The Wellington Phoenix's dream has continued after they came from behind to defeat Newcastle Jets 3-1 in front of a packed house at Westpac Stadium. Tim Brown cancelled out Jets skipper Matt Thompson's goal in the first half before Barbadian-born English import Paul Ifill saved the day at the end of the first half of extra time and Eugene Dadi rounded out the win to send the New Zealand club into the Preliminary Final where they will meet either Sydney FC or the Melbourne Victory.
Minor Semi-Final (knockout)Wellington Phoenix: 3 (Tim Brown 33', Paul Ifill 105', Eugene Dadi 115') Newcastle Jets: 1 (Matt Thompson 20') Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand Crowd: 32,792 Yellow cards:WP - Andrew Durante 98', Manny Muscat 112' NJ - Adam D'Apuzzo 35', Jobe Wheelhouse 45+1', Ali Abbas 88' Milestones:Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Liam Reddy (100th A-League game)
The home side were pushing forward early, much to the delight of the 35,000 Wellington fans but could not test Newcastle goalkeeper Ben Kennedy in the opening 20 minutes as the Jets struggled to regularly get the ball into their penalty area.
But that changed when Jets skipper Matt Thompson got on the end of a floating header before finishing brilliantly with his left-foot, giving Liam Reddy no chance in the Phoenix goals. It was a moment that silenced the Westpac Stadium crowd but they were soon back in full voice when Manny Muscat found space outside the area before advancing and taking a shot but Kennedy continued his good recent form with a vital save.
Phoenix vice-captain Tim Brown then went one better than Muscat when he struck in the 33rd minute to equalise with a left-footed drive.
Three minutes before the break, Jets defender Tarek Elrich made a surging run forward before being played on-side but could not make the most of being one on one against Reddy and blasted his shot into the grasp of the former Brisbane Roar shot-stopper.
The first half ended soon after with the game evenly poised between two sides desperate to keep their season alive.
Newcastle had the perfect chance to go ahead once again just minutes after the re-start when Ali Abbas produced a pinpoint cross to Thompson but the skipper's first touch was too heavy and a massive let off for the Phoenix.
In the 62nd minute, disaster almost struck for the Jets when Elrich's defensive header looped towards Kennedy's goal but the gloveman produced a magnificent diving save and the score remained 1-1.
Wellington were dominating possession and pushing forward with regularity but could not break down the Jets defence whilst down the other end, Phoenix captain Andrew Durante made a superb sliding tackle much to the delight of the crowd.
Ricki Herbert made some courageous tactical changes, bringing on striker Eugene Dadi for defender Troy Hearfield and it almost proved to be a stroke of genius when the Ivorian came agonisingly close to scoring with a header in the 84th minute.
In the last minute of injury time, Phoenix striker Paul Ifill had an enormous chance to kill of the match when he advanced towards Kennedy before cutting past the keeper but his touch was too heavy and the ball trickled towards the byline and the game, for the third time in this finals series, went to extra time.
In the 101st minute, the Jets were again extremely close to a goal when veteran striker Sasho Petrovski drove the ball goalward but it rattled into the upright.
Four minutes later, it was Ifill to the rescue for the home side when he whipped his shot into the back of the net after taking on Ben Kantarovski inside the area, his shot giving Kennedy no chance and sending the Yellow Fever into raptures.
Wellington managed to hold out a desperate Jets side who were intent on grabbing a leveller but Wellington helped themselves to a third when Diego squared it up got Eugene Dadi who tapped in easily from close range to wrap up proceedings.
Starting Line-Ups
WP Liam Reddy (gk)
Troy Hearfield (74') Ben Sigmund Andrew Durante (c) Tony Lochhead
Tim Brown Manny Muscat Vince Lia (109')
Leo Bertos (66') Chris Greenacre Paul Ifill
Subs: Reece Crowther (gk), Diego (109'), Daniel (66'), Eugene Dadi (74'), Costa Barbarouses
NJ Ben Kennedy (gk)
Tarek Elrich Ljubo Milicevic Nikolai Topor-Stanley Adam D'Apuzzo
Song Jin-Hyung (80') Jobe Wheelhouse Ali Abbas
Matt Thompson (c) (87')
Sean Rooney (68')
Subs: Dion Shaw (gk), Sasho Petrovski (87'), Kaz Patafta, Labinot Haliti (80'), Mirjan Pavlovic (68')
