Melbourne Victory 1-1 Wellington Phoenix
By Alyce Collett 20/2/2026
Above: Emma Pijnenburg (left) chases after Rachel Lowe (right). Photo: via Melbourne Victory.
The Wellington Phoenix left it late, but managed to pinch an equalising goal at the death and ultimately draw with the Melbourne Victory one all. After Rhianna Pollicina slotted home a penalty perfectly early in the second half things were looking good for Victory, but Makala Woods popped up with mere minutes left in the match to slot a goal home of her own and break Victory hearts.
It was a free flowing first half that did not result in any goals.
The half initially began with the visitors looking more promising in front of goal, and there initially was a sense that if the Phoenix could improve their finishes and through balls, a goal was not too far away.
But as the half progressed, the Victory started to sort themselves out and also went close to scoring on a number of occasions.
The Victory were proving to be stronger in the one on one battles, whereas the Phoenix were better than their hosts at running with the ball and opening up the spaces ahead of them thanks to players like Grace Jale and Manaia Elliott.
Interestingly though, the Victory finished the half with significantly more of the possession (63% vs 37%) but had half the number of shots that the Phoenix did. They also could not get any of their shots on target, whereas the Phoenix at least got two of their six shots on target.
This was all due to the ball really living in the Phoenix attacking half for much of the first half, briefly escaping when players like Laura Pickett and Sofia Sakalis were able to go on a run and get things going for their side.
The two keepers also shone in the first half, with both Courtney Newbon and Victoria Esson making a number of crucial saves in the first 45 minutes.
The second half started with a similar free flowing nature that had been shown in much of the first half.
However, there was also certainly plenty of competitive aggressiveness on the pitch, with neither side willing to give an inch.
Just over five minutes into the second half the first goal of the match came, however it was a bit against the run of play as it went to Victory.
After Sakalis was elbowed in the back in the penalty back, Pollicina stepped up and smashed the subsequent penalty kick right into the top corner and straight past Esson, who had very little hope of stopping such a rocket of a shot.
Despite going one goal down, the Phoenix kept pushing for a goal of their own. However, no matter how hard they tried they just could not get the angles to work in their favour.
That was until the 87th minute, when after a well worked series of passes the ball found itself at the feet of Woods, who perfectly guided a shot across goal and past Newbon to equalise for her side.
Teams: MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-3-3): Newbon, Pickett, Bunge, Morrison, Blissett, Furphy, Pollicina, Ray, Lowe, Sakalis, White. Substitutes: O’Grady, Maher, Curtis, Woodward, Jancevski, Saveska.
Scorers: Pollicina 52’
WELLINGTON PHOENIX (4-4-2): Esson, Barry, Walker, Jale, Elliott, Leon, van der Meer, Nunn, Vlok, Woods, Pijnenburg. Substitutes: Jaber, Brazendale, Main, Benson, Anthony, Danieli.
Scorers: Woods 87’
Referee: Mikayla Ryan.
Attendance: TBC.
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