Late goal puts Phoenix into last eight of Cup
- Dave Worsley
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
The Wellington Phoenix have left it late to secure a place in the last eight of the Australia Cup with Hideki Ishige heading home a corner in the 94th minute to see off Nunawading City 1-0 in their round of 16 tie at Nasiol Stadium in Melbourne.
Nunawading had frustrated the Nix for large periods, particularly in the first half, and their goalkeeper made some sharp saves to keep Wellington scoreless until second half stoppage time.
LATEST HEADLINES:
The Phoenix’s substitutes all made an impact with recent arrival Carlo Armiento providing the pinpoint delivery for Ishige’s match-winner,
The Nix now await the winner of Tuesday night’s round of 16 match between Heidelberg United and Western Sydney Wanderers in the quarter-finals, which will be played later this month.
Head Coach Giancarlo Italiano made two changes to the XI which started the round of 32 win over Perth Glory, with 17-year-old goalkeeper Eamonn McCarron and All Whites fullback Tim Payne coming into the side in place of Josh Oluwayemi and Jayden Smith respectively. New signings Ifeanyi Eze and Carlo Armiento were named amongst the substitutes.
Ishige had the first shot just two and a half minutes into the match when he won the ball on the edge of the Nunawading box, but he wasn’t able to test their ‘keeper Dennys Martin.
In fact McCarron was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first half, with the hosts registering two shots on target.
Italiano made his first substitution at halftime, bringing on experienced midfielder Paulo Retre on as the right-sided centre back in place of Payne.
The Phoenix made a bright start with young forward Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues dragging a shot narrowly wide just 60 seconds into the second half.
Sloane-Rodrigues forced a good save from Martin a dozen minutes later as the Nix started to look more dangerous in the final third.
Luke Brooke-Smith headed over the bar shortly after the hour mark before being replaced by Luke Supyk, while Armiento came on for his club debut in place of Lukas Kelly-Heald.
Supyk dragged a shot wide 10 minutes after his introduction as Ishige sent a dangerous ball into the Nunawading penalty area.
Armiento almost scored directly from a right-wing corner in the 81st minute, with Nuna doing well to clear his effort off the line.
Dennys Martin made a couple of great saves soon after to deny a couple of Nix defenders. The first was to keep out a long-range shot from Matt Sheridan and the second was to tip an Isaac Hughes header away from goal.
Eze replaced Sloane-Rodrigues in the 72nd minute and the Nigerian had a couple of attempts at goal in normal time, but neither was able to test Martin.
Moments later the Phoenix earned a right-wing corner, which Armiento delivered to the near post and Ishige headed home to win Wellington the match.
