Wellington Phoenix women have written their names into club history, booking a place in next weekend’s A-League grand final after a tense extra-time win over Brisbane Roar at a packed Porirua Park on Sunday.
American striker Makala Woods was the matchwinner, scoring both goals in a 2-0 result that gave the Phoenix a 3-2 aggregate victory across the two-leg semifinal. After dropping the opening encounter 2-1 in Brisbane last weekend, Bev Priestman’s side had to come from behind on the night and on aggregate, and they did it in front of nearly 6000 fans, the biggest crowd ever assembled at the suburban Wellington ground.
The decisive sequence came late in the first half, with the home team chasing the game and looking increasingly direct. Seventeen-year-old Pia Vlok, returning from injury and starting to look like the most dangerous teenager in the competition, drove forward and curled a ball over the Brisbane back line. Woods read the flight of it, broke through the middle and finished cleanly to make it 2-2 on aggregate in the 42nd minute. The crowd, hemmed into a temporary stand erected especially for the match, erupted.
Brisbane defended deeper after the break and the match drifted into extra time still locked at 1-0 on the night. In the first of the two extra periods, Woods struck again, this time for the winner, sending the Phoenix in front for the first time in the tie. The home side then weathered a long second period of extra time before the final whistle confirmed the result.
“It’s amazing, we’ve been working for this for five years,” Phoenix captain Mackenzie Barry told AAP. “We’ve had such a hard season, the girls have been amazing, Bev’s been amazing and I’m so happy and can’t wait for next week. It’s overwhelming and I feel so proud of this club, we’ve gone through it – had two bottom of the table (finishes) – and now we’ve been building up and we’re in the final.”
Woods was overcome at the final whistle, having earlier missed a chance in the dying seconds of regulation that she feared would haunt her. “That broke my heart right in the moment, but my team’s so amazing they rallied behind me,” she said. “I wanted to sob in that moment but my teammates picked me up.” She also paid tribute to her young supplier, saying Vlok “takes people on, she’s so confident and she brings something creative and new to our frontline. It makes my job so much easier if Pia’s on the field.”
Priestman, who has been with the club for less than a season but has now taken them further than any previous Phoenix women’s coach, credited her bench and her support staff. “I knew in extra-time we could get the job done and I’m so proud of them,” she said. The coach noted her staff “put in a massive amount of effort” with energy gels in the 75th minute and that the squad’s depth was the key in the closing stages.
In comments before the match, Priestman had said the only message to her players was to enjoy the occasion. “If you can’t enjoy an occasion like this weekend, you know, we shouldn’t be playing the game,” she said. She had also predicted that finals football would come down to whichever side responded best to setbacks on the day, and her team’s response to going behind on aggregate proved her right.
The Phoenix will now travel across the Tasman to face Melbourne City in the grand final next weekend. City earned hosting rights by finishing top of the regular-season ladder and then overcame crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory in their semifinal. They are heavy favourites, but Wellington’s path to the decider, written off by many after last weekend’s loss in Brisbane, has already shifted the conversation.
The result also brings to an end a long grand final drought for the wider Phoenix organisation. The men’s team was eliminated in the 2010 preliminary final and has not been back since. The women’s team joined the A-League only at the start of the 2021/22 season, and before this campaign their best finish was seventh. Reaching a grand final at the fourth attempt represents a sharp step up, and a sign of how quickly the women’s programme has come together under Priestman after a turbulent few seasons.
There were standout performances throughout the side, with Football Ferns goalkeeper Victoria Esson reliable behind a back four that absorbed long stretches of Brisbane pressure, and a midfield that progressively wrestled control of the second balls Barry had identified as the difference. Vlok’s reintroduction after injury also gave the home side an attacking edge they had lacked in Brisbane.
For Porirua and the wider Wellington football community, the night was a milestone in itself. Capacity at the ground was lifted with a temporary stand and tickets sold out days ahead of kick-off, a level of demand the club has rarely seen for women’s matches. With the grand final now confirmed for next weekend in Melbourne, attention will turn to whether the Phoenix can complete an unlikely run by lifting the trophy on the road.
Are you backing Wellington to upset Melbourne City in the grand final, or has the trip across the Tasman ended better Phoenix sides than this one? Let us know in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
Leave a Reply