For the first time in club history, Wellington Phoenix end a Liberty A-League round having notched points in back-to-back games.
A 3-3 draw against Brisbane Roar on Sunday was arguably Wellington’s best performance of the season – and that’s saying something, considering Natalie Lawrence’s side won 5-0 over Canberra United in Round 11.
But it was the context around Wellington’s comeback draw on Sunday afternoon which made it one of the results of the weekend, in a round where the resurgent Phoenix joined Western Sydney Wanderers in showing plenty of fight, and the top three sides pulled clear of the pack with statement wins.
With a lot to dissect, here are the talking points from Round 12 of the Liberty A-League.
‘HEART, DETERMINATION AND FIGHT’: PHOENIX GROWING IN CONFIDENCE
Matt Comito
Wellington Phoenix weren’t about to let a disrupted build-up to Sunday’s clash with Brisbane Roar at AJ Kelly Park stand in their way. In fact, not even a red card or a two-goal deficit would deter the ‘Nix from the task at hand.
In a fixture pushed back from Saturday to Sunday due to flight disruptions, the ‘Nix arrived at AJ Kelly Park and got to work.
Buoyed by a 5-0 win over Canberra United last time out – the club’s first three-point display of the season – the in-form Phoenix came from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, before a late Roar equaliser saw the points split in a six-goal thriller.
And Wellington almost had the final say; after Larissa Crummer’s equaliser at 3-3 Michaela Robertson put the ball in the back of the net down the other end, only for the offside flag to deny Lawrence’s side back-to-back victories.
After playing five games in January, the Phoenix now have a week’s rest to recharge ahead of a round 13 clash with Western Sydney, placed just two points behind Newcastle Jets in the quest to jump off the foot of the Liberty A-League table.
“I couldn’t be prouder of all of the players,” head coach Lawrence said after the 3-3 draw.
The heart, determination and fight of this group was shown.
“The fact we were 2-0 down and then we took it to 3-2. When you look at the character, I can’t be anything but proud of the whole group.”
Lawrence added: “We could use (the fixture delay and heat at AJ Kelly Park) as an excuse, and we didn’t today.
“That just shows the character of everyone and how we don’t let this stuff get to us. We control what we can and that’s how we play on the field.”
More Canberra questions after another dark day
Sacha Pisani
If Canberra United fans thought things couldn’t get any worse after their 5-0 loss away to bottom side Wellington Phoenix, thing again.
Canberra suffered another 5-0 drubbing, this time at the hands of league-leading Western United in the capital on Saturday afternoon.
Played in sweltering conditions, Canberra conceded five goals in a stunning first-half collapse as they dropped down to seventh in the standings.
“We’ll try and instil a lot more confidence, we do have a young side, that’s not an excuse but just the facts,” said head coach Njegosh Popovich.
“We need to be more resilient in matches and when things don’t go your way, you need to stand up.
“There’s some realities for us and we need to hold ourselves accountable and look at where we made some mistakes and errors and see where we can improve upon those.”
Popovich said: “We continued on from where we left off last week into the first half.
“It’s a little bit of mental instability, I think the heat plays a factor in the brain more than it does in the legs, although admittedly it’s a tough thing to cope with.
“We were second to a lot of balls, but in saying that we gifted a couple of goals today that were uncharacteristic and we’ll probably not do again.”
Wanderers resurgence continues
Sacha Pisani
After going 364 days without a victory, Western Sydney Wanderers have now won three of their last five games.
Newcastle Jets were the latest victims on Saturday, edged 1-0 at Wanderers Football Park.
Olivia Price’s deflected first-half effort extended Western Sydney’s unbeaten run on home soil to four matches as they leapfrogged Canberra into sixth spot.
Sydney’s attack goes to another level in Big Blue rout
Nick D’Urbano
Sydney FC came out with a vengeance in the Grand Final rematch.
The Sky Blues romped past reigning champions Melbourne Victory 6-3 at AAMI Park, knocking them off for the second time this season.
Ante Juric’s Sydney had been out of action for over a fortnight and looked the more energetic and dynamic of the two sides – with their opponents, Victory playing three games during the period of time between Sydney last took the field against Western United and last Thursday evening.
And the Sydney players had a point to prove against the champs, as they wanted to not only make amends for their defeat to Western last time out, but also prove the pundits wrong.
On The Official Liberty A-League Podcast on the KEEPUP Audio Network, former Matildas Grace Gill and Catherine Cannulli left Matildas attackers Cortnee Vine and Princess Ibini out of the combined ‘Big Blue Combined XI’ – which Juric revealed post-game was used as motivation for her players.
READ: PUNDIT’S CLASSIC COMEBACK AFTER SYDNEY COACH FUMES AT PODCAST: ‘IT FIRES ME UP!’
But Juric made not of the fact it was probably both Vine and Ibini’s best games of the season – with the latter scoring a hat-trick on the day – and was pleased with the response after the United loss.
“I think her (Vine) best, probably Prinny’s, the midfield bombed. Maddie was in the game against strong opposition,” Juric said.
“I didn’t think any of our front three were there and this week, they showed us who they are and what they’re about. So they were excellent.
“This is three points today, last week wasn’t good enough. The way I explained it, we had maybe two players six out of 10 and the rest were under five and if you’re going to compete like that, you don’t win games and today they were firing.”
American striker Madison Haley was again in the thick of the action on Thursday, scoring once and getting an assist as well to her name and Juric made note of her incredible ability to bring team-mates into the game.
“Maddie is excellent. People haven’t seen that,” Juric said about her passing.
So the video that I saw which made me sign her was she brings people in the game. I think I said at the start of the year, she’s an exceptional finisher. But she holds and brings people into the game so she’s done that for months at training once or twice in a games.
“I think she did a last time against them when we played at Cromer (Park). So that doesn’t surprise me but it was a little bit more today because of our runs as well. So people when she turned, people were running forward and she was able to find them, but she had some great through balls today.”
READ MORE FROM ROUND 12
SYDNEY HIT VICTORY FOR SIX IN LIBERTY A-LEAGUE GRAND FINAL REMATCH
AFTER A FIVE-STAR DISPLAY IN CANBERRA, THE QUESTION IS: WHERE’S WESTERN’S NEXT DEFEAT COMING FROM?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: COACH & PUNDIT DEBATE CONTROVERSIAL COMBINED XI
