A brace to Wellington Phoenix’s Fijian flyer Roy Krishna helped the home side to a 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets in New Zealand on Saturday.
The Jets fell behind in the 21st minute when Krishna finished from close range after Jack Duncan could only manage to parry Kosta Barbarouses shot on the angle. The goal was subject to some conjecture, as Krishna appeared to be standing in an offside position when Barbarouses struck the ball.
Shortly before half time the Phoenix doubled their advantage when some sloppy play from Newcastle resulted in Barbarouses racing towards the box. The Kiwi flyer passed off to Krishna, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net despite Duncan getting a slight touch on the strike.
While Phoenix were in control in the first 45, Mark Jones’ men stepped things up somewhat in the second stanza to put some pressure on their hosts.
Andrew Hoole probed and almost found Jason Hoffman in a great position in the 53rd minute with a clever chip into the box.
Danish ace Morten Nordstrand struck at goal from just inside the area in the 64th minute of play, but the former FC Copenhagen man’s effort was well smothered by Italian defender Marco Rossi.
The dynamic Andrew Nabbout entered the fray for Steven Ugarkovic with 25 minutes left in the match and provided some spark to the Jets attack. Nabbout combined with fellow substitute Aleksandr Kokko in the 75th minute however dragged his strike wide of Glen Moss’s woodwork.
Jacob Tratt and Roly Bonevacia sent efforts wide of the target for Wellington in the 76th and 84th minutes respectively, while Ivan Vujica and Devante Clut strikes in the 86th and 89th minutes couldn’t trouble Moss for Newcastle.
After going undefeated in the first three games of the season, Newcastle Jets have now lost two matches 2-0 on the bounce. A tough challenge awaits the Club next Thursday evening when Jones’ side travel south to Victoria to play Melbourne City at AAMI Park in Hyundai A-League 2016/17 Round 6.
Wellington Phoenix 2 (Krishna 21’, 41’)
Newcastle Jets 0
Venue: Westpac Stadium, New Zealand
Referee: Shaun Evans
Attendance: 5,832
Newcastle Jets: 3. Jason HOFFMAN (9. Aleksandr KOKKO 69’), 4. Nigel BOOGAARD (C), 6. Steven UGARKOVIC (15. Andrew NABBOUT 65’), 7. Andrew HOOLE, 8. Mateo POLJAK, 10. Wayne BROWN, 13. Ivan VUJICA (23. Devante CLUT 88’), 16. Nicholas COWBURN, 19. Morten NORDSTRAND, 20. Jack DUNCAN (Gk), 28. Johnny KOUTROUMBIS
Substitutes not used: 27. Caio DE GODOY, 40. Jim FOGARTY (Gk)
Yellow cards: Hoole, Brown
Red cards: Nil
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Glen MOSS (Gk), 2. Jacob TRATT, 7. Gui FINKLER (4. Roly BONEVACIA 81’), 8. Alex RODRIGUEZ, 9. Kosta BARBAROUSES (11. Hamish WATSON 90+1’), 10. Michael MCGLINCHEY (14. Alex RUFER (90+3’), 13. Marco ROSSI, 16. Louis FENTON, 17. Vince LIA, 21. Roy KRISHNA, 22. Andrew DURANTE (C)
Substitutes not used: 5. Ryan LOWRY, 20. Lewis ITALIANO (Gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
