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At Coopers Stadium, Adelaide: Adelaide United 2 (Craig Goodwin 19’, pen-67’) Wellington Phoenix 0. HT: 1-0
Wellington Phoenix’s hopes of winning a maiden A-League Men championship under coach Ufuk Talay have been crushed by Adelaide United’s brilliant winger Craig Goodwin.
Goodwin scored in either half after bullying fullback Callan Elliot as a red-hot Adelaide torched the Phoenix 2-0 in their elimination final at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
The two-goal loss was the latest in a series of painful finals defeats for the Phoenix, who have not won a playoff in 11 years.
It brought an immediate end to a season that promised so much before fizzling out, and saw Talay leave the Phoenix without winning any silverware.
“There’s got to be a winner and there’s got to be a loser, and they were the better side tonight,” a dejected goalkeeper Oli Sail told Sky Sport after the game.
Mark Brake/Getty Images
Adelaide goalkeeper Joe Gauci gathers the ball at the far post after Phoenix captain Alex Rufer hit the woodwork.
“We didn’t deal with their deliveries from wide areas and gave them two soft goals with a counter-attack that led to a penalty from our own corner, and the delivery in the first half.
“It’s heartbreaking.”
It brought an immediate end to a season that promised so much before fizzling out at the business end, and saw Talay leave the Phoenix without winning any silverware.
Adelaide captain Goodwin delivered a masterful performance in the do-or-die playoff. He scored twice, in the 19th and 67th minutes.
Both goals came from mistakes by Elliot, who ended a breakout season with a night to forget.
The first goal came after the Phoenix failed to deal with Louis D’Arrigo’s inswinging cross towards the back post.
Elliot tried to flick the ball clear with his head but nodded the ball straight to the feet of dangerman Goodwin.
Goodwin produced some neat footwork before cutting inside and bending a shot off his weaker right-foot past Phoenix goalkeeper Oli Sail.
Mark Brake/Getty Images
Adelaide United captain Craig Goodwin celebrates after opening the scoring.
Goodwin’s second came via the penalty spot midway through the second half after Elliot was tied into knots while trying to defend an Adelaide counter-attack.
17-year-old wunderkind Nestory Irankunda burst clear from a Phoenix corner and stormed down the pitch, evading Lucas Mauragis before releasing Goodwin with a pass out wide to the left.
Elliot tried to follow the skilful winger but lost his balance when Goodwin cut inside and ended up tripping over and clattering into his opponent, who went to ground from the contact.
Alireza Faghani immediately pointed to the penalty spot and Goodwin stepped up and blasted the ball straight down the middle to double Adelaide’s lead.
The Phoenix had just one shot on target across in the 90 minutes and it came after just 60 seconds.
Top scorer Oskar Zawada seized on a Ben Warland mistake and rifled a shot from the edge of the area, but his effort was saved by Joe Gauci.
The Phoenix went agonisingly close to scoring an equaliser right before halftime but the post came to Adelaide’s rescue.
Warland misdirected a Phoenix corner to one of his team-mates and Phoenix captain Alex Rufer pounced. He produced a desperate lunge but could only watch in despair as the ball struck the woodwork.
Big moment
Goodwin’s first goal was a sucker punch as it came from an early Phoenix mistake. Elliot could have put the ball out for a corner as he tried to defuse D’Arrigo’s cross, but opted to flick it back into play and straight into the path of Adelaide’s most dangerous player. The Phoenix were chasing the game from there.
Best on pitch
Goodwin showed just why many people consider him to be the best player in the A-League Men. Elliot will have nightmares about the Adelaide skipper after he ran the Phoenix fullback ragged throughout the elimination final and scored both of the Reds’ goals to send them through to the semifinals.
Big picture
The Phoenix’s season is over and so is Talay’s time at the club. The coach and players Oli Sail, Clayton Lewis and Steven Ugarkovic had already confirmed this season would be their last with the Phoenix. It was the third time in four years the Phoenix had played finals football under Talay but they fell at the first hurdle on each occasion.
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