Adelaide United 0-2 Wellington Phoenix
by Alyce Collett (3/4/26)
Above: It was a night to remember for the Wellington Phoenix as they defeated Adelaide United to lock in second place on the ladder. Photo: via A-Leagues.
Wellington Phoenix has locked in second spot on the A-League Women’s ladder after a 2-0 win over Adelaide United tonight.
The home side was lively in the second half and defended well in the first half, but ultimately one five minute patch about halfway through the first half saw goals from Marisa Van der Meer and Brooke Nunn and blew open the game for Wellington. This ultimately made all the difference.
Adelaide almost had the perfect start to the match, but Lara Gooch’s opening minute shot ultimately went narrowly wide.
In the early stages the Phoenix dominated possession – to the tune of about 60% to 40% in the opening 10 minutes – but things evened out more in that department as the half progressed.
However things did get harder for the home side when Dylan Holmes was forced from the ground early as a concussion substitution after an unfortunate accidental head clash with Emma Pijnenburg.
Initially it was Adelaide whose chances were going closer to scoring than Wellington’s were, but that did eventually change when the Phoenix pounced on some inattentive defending from the Reds.
First Van Der Meer, then Nunn not even five minutes later, both found themselves unmarked in the perfect position in the box to be under the flight of a cross, and headed the ball into the back of the net perfectly. All of a sudden, things had gone from difficult to disastrous for Adelaide.
Wellington went into the half time break with a two goal lead and a boost in confidence after the shock of last week’s result, while Adelaide went into the half time break with nothing but a list of questions to be answered.
Adelaide came out in the second half with a renewed level of energy, and as such took control of the attacking time split early in the first half.
The likes of Isobel Hodgson and the Taranto sisters Melissa and Adriana were all lively for Adelaide, trying to will their side on to getting themselves back into the game.
However, no matter how hard they tried or what they tried, the Reds just could not work the ball over the line.
Wellington was not without chances of its own in front of their goal, but the likes of Makala Woods and Grace Jale kept having too much power in their shots, and as such kept skying them well over the goals.
Teams: WELLINGTON PHOENIX (5-3-2): Esson, Nunn, Elliott, Van der Meer, Barry, Walker, Jale, Vlok, Pijnenburg, Leon, Woods. Substitutes: Anthony, Benson, Brazendale, Feinberg-Danieli, Fraser, Jaber.
Scorers: Van Der Meet 30’, Nunn 34’
ADELAIDE UNITED (4-3-3): Jenkins, E.Hodgson, McNamara, Tolland, Tonkin, Holmes, Gooch, M.Taranto, I.Hodgson, Dawber, A.Taranto. Substitutes: Bowler, Condon, Millar, Morgan, Nicholas, Rossi.
Referee: Georgia Ghirardello.
Attendance: TBC.
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