Kosta Barbarouses has helped Wellington Phoenix go top of the A-League Men, scoring two goals in their 3-0 win over Macarthur.
Barbarouses grabbed two goals in the space of three minutes at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Monday night after Bozhidar Kraev had put the Kiwi outfit ahead in the first half.
The win continues an unlikely rise for the Phoenix under first-year coach Giancarlo Italiano, who has lost just one game through the opening eight rounds.
Wellington’s methodical victory brought an end to Macarthur’s unbeaten start to the season with Mile Sterjovski’s side frustrated by an away side who sat in a low block and swarmed the Bulls whenever they advanced up field.
Wellington relied on the counter to put pressure back on the Bulls with Kraev and Nic Pennington both going close to putting the Kiwi outfit ahead.
Macarthur captain Ulises Davila had two half chances late in the first half but soon after, Wellington broke forward and had their opener through Kraev.
Barbarouses surged down the left before slipping in Ben Old, whose low cross was turned in by the Bulgarian in the 40th minute, allowing the ‘Nix to take a 1-0 lead in at halftime.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Macarthur were becoming increasingly frustrated with Wellington’s deep-sitting defence and as they surged forward they left themselves exposed to another Phoenix counter in the 58th minute.
This time Kraev was played in down the right and as he shook off a challenge from Tomislav Uskok he found Barbarouses at the back post with the experienced New Zealand international tucking in.
No sooner had Sterjovski made changes to claw his team back into the game then Wellington added a third, Barbarouses turning in a Tim Payne delivery with an hour left to play.
Macarthur were awarded a penalty when Valere Germain was brought down in the box but goalkeeper Alex Paulsen guessed the right way and parried Davila’s spot-kick away.
Even with Sterjovski throwing caution to the wind the ‘Nix were able to stand firm and claim their fourth cleansheet of the season.
Wellington face Western Sydney Wanderers at home on Saturday while Macarthur, who now sit in fourth place, are away to Perth Glory.
chris1
Roar Rookie
Yes I'm having same issues. Freezers completely up. If I'm on my laptop I just hit refresh. On the TV need to go all the way back to menu and start again. Very frustrating.
chris1
Roar Rookie
I can't work it out. My P+ is fine but Optus keeps freezing and need to exit and go back into the app. So inconsistent.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Mine generally works well - maybe 75-80% of the time. But when things go wrong....
NickA
Roar Rookie
Genuinely have no idea who will be spooners. WU have an NPL- level CB pairing atm but they have strong attacking players (who aren’t scoring)? Perth have Staj & Taggart… they’re about the only things that I see going for them at the moment – a solid defence but horrendous away form Jets are probably likely – I like their squad but perhaps too young and inconsistent. Mariners unlikely. Adelaide – too much talent I think. Vic/WSW/Well/mac/bris – started too well. City or Syd finishing last would be a laugh.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
That's interesting because P+ worked really well for me last night, none of the intermittent blurriness which happens so often during matches. It seems the P+ performance is different for each platform.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Maybe its based on load, because some of the womens matches even one camera but the resolution was great. The Ashes on Channel 9 that was the worse that a bad antenna during the 70's so blocky it was bizzare
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
APL should be doing everything in their power to support teams competing in Asia, so these Monday games might indeed become regular enough maybe. Given it is at night and not in the day, I am all for it and good to hear that Mac’s crowd didn’t suffer because of it. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8464406/could-monday-night-football-save-the-a-league-men/
Grem
Roar Rookie
They certainly had a compressed defence and counter attacked well. Italiano is a great coach? Can they maintain this momentum? Does Paulson have any Australian grandparents?
Garry
Roar Rookie
Go nix :silly: :stoked:
Grem
Roar Rookie
That’s two games in a row where the Monday night crowd was either no worse or a lot better(last night). The beginning of the school holidays may have helped. I also heard lots of young voices and saw lots of people wearing their jersey - they are good signs. What a shame they played poorly or Wellington were so well disciplined that Macarthur had no answers.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Go Monday night football :stoked:
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Go Nux!
Grem
Roar Rookie
The best crowd of the year for Macarthur and they did not play well - that was a shame.
David Shilovsky
Expert
That's annoying. Apart from the fuzzy resolution I haven't had any issues after eight rounds.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Disappointing result and another irritating night on Para+ This time it decided to keep rebooting itself about every 10 minutes - at least it keeps finding new ways to disappoint. :angry:
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
It looked a bigger crowd than normal for Macarthur its too bad they chose that occasion to repeat what Sydney did against Melbourne. I was expecting Drew to start , as he was one of the few in this match not to start in the AFC cup match. He looked full of beans as well. Wellington they could win the title this season with opposition performances like that.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Adelaide Andy keeps saying this Nix team are over achievers and others keep writing them off week in week out, Tonight proved even after a slipup at home they can bounce back and smash teams the following game. Will they win the league? I hope so but there are so many teams doing well its going to be a long hard way to stay at the top. Sydney FC or Adealide United for the spoon.