Soccer: 'Wooden spooners' just miss upset win

Tim Brown (left) of Phoenix and James Brown of Gold Coast contest the ball. Photo / Getty Images

Phoenix 1
Gold Coast 1

Against the odds, and with an injury-struck, battle-weary side forced to dig deep, the Wellington Phoenix almost stole an upset A-League win over Gold Coast United at Skilled Park last night.

Ahead 1-0 as the clock ticked down, the Phoenix gave up a late goal and had to settle for a share of the points with a courageous draw.

His team already depleted by serious injuries to Lucas Pantelis (season-ending) and Mirjan Pavlovic (8-10 weeks), coach Ricki Herbert has an anxious wait for reports on the three players forced out of the season opener.

The much-touted venture into the unknown was pretty much that for the new-look teams in the fourth of the opening round's five matches.

Gold Coast, unbeaten in their 16-match pre-season campaign, went in as clear favourites and made much of the early play.

In under 10 minutes they had the ball in the Phoenix goal, but former Phoenix striker Dylan MacAllister was offside. The home side had another chance when Tim Brown brought down Adama Traore on the edge of the penalty area but that too went begging.

Accepting that let-off, the visitors broke deep. Paul Ifill picked out Brown at the far post but he fired straight at All Whites goalkeeper Glen Moss who cleared for a corner.

Play swung back and forth.

United had their chances but in Ben Sigmund found a rock in Phoenix's defence.

In another breakaway raid, Manny Muscat raced wide on the right before sending a pinpoint cross in to Chris Greenacre who made the finish for 1-0 look simple.

Greenacre, the oldest player on the pitch, had the chance for a second 11 minutes later but his header, from a Vince Lia cross, was pushed away for a corner by Moss.

In between, MacAllister had the ball in the Phoenix goal. Again, from an offside position.

Two minutes before the break, Traore should have equalised when he found himself in space but his attempt to steer his left-foot shot home was thwarted by a sterling Mark Paston save.

The most movement in the early stages of the second half was on and off the Phoenix bench as Vince Lia, Paul Ifill and Dani Sanchez - all injured - were replaced by Nicky Ward, Daniel Cortes and Jimmy Downey leaving Herbert with no cover for the last 27 minutes.

Seizing that sense of reorganisation in the Phoenix ranks, Gold Coast grabbed the initiative. They asked plenty of questions of the Phoenix defence but couldn't turn possession and territory into goals until the dying minutes when standout James Brown was given space and, from outside the penalty area, hoisted a stunning strike high into Paston's goal.

It was a good point for the Phoenix, who Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg rated as the wooden spoon favourites in the match lead-up.

Both teams will be happy but will have left the ground knowing there's plenty to be done if they are to be in the mix before the season gets much older.