Marco Tilio found the net and Patrick Beach delivered a remarkable save as Melbourne City climbed to second place in the Isuzu UTE A-League standings with a 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix.
Tilio’s seventh goal in his last eight encounters against the Phoenix marked City’s first away triumph in six outings on Friday night.
The Subway Socceroos forward, who netted in last week’s Melbourne Derby, broke the deadlock just six minutes after the restart, while his teammate and young goalkeeper Beach made a sensational save to deny the struggling Phoenix in Wellington.
Beach, aged just 21, kept out Corbin Piper’s towering header in the 69th minute at Sky Stadium, leaving Sky Sport New Zealand commentator Jason Pine in awe, declaring it the “save of the season”.
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City now sits second on goal difference, albeit temporarily, as they head into the remaining matches of Round 21. Meanwhile, Wellington finds itself in 11th place, nine points adrift of the top six, suffering from a five-match winless run which heavily impacts their finals aspirations.
The Phoenix were eager for a turnaround following a heavy 6-1 loss to rivals Auckland FC in last week’s New Zealand Derby, while City entered the match off an exciting 2-2 draw against Melbourne Victory in their own derby clash.
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City dominated the play at Sky Stadium and were unfortunate not to take the lead into half-time.
Tilio squandered a clear-cut opportunity in the 14th minute, finding himself unmarked in the penalty area, only to glance his header wide of the post in a huge let-off for the ‘Nix.
Wellington was under serious pressure as City’s dynamic attacking style caused headaches for the home side.
There were further chances for City before the break – a header from Kai Trewin caused chaos as it ricocheted across goal, while a desperate lunge from Max Caputo almost met the ball in first-half stoppage time.
The Phoenix were punished for an overzealous attempt to play out from the back—Andreas Kuen played the ball into the six-yard box, and Tilio was on hand to finish powerfully into the back of the net.
Wellington responded positively, pushing forward in search of an equaliser.
They came agonisingly close to levelling the score in the 69th minute, only for the brilliance of City’s goalkeeper Beach to intervene.
Piper appeared set to score with a towering header, but Beach executed an astonishing save that left the Phoenix fans in disbelief.
An elegant flick from Benjamin Mazzeo late in the game nearly added further gloss for City, but Harry Politidis uncharacteristically directed his shot just wide of the post, while an offside call thwarted another opportunity for the visitors to increase their lead.
Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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