Soccer: Phoenix take valuable away point

Carlos Hernandez of the Victory controls the ball during the round six A-League match between Melbourne Victory and the Wellington Phoenix. Photo / Getty Images

The Wellington Phoenix launched a late onslaught on the Melbourne Victory goal, but were unable to break a 0-0 deadlock in their A-League soccer match at AAMI Park in Melbourne tonight.

Although the Phoenix started promisingly, dominating possession and territory early on they were unable to find the back of the net, but would have been happy to come away with a valuable away point.

The result was a vast improvement on the last time the two teams met, in late January early this year, when the Victory overwhelmed the Phoenix 4-0.

The Phoenix's former Victory midfielder Nick Ward, who scored the winning goal in last week's 2-1 win over Sydney, again impressed with some much-needed variety in midfield and in his combination with Tim Brown and Manny Muscat.

Muscat had his hands full keeping Victory's Carlos Hernandez under wraps, the Costa Rican unleashing some threatening forays throught the middle as the game progressed.

But Wellington's back four were as solid as always, boosted for the first time by the presence of Australian defender Jade North, who linked smoothly with former Newcastle Jets teammate -- and now Phoenix captain -- Andrew Durante.

Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert again opted to start with Danny Vukovic in goal, leaving regular stopper Mark Paston on the bench after troubles with a neck injury, and Vukovic showed improvement on a rusty game last week with some fine saves tonight.

There was no doubt the Victory were missing key defender and skipper Kevin Muscat, out after tearing ankle ligaments in last Sunday's 3-0 win over the Brisbane Roar.

However, 24-year-old defender Adrian Leijer took over the captain's armband, youngster Diogo Ferreira got his first start, and Rodrigo Vargas and Surat Sukha completed an effective defensive combination for the Australians.

Perhaps the Phoenix's best chance of the opening half came in the 43rd minute as striker Paul Ifill got behind the Victory defence, then picked out Chris Greenacre, who mistimed his first strike before forcing Victory keeper Michael Petkovic into a fine reflex save.

The Victory never really managed to stretch the Phonenix defence, and by halftime the Wellington team had looked the more creative on attack, with six shots on goal to the Victory's three, four of those shots on target to none from the Melbourne team.

Finally playing with some width, the Victory looked far more threatening in the the second half. Coach Eddie Merrick benched Tom Pondeljak in the 60th minute, bringing on striker Mate Dugandzic, who proved his worth soon after with a strong run which found Hernadez in good position to finally give Vukovic some work in goal.

Midfielder Billy Celeski also split the defence in the 70th minute, only for Brazilian striker Ricardinho's shot to be denied by a magnificent save from Vukovic.

Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert replaced the hard-working Ifill with Mirjan Pavlovic with just under 15 minutes to go, and the young striker showed strength and speed to come close with five minutes remaining.

The Victory also came close in the closing minutes, as both sides pushed forward in search of a late goal.

The Phoenix now have to maintain focus for the second match of a testing double-header across the Tasman this week, against Melbourne Heart on Sunday.

- NZPA