Nix Christmas, WSW Gave Them Three Points

The Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix faced off in New Zealand's Capital for the first time in 3 years to determine who would end up on top of the A-League ladder, the match was a tight and stoic affair and both teams had to work extremely hard to generate chances but the Nix took all three points with a stoppage time counter-attacking double.

The Wanderers had two enforced changes, Oscar Priestman and Alex Bonetig coming into the starting 11 with the suspension of Josh Brillante and injury to Tom Beadling. The Red & Black came into the contest having defeating Adelaide United 1-0 at home the prior week, the Nix with a 3-0 win against Macarthur following a 3-0 loss against Newcastle that ended their unbeaten start to the season.

The opening half hour was dominated by the Wanderers. Wellington didn't stray from the bus parking counter-attacking fashion employed to great effect, and this left the Wanderers in charge of the ball. There were few chances generated however, and the best would have come from a pair of officiating mistakes that saw the Wanderers robbed of a corner kick early and later an indirect free kick in the box after a clear backpass from Kosta Barbarouses to goalkeeper Alex Paulsen. Wellington had precious little attack and were unable to string together more than a handful of passes before a turnover. Aidan Simmons had a shot from distance in the 28th minute after he pounced on a Wellington defender with his back to goal, the shot took a deflection and was saved by Paulsen.

Alex Rufer picked up the first yellow card of the match when he reached out his hand and hit Milanovic in the back of the head. Minutes later he fired just the 2nd shot of the game thus far for Wellington. A very long range effort that was within the vicinity of the goal but with too much height, leaving no requirement for Lawrence Thomas to intervene. Thomas had midweek earned a call up for the Australian national team's Asian Cup 2024 campaign, leaving Jack Gibson preparing for up to 2 months as the stand-in starting goalkeeper.

Wellington stepped their intensity in the last 15 of the half, getting on the ball for longer periods of time with Barbarouses and David Ball repeatedly breaking down the right wing. The best chance of the half fell to Nick Milanovic, after Dylan Pierias attacked down the right, he found Milanovic unmarked on the edge of the box. The striker smashed a low hit down to Paulsen's left and the keeper knocked it back into the area where it fell for Pierias. He blasted at goal only for Finn Surman to dive full length along the turf to block the shot away for Paulsen to pick up.

The Nix went straight up the other end of the field and thought they had the opener. The counter-attack from the Milanovic chance ended with a shot on goal after Kraev chipped it to the back post, Ben Old's flying header was going well wide but found the arm of Barbarouses and he turned it into the goal, his Hand of God moment was a fail with everyone in the stadium knowing it wasn't a legitimate goal, and after a quick VAR check the on-field call of handball was confirmed. The final action of the half was a Wanderers corner that Hendrix didn't get past the first man, the clearance went to Jack Clisby and his attempt at a volley was nowhere near the goal. 0-0 at half-time, the Wanderers on top but having let the Nix back into the game, albeit without punishment for either team.

In the 50th minute the game stopped when Kraev dropped to the turf. Replays showed Kraev started a set-to with Marcelo the Wanderers Captain, there was a slight shove from behind by Marcelo and then Kraev dropped like he was shot. VAR asked referee Casey Reibelt to take a second look on the sideline, the replays showed little more than Kraev's dive and after the brief pause the action continued with no punishment for either player. On the hour mark the Nix should have taken the lead when Priestman slipped on half-way, sparking a Wellington counter. The yellow shirts stormed forward and eventually turned the advantage into a 5 on 2 with just Marcelo and Bonetig to beat. Nick Pennington was on the ball at the key moment, but with Surman and Pennington open on either flank and Barbarouses & Kraev coming late into the box Pennington made a fatal mistake, delaying the obvious ball to the left too long, giving Marcelo the chance to shut down the chance and then for the Wanderers to clear.

Alex Badolato stepped in as the first substitution of the match as Valention Yuel made way, with the Nix following by giving a debut to 17 year old Luke Supyk, former Wanderers youth product Mo Al-Taay in place of Pennington and Ball. Marko Rudan followed that with a double change of his own, Marcus Younis and Gabriel Cleur, the fullback making his first A-League appearance of the season after an injury lay-off, Pierias & Priestman coming off.

Badolato almost made an instant impact, he was able to take a snapshot when the Nix couldn't clear a Pierias run, but with the crowd on edge Badolato rippled the side netting for a goal kick instead of the opening goal. The two Marcus' almost combined for the opener. Younis burned his marker and whipped a low cross along the 6 yard box, Marcus Antonsson sticking out a boot but failing to make the contact that would have inevitably turned it in the back of the net. Younis forced off Sutton with his pace & power, defensive reinforcement Lukas Kelly-Heald coming on to try and check the marauding right winger.

The VAR entered into the game again with Kelly-Heald crossed on his left into the box for Kraev, the Bulgarian striker smacked it home but it was quickly flagged for offside and confirmed by the replay, Kraev straying meters offside. Lachie Brook and Tate Russel came in for the final minutes, Simmons was out on his feet with Antonsson having toiled up front all game. Badolato almost scored in the 86th minute, he aimed up a wicked curling shot, a small tip off the boot of Al-Taay sent it toward the top corner, only to be denied by a diving fingertip stop from Paulsen. As was typical of the match so far, the officials missed the clear tip from both the Nix players to deny the Wanderers the deserved corner.

Stoppage time saw a collapse from the visitors. The Nix scored two goals in the space of two minutes. A simple long bomb over the top that Thomas completely missed, Barbarouses took it around the keeper and finished past the despairing dive of Marcelo. The Wanderers attempted a quick restart with no-one on the field from the opposition, dribbling the ball into the empty net before they were reminded that a match can't restart unless both teams have their players in their own half.

The second goal was another example of the Wanderers throwing too many men forward and failing to cover a counter. With 8 men in and around the penalty box Brook gave away the ball after a collision with his own team-mate, the Nix sprang forward as Cleur failed to bring down Al-Taay. Barbarouses ran at pace in the middle, Russell failed to cover his marker at the far post and so failed to put any pressure at all on Ben Old's shot, the finish was perfect, rolled along the ground past Thomas to make it 2-0 and give the Nix a clear 1st place at Christmas.

It was another example of a Wanderers team failing to play the conditions, throwing defenders like Cleur forward as if they were attacking midfielders, leaving the defence exposed at the back against the best counter-attacking sides in the league. Instead of picking up a vital point after a tough 0-0 away game that would have put them in 2nd and kept the Nix only a point in front, they threw away the game with 5 minutes of madness in stoppage time.

The Wanderers next match is against Macarthur FC, at Parramatta on Monday the 1st of January with kick-off at 5:00PM EDT.