I went along and saw the biggest crowd there in 4 years for a national league game. Packed and a great crowd. I think that 1600-2000 would be about right.
ACFC started the game playing some lovely football and the Weenix were chasing shadows. The only problem I found was that they tried to play expansive and 1 touch on the postage stamp that is Kiwitea which I think was not quite right. The Weenix could not get the ball and then Ivan turned over and the young lad up front Halliemariam (?) shot/lobbed Tamati from about 25 on the angle. The instant he hit it, it was in and had a lovely swerve and flight. Then they had a 2nd through some great vision to lay a square ball to unmarked Stephens and then Tamati was beaten near post on a cut back making it three. ACFC then got one back but it would be fair to say that ACFC shaded the Weenix in terms of territory and possession in the first half. 2nd half it was all ACFC and Weenix parked the bus. The game actually reminded me of us v Roar in Dunedin where we scored on the counter and parked the bus. This game was a mirror of that.
For the Weenix, I thought the RB DeMario was outstanding and never let Tade get a good look all day. He was absolute class and did his job well and was obvious that he had a plan for playing Tade which he nailed. Of the 12 shots he would have had, only 1 was threatening and most were from distance. Time and time again, he had good body position and timing and forced Tade onto his left which he could not shoot with cause he kept looking for the cut back to his right which was denied. I thought Andrew Blake showed a hell of a lot and caused real trouble but he has no left foot and I think HAL teams would mark him out easily enough without that left foot. Gulley, Rufer and Ridenton had good games too and Oliver Sail made some very good saves.
For ACFC, I think they played the better team football by far with no one trying to be the star and I mean that without any malice. They largely came up the flanks and around the edges but never through the middle. I thought Burfoot and particularly Payne were passengers so ACFC had to go around the outsides cause there was no midfield to create/show/do anything. In fact, how Tim Payne is an AW is surprising. I thought de Vries did nothing too and it was largely attacks created/started by Iwata/White at the FBs with interplay with Tade and Tavano.
Was the result a reflection of the game? No. I think considering Weenix had 5 chances and slotted 3 and ACFC had easily a dozen and slotted 1 I think a draw would have been a fair result considering the score and possession/territory. One thing that is evident is that the Weenix has a ton of young talent and are well coached which is a good sign. They just need a little bit of brains. They were about to go to a 1 man advantage when Mario Billen headbutts Rufer and in retaliation, Doyle grabs him by the throat. It was quite unsavoury and it also looked like Rufer may have milked the head butt more than it was worth by how he went down.
All in all, a good football game to watch
I agree with most of what you said although I do think that Burfoot was probably the best and most likely of the three midfielders to actually make anything happen and felt that either Payne or, more probably, Viselich, should have gone off for Issa.
The right back for Phoenix was superb and kept Tade in his back pocket all day. Tade, though, has been poor for a while now and really needs to get head head out of his arse and start playing. Other than that I thought Auckland were the better team in terms of possession but really struggled in front of goal.
The referee was terrible and did not have a clue what was going on. certainly an entertaining afternoon though.
Pretty sure it was Berlanga who gave the ball away for the first goal - he had possession infront of the grandstand and went to pull the ball back to play backwards and instead toe'd it to the Nix player.
It was also Berlanga who was beaten at the front post for the 3rd goal.
Sure ACFC had lots of chances but they made so many errors as well - were I felt that the Nix were pretty efficient with their ball - infact their 3rd goal I reckon had about 20 passes before they scored - I don't think Auckland will feel robbed, I think they will know they can play a whole heap better.
On the referee - he wasn't perfect and made some mistakes - but I think he got the big calls right - Bilen had to go, didn't see the Doyle thing but if he did grab him by the throat then he had to go. and he was strong on a couple of easy falls in the box by ACFC players (FYI if Ivan isn't appealing for a pen, then it's def not one)