Wellington Phoenix have won another game on home soil, outdoing Sydney FC 2-1 in the wet. Paul Ifill's 50th minute penalty was cancelled out by Bruno Cazarine's first goal for Sydney before Phoenix new boy Nick Ward stole the show with a cracker to give his side maximum points.
A-League Round 6Wellington Phoenix: 2 (Paul Ifill (p) 50', Nick Ward 72') Sydney: 1 (Bruno Cazarine 67')
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington Crowd: 8,453 Referee: Chris Beath Yellow cards:WP - nil SYD - Bruno Cazarine 49'
Wellington started the brighter of the two teams and were agonisingly close to an opener in the 8th minute when Paul Ifill toyed with Sydney defenders Scott Jamieson and Byun Sung-hwan before chipping into the area from the right flank for Tim Brown whose header looped onto the crossbar.
Sydney got themselves into the contest as the first half went on, creating a few half-chances with the best coming when Phoenix keeper Danny Vukovic advanced towards Jamieson who played it off for Bruno Cazarine but the Brazilian's shot rocketed wide.
Neither side were able to hit the target in the first 45 minutes although it did that look like the game would provide goals at some stage.
Four minutes after the re-start, Wellington were awarded a penalty when Cazarine pulled down Ben Sigmund in the area from a corner. GOAL Paul Ifill stepped up to the spot and forced Liam Reddy the wrong way to give the Phoenix the lead much to the delight of the Westpac Stadium faithful.
The home side picked their performance up ever so slightly after the goal but they conceded an equaliser in the 67th minute GOAL when Cazarine played a one-two with Bridge before finishing coolly past Vukovic. The Brazilian was thrilled to atone for his earlier error.
GOAL But moments later, Phoenix recruit Nick Ward produced an absolute scorcher in his first start for his new club. The former Melbourne Victory midfielder received a pass back from Chris Greenacre after distributing towards the target man before unleashing a pile driver from outside the area which gave Reddy no chance and restored his side's lead.
As the rain came falling down, the Phoenix continued to push forward as they searched for a third whilst the Sky Blues chased another leveller, opening up the match considerably.
However, the match ended 2-1 to the Phoenix and extended their unbeaten record at home to 22 matches.
Starting Line-Ups
WPDanny Vukovic (gk), Manny Muscat, Tony Lochhead, Nick Ward, Tim Brown, Leo Bertos, Paul Ifill, Chris Greenacre (Pavlovic 82'), Troy Hearfield, Ben Sigmund, Andrew Durante
Subs - Griffin McMaster (gk), Daniel, Mirjan Pavlovic (82'), Dylan Macallister
SYDLiam Reddy (gk), Seb Ryall, Stephan Keller, Hiro Moriyasu (Antonis 80'), Stuart Musialik, Bruno Cazarine, Shannon Cole, Mark Bridge, Scott Jamieson (Danning 66'), Byung Sung-hwan, Rhyan Grant (Foxe 87')
Subs - Ivan Necevaski (gk), Hayden Foxe (87'), Kofi Danning (66'), Terry Antonis (80')