Wellington Phoenix 1
Adelaide United 1
A rare penalty miss from the usually reliable Ulises Davila has denied the Phoenix all three points – and a chance to lock in a playoff spot - in their latest A-League encounter against Adelaide United. Regardless, an undermanned Wellington side have moved to second on the competition table after a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Bankwest Stadium.
Davila had converted all five of his previous spot kicks this season, but his weak 86th minute effort was comfortably saved by Adelaide goalkeeper Paul Izzo to earn his side a share of the points. The result takes the Phoenix to 40 points, level with Melbourne City but with a better goal difference and three games each to play. The point was even more noteworthy given it was achieved without a number of key players for some or all of the contest.
As signalled after the 2-1 win over Perth on Wednesday, coach Ufuk Talay significantly shuffled his playing deck for a third game in eight days, making six changes. Youngsters Sam Sutton and Callan Elliot started for the first time with Brandon Wilson, Alex Rufer, Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi and Jaushua Sotirio all coming in to the eleven.
Regular starters Luke DeVere, David Ball and Cam Devlin were rested with Matti Steinmann suspended. Liam McGing replaced captain Steven Taylor at halftime, meaning of Wellington's 20 available outfield players, only Walter Scott hasn't seen game time in the first three post-Covid matches.
Perhaps as a result of the vastly altered personnel, Wellington's slick, cohesive passing game was down a notch from their previous two outings. With the first-choice pair of Devlin and Steinmann absent, Wellington's effectiveness through central midfield was blunted but childhood Phoenix fan Sutton, still just 18, had a tidy starting debut, getting involved in the physical exchanges and not being overawed by the occasion.
