At Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland: Wellington Phoenix 1 (Bozhidar Kraev 48’) Melbourne City 0. HT: 0-0
Alex Paulsen’s second penalty save of the season helped the Wellington Phoenix continue their hot start to A-League Men with a 1-0 win over Melbourne City.
The goalkeeper had only arrived back in New Zealand late on Friday morning, after being away with the All Whites, but early on Saturday evening he made a pair of crucial stops.
First he pushed a penalty attempt by Jamie Maclaren onto the post in the 74th minute, then he was alert at the end of stoppage time to keep out a desperate attempt by Terry Antonis.
The penalty save was Paulsen’s second of the season, after one in the Phoenix’s second-round win over Perth Glory at Sky Stadium.
This one at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland secured his side their third win and stretched their unbeaten start to life under new coach Giancarlo Italiano to five matches, moving them top of the table.
Bozhidar Kraev had earlier given the Phoenix the lead three minutes into the second half, finishing at the back post after receiving a cross from David Ball, who had been played in by Kosta Barbarouses down the right.
It was Kraev who then gave City a golden chance to get back into the contest, clattering into the back of midfielder Hamza Sakhi as he went to meet a cross from Marin Jakolis in the 72nd minute.
Italiano had taken Paulsen aside for a chat as the Phoenix players mingled about on the pitch when they first arrived at the stadium, looking to help him refocus on the task at hand after his first foreign tour with the New Zealand national team.
“The conversation before the game was just to stay grounded and to stick to what he’s done over the last couple of months to get him into this position,” Italiano said afterwards.
“Don’t rest on his laurels. He did that today. It was, overall, a very, very good performance from AP.”
Italiano felt the game became chaotic in its final stages, while his City opposite, Aurelio Vidmar, was left frustrated that his side would be heading home with nothing, pointing to Paulsen’s outstanding afternoon.
He had earlier parried a fierce effort by Jakolis and pushed away a free kick by Sakhi that threatened to curl inside the top-right corner of his net.
It took the Phoenix a minute to fire their first shot on Saturday and put their 90 minutes without one last time out against Melbourne Victory a fortnight ago firmly in the past.
Nicholas Pennington clipped a ball over the top for David Ball, making his 100th Phoenix appearance from the start in place of injured striker Oskar Zawada, but the forward wasn’t unable to finish past Jamie Young in the City goal.
All three of the Phoenix forwards fluffed their lines at various stages in the first half, but they were able to combine smartly three minutes after the break to put their side in front.
The Phoenix had a lucky escape in the 57th minute, when left back Lukas Kelly-Heald blocked a goalbound shot from Léo Natel into the arm of Paulsen, then had to be alert when it headed back towards the goalline to clear the danger once again.
After Paulsen denied Maclaren from the spot, there was a miss by substitute Benjamin Mazzeo, who blazed over with his follow-up effort.
Barbarouses came closest to doubling the Phoenix’s lead, curling in a shot that Young pushed away, while Paulsen had to be alert right until the very end.
Paulsen first made a name for himself by starring in a penalty shootout win over Melbourne City in the Australia Cup at the start of last year.
Almost 24 months on, he has now helped the Phoenix claim their first league win over them since February 2020.
Up next
The Phoenix are on the road next weekend in round six of A-League Men, playing Western United at Mars Stadium in Ballarat.
Before that, Western are in action in round five on Sunday, hosting Adelaide United at the same venue.