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Phoenix 1 Roar 1
Fulltime
Wellington Phoenix 1 (Hooper 82') Brisbane Roar 1 (Scott McDonald 61')
90th+4 minute: More tremendous build-up sees Cacace curl a cross to the far post and Hooper meets it with his head, but Young is there again.
The whistle blows, the game is over and the Phoenix have to settle for a draw, despite dominating the game.
90th+2 minute: Nice one-two by Hooper and Sotirio on the edge of the area, but Sotirio's shot is high.
90th minute: Four minutes of stoppage time added and the Phoenix continue to press for a winner, but Young is haunting them.
89th minute: Ridenton's shot from in front of goal along the ground is just nudged wide by Marinovic.
At the other end, Cacace kicks into the area, but it's cleared for a corner.
82nd minute: GOAL to Hooper
Rufer puts a great ball across the area, but Cacace's header beats Young, only to bounce off the right post.
Hooper is there in front of goal to slot the rebound for the equaliser.
80th minute: Piscopo is off, replaced by Sotirio. Good performance from Piscopo, whose combination with Cacace has tested Brisbane all game.
77th minute: Cacace beats three defenders on a run from the left into the area, but his shot is easily met by Young.
75th minute: A free kick to the far post is met by Hudson-Wihongi, but it's headed wide.
73rd minute: McCowatt has replaced Davila, as Talay nurses his star striker back to full fitness.
Elliot's left foot from outside the area drifts high and wide.
70th minute: Another opportunity for Phoenix, with Hooper finding Davila in traffic, but Young again up to the task.
68th minute: Rufer is on for Devlin and puts a lovely ball through for Cacace, whose cross bounces awkwardly for Hooper and his shot is wide. That was a royal chance to equalise.
All White Matt Ridenton has replaced Wenzel-Halls for Brisbane.
64th minute: Young is forced to make a great save, when Piscopo's shot is deflected. From the corner, the ball is in the Roar net, but Young was fouled.
61st minute: GOAL to McDonald
The ball is quickly down the other end and McDonald turns on the defence and curls a beautiful left-foot strike past the outstretched Marinovic into the far side of the net. Really unfortunate for the Phoenix, who have dominated recent minutes.
60th minute: Davila is away upfield and Phoenix build on the edge of the area, before Hooper tries to bend one at the far post, cut off by Young.
59th minute: Cacace draws a free kick, but Piscopo's set piece is straight to keeper Young along the ground.
58th minute: Davila is brought down by Brown, but Piscopo's free kick is ineffectual from outside the area.
56th minute: Eldred brings down Davila just outside the goal area - remember, he's already on a yellow card. From the set piece, Davila's shot is just wide outside the left post.
54th minute: O'Shea has the ball inside the area, but his right-foot shot is deflected away.
52nd minute: Piscopo, Davila and Ball have the ball in the goal area, but can't create a clear shot on goal.
47th minute: Wenzel-Halls brings Elliot down and he lands awkwardly into Kim's leg, which bends unnaturally, but he's OK.
From the free kick, Hudson-Wihongi has a lash at goal, but Young is behind the shot.
46th minute: Roar have the first corner of the second half, but Neville is wide with his shot.
Halftime
45th+1 minute: Just one minute of added time for the first half and the sides head to the sheds to regroup.
Phoenix have had the better chances in that initial period, with Hooper going close at the end, while Taylor also forced a save from the goalie off a corner.
Defensively, Hudson-Wihongi swooped to thwart McDonald's close-range shot.
45th minute: The ball somehow finds Hooper, who is in two minds whether he's onside or not.
The ball comes back to Hooper from a free kick and he tries to chip the keeper, but Young just gets a touch to deprive him a goal.
42nd minute: Quiet period of play, with neither team creating any real chance.
38th minute: Piscopo curls a corner towards the far post, but Ball's header is wide.
33rd minute: Piscopo puts a nice ball through for Cacace, but Young is behind his angled shot.
Roar break quickly down the other end, but Marinovic is equal to Wenzell-Halls' shot.
30th minute: McDonald has a point-blank opportunity to score for Roar, but Hudson-Wihongi appears from nowhere to block the shot for a corner.
28th minute: O'Shea is at the right post, his cross is blocked, but he chips one into the box, where Wenzell-Halls' header is off target.
The ball finds its way back to Wenzell-Halls and his shot is punched away by Marinovic.
25th minute: Cacace weaves into the box from the left, but his attempted pull back is deflected for a corner. Piscopo's cross bounces across the area without a touch.
23rd minute: Ball deflects off Brown for a Phoenix corner. The cross finds Taylor at the back post and his header is punched over the bar by Young.
20th minute: Roar breaks down the left, Brown into the area, but Wenzell-Halls can't connect with any power.
15th minute: Kim feeds Wenzel-Halls on the edge of the area, but he pulls his shot wide left.
12th minute: Steinmann crudely hacks Inman late and draws a yellow card too.
O'Shea's free kick is eventually cleared by the Phoenix.
11th minute: Aldred is booked for a crude tackle on halfway - late call by the officials. Devlin concedes a free kick to the left of the area, but Brown's cross evades everyone.
Eighth minute: Davila dispossesses the defence and dribbles into the area, but his shot is deflected past the near post by Young. Hudson-Wihongi heads the corner over the bar, but good early signs from the Phoenix.
Sixth minute: Hudson-Wihongi fouls McDonald from behind, but Neville's long free kick drifts harmlessly through the goal area for a goal kick.
Fourth minute: Piscopo puts a through ball to Cacace, but his cross is cut off by keeper Young.
Second minute: Wenzel-Halls hacks at Elliot and concedes a free kick around halfway.
First minute: Phoenix kick off and kick long to the corner, eventually forcing a goal kick.
*****
Coach Ufuk Talay has made three changes from the side that lost to Western Sydney last week, with Piscopo replacing McCowatt, Hudson-Wihongi in for the suspended DeVere and Elliot replacing Fenton.
Brisbane are unchanged from the side that beat Melbourne Victory 2-1 last week.
If the Roar win tonight, they will leapfrog the Phoenix on the table and hopes of a top-two finish are all but gone for the NZ side.
*****
Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the A-League clash between Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar at Newcastle's McDonald Jones Stadium.
After Melbourne City's win over league leaders Sydney FC over the weekend, the Phoenix have slipped to outright third on the table, but can clinch their playoff spot with victory tonight.
Their opponents are the team lurking two points behind on the ladder, so a loss would see them slip another spot with one game left on their regular season schedule.
Since the league resumed last month, the Phoenix have not lived up to their pre-coronavirus form, falling 1-0 in a listless display against Western Sydney Wanderers last Friday and letting victory slip through their fingers against Adelaide in their previous outing.
While they need a result tonight, the team from the capital also need a performance befitting a side that many Kiwi fans hoped could challenge for their first A-League crown.
Wellington Phoenix: 1-Stefan Marinovic (GK), 2-Liam Mcging, 4-Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi, 5-Matti Steinmann, 7-Reno Piscopo, 8-Cameron Devlin, 9-David Ball, 10-Ulises Davila, 11-Jaushua Sotirio, 12-Brandon Wilson, 13-Liberato Cacace, 14-Alex Rufer, 16-Louis Fenton, 17-Callan Elliot, 21-Callum Mccowatt, 27-Steven Taylor (C), 30-Zac Jones (Gk), 31-Ben Waine, 32-Sam Sutton, 88-Gary Hooper
Brisbane Roar: 1-Max Crocombe (GK), 2-Scott Neville, 3-Corey Brown, 4-Daniel Bowles, 5-Tom Aldred (C), 6-Macaulay Gillesphey, 7-Jai Ingham, 8-Danny Kim, 10-Bradden Inman, 12-Matthew Ridenton, 14-George Mells, 19-Jack Hingert, 20-Aaron Amadi-Holloway, 21-Jamie Young, 23-Dylan Wenzel-Halls, 26-Jay O'Shea, 27-Kai Trewin, 29-Jordan Courtney-Perkins, 30-Mirza Muratovic, 77-Scott McDonald
Phoenix blow chance to secure A-League finals berth
Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay is disappointed his side couldn't seal a finals spot, after a 1-0 defeat to the Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night.
The Phoenix needed just one point to secure a place in the A-League top six, but they will have to wait a few more days, after suffering their eighth loss of the season.
Talay felt his side got off to a strong start, but lost their momentum midway through the first half, when a dangerous tackle from Louis Fenton left Wanderers player Nicolai Muller with a suspected facial fracture.
In the second half, the Phoenix were reduced to 10 men, after Luke DeVere was shown a second yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
"I'm disappointed with the result," says Talay. "I thought we started off well and had an opportunity, when [David] Ball hit the post.
"But I think the injury caused a bit of a delay and that broke our momentum.
"I thought we came to life when we went to 10-men and I think we could have got something out of the game at the end of the day.
"It doesn't help going down to 10 men with one less player on the park, but the boys did well, they embraced it, they looked to get the equaliser and pushed very hard."
Talay is quick to leap to the defence of Fenton, after Wanderers coach Jean-Paul de Marigny said the Phoenix defender should have been sent off, instead of receiving just a yellow card.
"Louis is not that type of player," Talay said. "I think it was a 50-50.
"Maybe he was a little bit late with the challenge, but the referee made a call and played on the advantage, and they had an opportunity.
"But Louis is not that type of player where he comes into the challenge with any malice."
The loss saw the Phoenix slip back down to third on the standings and opens the door for Melbourne City to solidify second place, when they face Sydney FC on Saturday night.
The Phoenix still need just one point to secure a spot in the top six and have two games remaining, their next on Wednesday night when they face the Brisbane Roar.
They will be without DeVere for that match due to his sending off.
"We're still pushing for it [second place]," Talay adds. "We've got two more games to go and anything is possible in football.
"We just need to win our games that are in front of us and whatever happens, happens."
