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At WIN Stadium, Wollongong: Wellington Phoenix 1 (Bozhidar Kraev 60’) Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Yeni Nbgakoto 79’) HT: 0-0.
Bozhidar Kraev picked up where he left off before the World Cup break, scoring for the third game in a row as Wellington Phoenix marked their A-League Men return with a spicy 1-1 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers in Wollongong.
The Bulgarian midfielder took his season goal tally to four after getting his head on the end of a pinpoint cross from Clayton Lewis to open the scoring in the 60th minute, his height proving a handful for the Wanderers defence.
But despite going ahead the Phoenix were unable to hold onto their lead, coughing up a late goal from set-piece.
Kraev’s goal was cancelled out by Yeni Ngbakoto 19 minutes later after the Wanderers forward’s free-kick from deep was allowed to bounce in the box and evaded everyone, including Phoenix goalkeeper Oli Sail.
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Wanderers captain Marcelo launched himself at the ball but made it known during the celebrations that he never touched the ball and it was Ngbakoto’s goal.
The Phoenix took the round seven fixture against the second-place Wanderers to Wollongong as a thank you for hosting them when the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to be away from New Zealand for the best part of two seasons.
That resulted in a unique situation where WIN Stadium was packed with boisterous opposition fans, who had made the 90-minute trip south to Wollongong, and barely any supporting the Phoenix.
They were also greeted with a substandard pitch, which Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said was a “leveller”.
But despite coughing up their lead, Talay was satisfied to walk away from a point from their home away from home game, and said he was delighted to see Kraev continue his stellar start to life in the A-League.
“BK [Kraev] has had a good start the season, he’s scoring goals and does the hard work without the ball as well and he really understands what we expect of him in the position he play, so we hope he can continue in the same way,” he said.
“It’s our home game but is it really a home game? Not really. But we’ll take the point from the restart of the season and we’ll look at the game, review it and try and move on.”
The Phoenix had the best chance of an uneventful first half but Lawrence Thomas pulled off a save of the season contender to swat away Scott Wootton’s close-range header from a Steven Ugarkovic corner-kick.
Phoenix midfielder Lewis was replaced by Nicholas Pennington not long after setting up Kraev’s goal after he took a heavy fall while challenging for a header and needed to take a concussion test, which he passed.
“Clay is fine. The thing is they had to check him for concussion and I didn’t want to waste time with one less player when they were having set-pieces and launching balls into the box.
“We also needed the fresh legs as it’s been a while since we’ve had a game of this intensity because of the break. That’s why we decided to make the change.”
Tempers flared after the final whistle with players from both teams needing to be separated following an argument between their respective skippers, Sail and Marcelo.
Talay said he did not know what started the skirmish.
The result lifted the Phoenix back into the top six.
Lineup
Oli Sail; Callan Elliot, Scott Wootton, Tim Payne, Lucas Mauragis; Clayton Lewis (Nicholas Pennington 74’), Steven Ugarkovic, Yan Sasse (Kosta Barbarouses 58’), Bozhidar Kraev; David Ball (Ben Old 82’), Oskar Zawada (Ben Waine 82’)
All five imports were included in the starting lineup for the first time this season.
Big moment
The Phoenix looked destined to score in the first half, only to be denied when Lawrence pulled off a stunning one-handed save, sticking his glove up to hook away Wootton’s on-target header.
Player of the day
Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay has a great track record when it comes to scouting foreign talent and Kraev looks to be the latest gem. His height makes him a great target.
Big picture
The Phoenix will be buoyed by the goal-scoring form of Bulgarian import Kraev as they return to Wellington for a true home game against Adelaide United next Saturday.
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