Sydney FC 1-3 Wellington Phoenix
by Alyce Collett (20/3/26)
Above: Wellington Phoenix (group on right) celebrate after scoring one of their three goals tonight against Sydney FC. Photo: via the A-Leagues.
The Wellington Phoenix have come from behind to defeat Sydney FC 3-1 in an important win in the race for finals and the premiership.
Sydney FC initially shocked its more fancied opponents with a goal from Caley Tallon-Henniker before it was quickly cancelled out by a goal from Pia Vlok, then second half goals from Marisa Van der Meer and Brooke Nunn sealed the result for the visitors.
The Sky Blues sent an almost instant shockwave through the Phoenix camp, when Tallon-Henneker curled the ball in from out wide and into the back of the net inside the opening three minutes of the match.
The Phoenix almost equalised a minute and a half later but Van der Meer’s header from a Pia Vlok corner ultimately went a little too wide.
Wellington did not have to wait too much longer to find that equaliser though, when Vlok flicked a powerful shot beyond Sydney keeper Heather Hinz and into the back of the net. She was set up by a brilliant through ball from Nunn, who perfectly curled the ball around several Sydney defenders and through to Vlok.
A large part of the first half was really end to end football from both sides, with both sides being able to work the ball to their attacking end with relative ease but neither side managing to get many particularly dangerous shots away.
For Sydney it was Tallon-Henniker and Amber Luchtmeijer out wide that were looking the most dangerous, whereas for the Phoenix it was usual suspects Vlok and Makala Woods.
But in the end, despite there being 15 shots between the two sides in the first half, the two sides went into the break locked at that one all draw.
The home side came out with some very positive attacking energy early in the second half, and did much of the attacking.
However the Phoenix did eventually start to wrestle back control of the match and started to build up some attacking time of their own.
Zoe Benson almost made an instant impact as a second half substitution after coming on just before the hour mark, but found herself on the wrong side of an offside call.
The Phoenix did not have to wait too much longer to get a legal goal though, after a corner kick from Manaia Elliott perfectly found the head of Van der Meer, who headed the ball perfectly into the back of the net.
The Nix then found a cushioning goal with about 15 minutes to go after Nunn perfectly got a powerful shot away from a tight angle. The goal was funnily enough set up by a perfect switch cross from Vlok, repaying her team mate for setting up her goal earlier in the night in the process.
Teams: SYDNEY FC (5-3-2): Hinz, Lemon, Ayson, Sullivan, Tumeth, Corbett, Cassar, Hawkesby, Ulkekul, Luchtmeijer, Tallon-Henniker. Substitutes: Fenton, Halmarick, Hollman, Oppedisano, Robertson, Valletta.
Scorers: Tallon-Henniker 3’
WELLINGTON PHOENIX (4-4-2): Esson, Walker, Barry, van der Meer, Elliott, Nunn, Pijnenburg, Jale, Vlok, León, M.Woods. Substitutes: Anthony, Benson, Bartlett, Brazendale, Feinberg-Danieli, Jaber.
Scorers: Vlok 12’, Van Der Meer 64’, Nunn 75’
Referee: Sophie Allum.
Attendance: TBC.
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