Melbourne City 1-0 Wellington Phoenix
By Alice de Koster-Kitto 7/12/25
Above: Melbourne City celebrates their late winning goal. Photo: Tilly McDonald for Impetus.
Melbourne City have taken the points against Wellington Phoenix, in an intense end-to-end battle at ctrl:cyber Pitch. The match went scoreless for the majority of play, with the Nix looking to be the more likely to take the points until City’s late winner .
The match-up has historically been a difficult one for Wellington Phoenix, having never beaten Melbourne City across their six meetings; however, they did come in with an added benefit, having just come off their first-ever win against Melbourne Victory.
Melbourne City dominated at the start, maintaining their possession-based style of play, but Wellington put up a good fight, making some good interceptions early on.
It was quite a physical match, with City earning a free kick within the first few minutes, following a foul on Holly McNamara by CJ Bott, who wore the armband for Phoenix.
Nepalese international Samba was a standout for the Nix, getting forward and pushing through City’s defence, as the national team’s top scorer searched for her debut Wellington goal, although her chances were intercepted.
The end-to-end action remained, with the intensity of the match only growing as the first half stoppage approached. Both sides had a strong attack and plenty of opportunity, but none that were particularly close or significant. Melbourne continued to hold the possession. However , Wellington’s efforts to capitalise on the possession they managed to take presented danger for the hosts
A pass from Brooke Nunn outside the box almost gave the Nix the lead; however, the shot that attempted to find CJ Bott was slightly too wide to reach the goal, or the captain’s foot.
The pressure from the visitors eased slightly toward the break as Melbourne City looked to respond to their chances. Aideen Keane got dangerously close to tapping the ball into the net, as a deflection from the Nix keeper Aimee Feinberg-Danieli was sent straight to her foot in close range.
As the first half stoppage approached, it seemed increasingly likely that if a goal was to be found in this half, it would come from Wellington Phoenix, with Samba and Nunn continuing to get forward, while the backline held City’s notorious attack back, disallowing any opportunities to reach the net.
The match remained lively and aggressive, with Shelby McMahon being shown a yellow card for a foul on van Der Meer, at the top of 2 minutes of additional time. An excellent effort from Grace Jale almost gave Wellington a last-minute lead, as the ball bounced off the crossbar. Despite the energy, there were no goals to be found, and the stalemate remained at the break.
The Phoenix opened the second half as the dominant side, with Jale immediately taking a long strike from distance. An excellent save from Malena Mieres saved City from conceding the first goal of the match as Manaia Eliott had a close shot on target following a pass from Nunn.
In a concerning turn for an already injury-stricken Nix side, Samba was taken off following what seemed to be an ankle injury, replaced by Emma Main.
While things were fairly even during the first half, with Wellington taking the dominance towards the end, there was a significant lack of chances from Melbourne City throughout the second half, as they continued to take an uncharacteristically passive role on the pitch.
The 71st minute saw Lucia Leon make her much-awaited Wellington Phoenix debut, coming on for Lara Wall, in hopes the former Adelaide United player could bring the impact the Nix need to complete one of their string of chances and take home the points as stoppage approached.
Emma Maine got extremely close to opening the scoring following a pass from Brooke Nunn, shooting wide of the goal while holding back Laura Hughes, but the ball bounced off the post, and the goal was denied.
The scoring was opened by Melbourne City, as Taylor Otto combined with Rebekah Stott, who headed the ball into the net in close range. Despite the Nix’s heavy dominance, it looked as though the hosts would take the lead in the 86th minute.
Wellington desperately searched for an equaliser during six minutes of added time, wanting to capitalise on the significant chances, after dominating throughout the second half.
Despite efforts at both ends, there were no more goals to be found, and the score remained 1-0 to Melbourne City, in an unexpected turn to one of the most contentious meetings of the season thus far.
Round Seven will see Wellington Phoenix head to Sam Kerr Football Centre to take on Perth Glory, while Melbourne City will face Canberra United at McKellar Park.
Teams: MELBOURNE CITY (4-4-2): Mieres, Apostolakis, Stott, Otto, Turner, Keane, Davidosn, Hughes, McMahon, McNamara, McKenna. Substitutes: Barbieri, Wilson, Roestbakken, Uchendu, Jackson, Butrus.
Scorer: Stott 87’.
WELLINGTON PHOENIX (4-4-2): Feinberg-Danieli, Walker, Barry, van der Meer, Wall, Elliott, Bott, Jale, Vlok, Bhandari, Nunn. Substitutes: Main, Brazendale, Leon, Neary, Benson, Bartlett.
Referee: Shab Roshan.
Attendance: 619.
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