Wellington Phoenix knocked out of Australia Cup by Macarthur

At Campbelltown Stadium: Macarthur 2 (Al Hassan Toure 41’, Lachlan Rose 88’) Wellington Phoenix 0. HT: 1-0

A horrible mix-up at the back has seen Wellington Phoenix eliminated from the Australia Cup.

The Phoenix fell to a 2-0 defeat to Macarthur in their quarterfinal in Campbelltown on Wednesday after Lachie Rose intercepted an errant back-pass from replacement left-back Tim Payne and scored with two minutes left.

Under pressure from Jesper Webber, Payne turned and tried to slide a pass back to centre-back Joshua Laws.

But Laws was caught flat-footed, and Rose pounced on the loose ball and hit a first-time effort past Oli Sail.

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The 88th-minute strike killed off any hope of a late Phoenix fightback after pressing hard in search of an equaliser.

They came close to levelling the score when Ben Waine found Kosta Barbarouses at the back post with a wonderful cross after he had been released down the left wing by Bozhidar Kraev.

But Barbarouses’s shot was tame, and the chance went begging.

Macarthur opened the scoring through a curled effort from close-range from Al Hassan Toure in the 41st minute after the Phoenix failed to close him down following a dangerous ball into the box from Ulises Davila.

Toure’s opener made up for a bad miss early in the match when he tried to chip Sail from the edge of the box but failed to hit the target after being played in by Davila.

Macarthur will now play Oakleigh Cannons in the semifinals after the NPL Victoria club pulled off a stunning upset over Sydney FC, beating the Sky Blues 2-1 after scoring two early goals on Wednesday.

The Phoenix will remain in New South Wales to play a pre-season game against the Newcastle Jets on Sunday before travelling home.