Solid Wellington Phoenix beats Western United to climb spots in the table

The New-Zealand side Wellington Phoenix got their second win in a row in the Australian top-tier Hyundai A-League after beating at Sky Stadium Western United by 2-0. The victory was very importanto for the team coached by Ufuk Talay as they climbed two spots in the ladder to be ranked 3rd at the moment – Perth Glory is still to play in the round and can take the 5th place of Phoenix.

Phoenix used very different colours than the usual yellow, black and white: the team weared blue and green in support for the Mental Health Foundation from New Zealand – and their new outifits seemed to bring luck to the captained by Steven Taylor.

The first half was completely dominated by the home side; the former Wellington Phoenix players were booed all over the park when touching the ball, but the fans will have to assume the goalkeeper Filip Kurto made a fantastic game – being the responsible for avoiding a harsh defeat for his new side Western United. Ulises Dávila, Gary Hooper, David Ball and Reno Piscopo shots were denied by the Polish custodian, Phoenix were reaching Western United area very easily and it would be a pity for Ufuk Talay side to not score in their pressure. But their efforts paid off when Ulises Dávila found the wonderkid Liberato Cacace inside the box, with a classy finish the left-back put the ball in the back of the next of Kurto.

The New Zealand club continued to pursue their second goal while Western United could not create trouble for the defensive system led by Steven Taylor. The result at the break was a comfortable 1-0 lead for the hom side, but the story of the game would chance in the second half. The visitors put the ball forward looking for a equalizer and the likes of Connor Pain and Besart Berisha created some trouble for the Nix defense, forcing the New Zealand international goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic to make some decent stops.

The introduction of Callum McCowatt and Alex Rufer in place of Reno Piscopo and Cameron Devlin respectively put two more New Zealanders into action – the final sub of Ufuk Talay was in the final minutes of game, adding more speed to the team introducing Jaushua Sotirio in place of the Englishman Ufuk Talay.

Despite all efforts of Western United, Phoenix found the nets once again in the late stages of the match: a defensive mistake allowed the long ball of Stefan Marinovic to reach David Ball that made no mistake in an one-on-one situation with the opposition goalkeeper to give the final numbers to the match.

Phoenix continued their good form with an impressive performance, especially in defense having their fourth clean sheet in the season and the second in a row. Phoenix will be back to the pitch on Sunday when they play away from home the Central Coast Mariners at 6PM NZT.