Nix vs Perth Match 'Fred'

Good game, as usual though we'd bow it in the last five. At last we showed some spirit. That is except for the first 5 mins when we were rubbish and asleep (again). I'm sure all other clubs will be targeting us early on.

Good to see 10,000 turn up on a rubbish night

sure of what??

At first I thought I was watching the cast of Sesame St play. However, the boys pulled through in the end. A few things I'd like to see improve (STOP PASSING BACK), but happy with the result.

Great atmosphere too. It was very cold and wet, however. :P

Was a great night out. Think Muscat didn't do very well apart from that save off the line but it was nice to see him move forward.
Ifill did look a little whingey at times but he does have the class

Highlights about to start on SS3.

Masterstroke by Ricki to have Daniel warm up at 65' and then hold him back til 72'. Confused the hell out of Perth who thought they had done their homework on Daniel's inclusion. They wasted 7 minutes looking for him
Royal2009-08-16 20:59:42

how I loved seeing bertos/ifill/diego all combining... looked so good.

Jesus Dewhurst is awful. I hope that Aussie doesn't get our coverage - damn right embarrassing

Must admit that I was looking for the sub at 65>

Ricki reads these pages then....



hepatitis2009-08-16 21:02:47

Fox Sport report.  Aussie view, but we were lucky a few perth second half chances didn't go in the net.  Looking forward to see how the side goes v Brisbane next week.

A Leo Bertos thunderbolt inspired Wellington Phoenix to a 2-1 A-League triumph over an injury-cursed Perth Glory at Westpac Stadium on Sunday.

With scores locked at 1-1, Bertos unleashed an unbelievable 36-yard bullet that took the slightest deflection off Glory skipper Jacob Burns and thundered into the back of the net, sending the 10,024 crowd who had braved the rainy conditions into raptures.

But Bertos' 85th-minute winner was a cruel result for Perth, who had dominated proceedings in the second half and deserved to come away with the win, or a draw at the very least.

Twice in the second half Perth struck the crossbar before Bertos drove the dagger into his former side.

Glory, who started the match without key players Jamie Coyne (knee) and Jamie Harnwell (hamstring), were dealt a further blow when winger Victor Sikora and Chris Coyne limped off with injury before the half hour was up.

Sikora had given Perth a 1-0 lead in the third minute after stripping defender Michael Ferrante of the ball and calmly slotting past Mark Paston.

But Phoenix striker Paul Ifill levelled proceedings with a classy header in the 24th minute.

Glory 'keeper Tando Velaphi had earlier pulled off a superb diving save to keep out Ifill's powerful half-volley in the eighth minute but there was no stopping the Phoenix striker following a searching run and pin-point cross from Bertos.

Ifill's glancing header from six yards out left Velaphi with no time to react as the ball sailed over the custodian's head.

Phoenix defender Manny Muscat ensured the teams headed to half-time locked at 1-1 after clearing Todd Howarth's goalward-bound header off the line.

The Glory had chances galore in the second half as Howarth dominated down the left flank but the visitors struggled when it came to the finishing touch.

Substitute Andrija Jukic fired high from six yards out after a neat back heel from striker Branko Jelic, while Mile Sterjovski's header hit the crossbar after an excellent cross from Howarth.

Sterjovski was causing Wellington's defence all sorts of problems and the Glory hit the crossbar again in the 68th minute before the Phoenix finally launched an attack of their own, only for Adriano Pellegrino to clear Diego's header off the line.

But there was no stopping Bertos after he was crudely brought down by Pellegrino in the 84th minute.

With a packed penalty box in front of him, Bertos watched in wonder as his strike glanced off Burns and beat Velaphi's outstretched hand to give Wellington their first points of the season.

The Glory, meanwhile, have nothing to show for their opening two rounds after going down to Adelaide United 1-0 last week.

Hearfield was ready to come on at 65' and then we defended a corner and stayed at our end for a few minutes so didn't happen til 72'. Would definitely have been at 65'

WPF, I think it is club over country for sure esp since McGlinchy looks like a good option going forward to play in front of Elliot... honestly the time has come and gone for Brown.. destined to be the next Jeremy Christie. Can't fault either for committment but neither are A League quality (and I hope not AW quality)

Diego looks a lot more agile than I thought. Will be a good player for us I reckon. Lia looked tidy when he came on as well, I wonder where RH will play him this season?

You are saying that Ricki is going to drop his All White Vice Captain? As much as it should happen, it wont. How old is Elliott again, 35?

A 40m screamer from Leo Bertos helped the Wellington Phoenix snatch a 2-1 win over the unlucky Perth Glory in an entertaining A-League soccer match.

Attacking midfielder Bertos struck against the run of play with a sensational free kick five minutes from time to hand the Phoenix their first win of the season.

They had been outplayed for much of the second half at a wet, freezing Westpac Stadium but Bertos sent warmth through the hearts of 10,000 supporters with his memorable winner.

Despite the conditions, it was an end-to-end affair, particularly in the second half as both sides constantly threatened to break the 1-1 deadlock.

Glory came closest several times, twice finding the crossbar, while the Phoenix also looked fluent going forward.

Bertos said it was team character and a desire to turn around last week's opening 3-2 loss to Newcastle that drove the Phoenix on.

His decisive goal, which took a subtle to deflection to help defeat goalkeeper Tando Velaphi, was never something he had great faith in.

"I put the ball down and it was sort of central but it was a bit far out to have a shot, particularly with the way I've been shooting in the last few years," Bertos told NewstalkZB.

"I thought, `what the hell, I'll give it a hit'. I think it took a slight deflection but as long as we scored and won the game, it didn't matter."

Bertos said the skidding nature of the conditions made it difficult to launch orthodox attacks as the match wore on.

"The conditions were hard for both teams ... but we had to win, no matter how it happened, and to get our season under way," he said.

"The main thing we've got this year is character. We're all good friends and that's what took us through to get the win today.

"Hopefully we can kick on from here."

The Phoenix, who are away to the classy Brisbane Roar next weekend, made a dreadful start when conceding a fourth-minute goal to Victor Sikora.

Wellington midfielder Michael Ferrante, who was yellow-carded for a clumsy challenge moments earlier, was robbed by Sikora and failed to close him down as he dribbled into the box and drove a left-footer past Mark Paston.

The response came in the 24th minute after the Phoenix enjoyed their best period of play, with new striker Paul Ifill netting his first Phoenix goal. His header came from a sweet Bertos cross which found the Englishman unmarked 5m out.

Glory, who lost 1-0 to Adelaide last week, were rocked when key figures Sikora and Chris Coyne left the game with injuries midway through the first half.

However, Sikora's replacement Todd Howarth created all sorts of problems for the Phoenix right-side defence as he delivered a host of probing crosses.

Ifill and fellow-striker Chris Greenacre both had good moments while midfielders Bertos and Diego created problems.

NZPA

C-Diddy2009-08-16 21:20:45

Can't watch it in NZ, keen to get a better look at the first goal and find out what Leo's undershirt said.

Good result - a win is a win I don't care how they come. Thought the boys were a bit shakey on defence at times but overall a good effort.

those shows are on in the moring on sky sport

10,000 that's a yarn. there's no way there was 10,000 there

Just saw the ss highlights... f**king hell bertos' free kick was nuts

Meh, Lions would have called it 12k

Outside of the win and gaining the 3 points the best part was the 10,000 crowd, it was great for pyschological reasons.

We ended up having the bigger crowd the GCU, stick it up them!!

  C-Diddy2009-08-16 21:39:34

The undershirt was advertising for his brother's new clothing business, which is about to start up.

Steve-O2009-08-16 21:55:49

Who?

Steve-O2009-08-16 21:57:35

Ferrante, Michael no.10

I think you'll find 10 was Ferrante. Brown in stands

People also have to remember that most folks there legged it up high to get out of the rain. So no one was down the front, but lots of people were up and around.

I have to ask though, do they take corporate boxes into consideration when this number is calculated?

Isn't that banned by FIFA? Political/corporate messages etc, although Kaka gets away with his potentially inflammatory "I belong to Jesus" shirt

Given his current form, hope Leo doesn't cop a ban for something like this.

I think you've just qualified your football/Phoenix knowledge on that little statement alone

thought it would have said Super Leo or something..

Yeah Brown made pretty much the same impact as he did last week

Ferrante was sh*te the entire game, every time he had the ball he faffed the move up, oly thing he actually managed on attacked was the shot...made a couple of decent defensive plays but otherwise he was terrible

easily 10 k - great turn out given the conditions - good effort wellington

Why do you think Lochhead is still in the steam after all of last season and the start of this season?

Well I can tell you the actual figure on wednesday if you'd like. I would put money on it being no more than 8,000. Yes they count the corporate boxes. they looked reasonably full too.

More often than not, in rugby and football, the number is inflated to hype it up a bit. I'm pretty sure that the number on the night is always a guess anyway because they don't receive the turnstile number until a day or so after. they know the member/corporate box/pre sale numbers but they guess the walk up crowd.