from Brisbane also had an opportunity to score an equalizer but the Phoenix defense managed to clear the ball.
For the first time in the season, the Nix seemed very safe defensively with very good performances by Steven Taylor, Liberato Cacace and Tim Payne. Ulises Davila keeps being playing brilliantly for Phoenix and finally Matti Steinmann and Alex Rufer combined very well in the midfield when protecting the defensive back four.
Phoenix now will travel to Adelaide to play against Adelaide United next Sunday. The club left the bottom of the table with their first victory and hopes to continue the good moment in the next challenge.
Oceania Football Center 