Wellington and Brisbane fought out a 2-all draw on Sunday afternoon.
Final score
Wellington Phoenix 2
Brisbane Roar 2
Brisbane Roar are aiming to continue their hot patch of form against the Wellington Phoenix as they aim for a place in the finals. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5pm AEDT.
TV
This match will be broadcast exclusively by Fox Sports 501.
Live stream
You can live stream Foxtel’s coverage of the match by using the Foxtel App if you already have a Foxtel TV subscription, or Foxtel Now if you don’t.
Having earned 15 points from the last 21 on offer, John Aloisi and the Brisbane Roar have turned their season completely around and are well and truly in the hunt for post season football.
Incredibly the Roar are only two points behind both Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers who occupy the final playoff positions respectively.
The three-time premiership winners have looked all out of sorts throughout most of the campaign, especially during the infamous Asian Champions League qualifying loss to minnows Ceres-Negros which included the jersey debacle.
Not qualifying for the continental tournament has proven to be a blessing in disguise for John Aloisi.
The Roar have all the confidence in the world after beating reigning champions and current leaders Sydney FC on their own turf.
Both Wanderers and Adelaide United will now be sweating on their finals qualification as Brisbane are roaring home with their favourable fixture list.
What can we say about Wellington Phoenix? Another wasted season, highlighted by poor recruitment and the exit of head coach Darije Kalezic.
Not much was expected by the team across the Tasman, yet there is still much disappointment surrounding this club.
The only shining light has been the introduction of young, fresh faces, highlighted by teenager Sarpeet Singh, but unfortunately for Phoenix fans he will be away hoping to make his debut for New Zealand.
Singh alongside talisman Roy Krishna, Michael McGlinchey, Tom Doyle, Matthew Ridenton and Alex Rufer will all be missing due to international duty whilst Brisbane Roar will continue to battle without three first-choice central defenders Luke Devere, Jade North and Avram Papadopoulos.
Playing Phoenix away is always an obstacle for all A-League clubs but there is no reason as to why the Roar shouldn’t see themselves with three points and quite possibly, a position in the top six come the end of the weekend.
Roar 2-0.
Doran Smith
Roar Guru
Good to see youngsters Liberato Cacace and Logan Rogerson get an opportunity.
Lionheart
Guest
Good effort by Phoenix. Burns is top class when he's in form. Roar just lack that ummph, maybe need a few youngsters in the lineup, or is it the coaching? Still, a pretty good effort by them, but not good enough - too many errors.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
Great entertainment across the ditch as Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar play out a 2-2 draw. Though there will be one man full of frustration and that’s Roar manager John Aloisi. The stars were aligned perfectly for Brisbane who beat league leaders and reigning champions Sydney FC last weekend and were heading into their encounter with five wins in seven games. Also more importantly the Western Sydney Wanderers who were occupying the final playoff position lost 3-0 to Melbourne City and were only two points ahead of the Roar. Taking all of that into consideration the Wellington Phoenix also had five players out through international duty, four injuries and a returning Roy Krishna who only played for Fiji a few days ago. How could the Roar not win? The first half was completely lacklustre from Brisbane as the Phoenix kids alongside Nathan Burns and Andrija Kaluderovic turned the screws. Logan Rogerson and Monty Patterson, in particular caused Brisbane all sorts of headaches but thankfully for the Roar the latter came off with an injury midway through the first half. The second period was a much-improved performance for Aloisi’s men as Brett Holman grabbed the lead off the run of play after great work from Massimo Maccarone. The Italian marquee found his teammate unmarked and Holman was able to take his shot first time and saw his volley travel over the head of debuting Phoenix keeper Oli Sail. Kaluderovic then quickly equalised latching on a defence splitting pass from Matija Ljujic and eleven minutes later Rogerson took the lead for the Phoenix and spun the match right around leaving the Roar reeling. Only minutes later poor keeping from Sail who horrendously misjudged the flight of the ball off a Roar corner gifted an equaliser to Thomas Kristensen, who did well to bundle the ball over the line which was the end of the goal scoring for the night. Though Nathan Burns had a golden opportunity to snatch the lead and the three points only minutes before stoppage time as his 35m run and shot from the same distance was saved by Jamie Young’s fingertips and ricocheted off the crossbar. It was a promising performance by a young and inexperienced Phoenix side and a golden opportunity missed by the Brisbane Roar who won’t see a situation like this served on a golden platter again.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
FULL TIME Phoenix 2-2 Roar Match report soon to follow.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
92nd min Phoenix 2-2 Roar The Roar need something special because they're currently 7th and it's all Phoenix at the moment.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
90th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Three minutes of stoppage time.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
89th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Nathan Burns continues to bang on the door. Beat a few players with his quick dribbling but saw his effort blocked. He has had his critics since rejoining the Phoenix but has easily been one of today's best.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
88th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Jamie Young easily justifying why he got a contract extension.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
87th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar NATHAN BURNS SMACKS THE BAR! The Australian international went for a run that lasted 35m and shot from about that distance but Young got an important tip on the ball.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
85th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Corey Gameiro finds himself on the counter attack but of all people Roy Krishna diffuses the threat.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
83rd min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Maccarone does well to create space and picks out Ben Khalfallah whose tame effort doesn't trouble the goal. What a sitter!
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
82nd min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Jack Hingert gets barged over in the box after a one-two with Kristensen but the referee waves away the penalty shout. VAR wasn't called so not a foul.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
81st min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Adam Parkhouse's effort on his weaker right foot travels wide but only after great work from Nathan Burns who continues to cause trouble for the Roar backline.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
79th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Substitution: On: Corey Gameiro Off: Eric Bautheac
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
78th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Maccarone can't get to the ball which would've been a goal but the Roar earn another corner which gets cleared by the Phoenix.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
77th min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Tempo starting to slow as fatigue sets in. Roar need to find extra fuel because they need to win.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
72nd min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Good news for Rogerson, he's up on his feet. Bad news, he's coming off the field. Substitution: On: Roy Krishna Off: Logan Rogerson
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
72nd min Phoenix 2-2 Roar The Roar were inches away from taking the lead. A header off the free kick just skims the post.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
71st min Phoenix 2-2 Roar Poor Logan Rogerson. Such a great game but gets a football to the neither-regions. Roy Krishna is stripping off his training kit and readying to come on.
Curtis Figon
Roar Guru
71st min Phoenix 2-2 Roar This game has completely opened up. Teams going back and forth trying to take the lead.