Harry Ngata: Ultimate test awaits Phoenix

The Phoenix are now one game away from the grand final after yesterday’s extra-time win against Newcastle. Photo / Getty Images

White was the new black back in November, now yellow is the new black in March as close to 33,000 witnessed another mammoth battle in Wellington yesterday.

The atmosphere, tension and drama at Westpac Stadium was that of a George Lucus epic as the Phoenix overcame the Newcastle empire 3-1 in extra-time to write the next sequel in their unbelievable journey. Terry Serepisos and co must now be feeling the love from the FFA with another record breaking crowd and reigniting transtasman football rivalry.

A first half Tim Brown goal cancelled out an earlier strike from the inspirational Matt Thompson, while Paul Ifill and Eugene Dadi put the Jets to bed late in extra-time to ensure Wellington's finals fairytale lives on for at least another week.

Skipper Andrew Durante was both speechless and breathless after the game thanking the fans for another inspirational display of support. Again he was outstanding, marshalling his backline and leading from the front – minus suspended deputy John McKain. Durante's form must give Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek reason to seriously consider the former Newcastle defender for South Africa. Ben Sigmund also showed the grit and resilience in a short turnaround after international duty and very little game time of late.

In another battle royal across the ditch, big guns Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC slogged it out with the Victory prevailing 4-2 on aggregate after scores were locked at 2-2 at the end of extra-time to ensure a home grand final on March 20.

The Phoenix will travel to Sydney this week to slug it out with the glamour club for a place in the grand final. This will be ultimate test of character for Ricki Herbert's men, having lost all three encounters in the regular season. Quite often the semifinal provides more of a spectacle than the final and I'm sure Herbert will be calling for discipline and cool heads in anticipation for this winner-take-all match.

Jets captain Thompson was instrumental in his last game for the club before moving to A-League newcomers Melbourne Heart, almost single handedly dismantling a reshuffled Phoenix backline in the opening 45 minutes. The Jets continued their game plan from two weeks ago in the Gold Coast by frustrating their opponents then spring-boarding into attack mode through the pace of Thompson, Ali Abbas and Sean Rooney.

After a nail biting start which saw Sigmund have a second minute header cleared off the line, the Jets capitalised on some static Phoenix defending. Sigmund's header was poorly cleared resulting in Thompson piercing the Phoenix backline to smash his shot past Liam Reddy's near post and give the 2007/08 champions a 1-0 lead.

The Phoenix continued to press and slowly found their feet and rhythm when Manny Muscat made room for himself on the edge of the box with a neat touch and should have equalised.

The Yellow Fever finally found their voices when Chris Greenacre used his strength to hold off Ljubo Milicevic to wriggle free and cross to the far post where Ifill unselfishly set up Brown to finish clinically for his eighth goal of the campaign.

With a 10-5 shots on goal ratio at halftime and a 56-44 possession percentage the Phoenix failed to gain any advantage for their dominance and could've been behind if Tarek Elrich had kept his nerve in a one-on-one with Reddy.

Both teams kept the partisan crowd on the edge of their seats in the second half and while All Whites Sigmund, Brown, Tony Lochhead and Leo Bertos showed no signs of fatigue from their whirlwind trip to Los Angeles, Ifill must have left his shooting boots at home. He squandered two great chances to fire the Phoenix ahead as did Newcastle's Sasho Petrovski who hit the woodwork with Reddy beaten.

Perseverance paid off for Ifill as he gassed Adam D'Apuzzo in extra-time to shoot hard and low past a hapless Kennedy to send the Phoenix in front. The valiant Jets continued to push players forward in search of the equaliser which left gapping holes at the back. The Phoenix concluded business with five minutes to go when Brazilian substitutes Daniel and Diego combined to give Dadi an easy tap in to send the Wellington club one step closer to the grand final.