A dramatic late penalty save from Patrick Beach has seen Melbourne City salvage a draw at Sky Sports Stadium in Wellington’s 500th Isuzu UTE A-League match.
An Ifeanyi Eze brace put the Phoenix 2-0 up inside an hour, but City erased the deficit in four Medin Memeti inspired second-half minutes.
Memeti set up new recruit Marcus Younis to score his second goal in as many games in the 73rd minute, before capitalising on a Bill Tuiloma error to score himself to level the scores.
The comeback looked likely to be for nought when Liam Bonetig handled inside the area in the first minute of second half stoppage time, but Beach correctly guessed which way Manjrekar James was going to send his penalty.
Eze had earlier opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, pouncing on a catastrophic miscommunication between Samuel Souprayen and Patrick Beach.
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Beach came to clear a ball that Souprayen appeared to have under control, and when the two clashed just outside the area Eze had the simple job of tapping the ball into an empty net.
The Nigerian had to work much harder for his second goal, latching on to a long ball from Kazuki Nagasawa and waltzing past Souprayen to crack the ball in at Beach’s near post.
City head coach Aurelio Vidmar made a triple substitution immediately after the second goal, introducing Younis as well as Andreas Kuen and Takeshi Kanamori.
The move paid dividends quickly, with City – who had to that point not taken a shot at all – taking control of the match.
Memeti fired a warning shot in the 56th minute before playing a brilliant through ball to Younis that forced Wellington keeper Alby Kelly-Heald to come to try and clear the ball just outside the area.
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However he could only deflect it into Younis’s path, and like Eze earlier, he had the simple job of scoring on an empty net.
Bill Tuiloma’s error in his own area in the 77th minute then allowed Memeti in, his initial shot was well saved by Kelly-Heald but the 18-year-old was able to score with his second bite of the cherry.
After a ponderous first hour, City ended up good value for the point that Beach’s penalty save preserved.
The point means that City leapfrog crosstown rival Melbourne Voictory into seventh place with a showdown with Western Sydney Wanderers at Commbank Stadium their next assignment next week.
Meanwhile Wellington are at home again next Friday – New Zealand’s Waitangi Day – with a match against Victory.
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