Roar ends the non-losing streak of Wellington Phoenix

The great momentum of Wellington Phoenix came to an end after they were beaten by 1-0 at SunCorp Stadium by Brisbane Roar. The unique goal of the match from Dylan Wenzel-Halls was enough to give Roar a hard fought victory in a match they counted with luck to beat the Wellington Phoenix.

Phoenix played a very good first half; Davila created important chances for the team, but they were all wasted. Jaushua Sotirio and Steven Taylor were unlucky to see their finishes hit the woodwork – Phoenix controlled the actions in the first 45 minutes, but could not open the scoreline.

Brisbane came stronger in the second half and forced the goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic to make impressive stops. David Ball came from the bench after recovering from an injury but the super sub of the night was not the Englishman, but yes Dylan Wenzel-Halls: the Australian needed nearly one minute in the pitch after replacing Rahmat Akbari to make a fantastic goal after nutmegging Taylor and hitting a strong finish that Marinovic was not able to stop.

After pulling ahead into the scoresheet, Robbie Fowler decided to choose for a more defensive formation in order to secure the 1-0 scoreline: it proved a fair decision since his team could maintain the lead until the last whistle. Despite suffering and counting with a very good performance of their goalkeeper Jamie Young between the sticks, Roar capitalized a very important for their aspirations in the season, sitting now 7th in the run. Gary Hooper had a superb chance to level the scoreline, but his touch was not strong enough to find the low corner – Ben Waine could have touched it to the goal, but unfortunately the young striker could reach the ball in time.

The bad news for Phoenix is that they will not be counting with the German midfielder Matti Steinmann in their next clash in the league since the player picked up his fifth yellow card in the season. There is also some doubts regarging the teenager Liberato Cacace that was subbed in the 89th minute by Sam Sutton due an injury – despite not seeing so serious, it is always a concern for the fans when it comes to a very important player as Cacace.

Despite losing for the first time in 10 matches in the league, Phoenix continues in a good position in the ladder still sitting in the 4th position. The team coached by Ufuk Talay will be back home to face Newcastle Jets next Friday at Sky Stadium hoping from a fast recovery from this away defeat.