Football: Wellington Phoenix into A-League top six with dramatic 97th-minute winner over Adelaide United nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Despite controversially losing defender Brendan Hamill for a high-elbow just before halftime, coach Mark Rudan s United proved resolute in holding Wellington out throughout the second stanza.
With the sides physical and competing fiercely, referee Alex King dished out nine cards at UTAS Stadium on Thursday - two of which earned Hamill his marching orders.
United were in a position to defend their point thanks to attacker Lachlan Wales 27th-minute goal, which cancelled out in-form Ben Waine s early strike.
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After ending their two-game Tasmanian homestand without defeat, they now move into seventh on the A-League ladder while Wellington remain in ninth.
Danny Hay is confident the OlyWhites squad for the Tokyo Olympics will be as strong as possible.
The last time the OlyWhites took part in the Olympic men’s football tournament, in London in 2012, a third of their 18-strong squad were playing in amateur competitions in New Zealand. Nine years on, when they head to the Tokyo Olympics in July, there are likely to be several overseas-based professionals who miss out – a sign of the progress that has been made during the 2010s.
With their opponents, South Korea, Honduras, and Romania, now locked in, coach Danny Hay has a little over two months to finalise his 18-man squad, which will consist predominantly of under-24 players (those born in 1997 or later), but can also include three over-age players, and his four travelling reserves, who can only be called on as injury replacements.
Thursday evening’s battle between Western United and Wellington Phoenix has extended beyond 90 minutes on the UTAS Stadium pitch, with both Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay taking issue with the other’s sides approach and the officiating following the contest.
Wellington Phoenix held to frustrating draw with 10-man Western United.
Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay and his predecessor Mark Rudan, now in charge of Western United, were both crying foul after Thursday night’s 1-1 draw between their teams in Tasmania – but for vastly different reasons. Rudan was the first to front the media after the match in Launceston, and had the sideline behaviour of Talay firmly in his sights, suggesting he may have intimidated fourth official Shaun Evans, whose intervention led to the dismissal of Western defender Brendan Hamill in first-half stoppage time. Hamill received a second yellow card after hitting Phoenix forward Ben Waine in the face while jumping to head the ball, a decision which left Rudan perplexed.