By Cameron Russell
Hello and welcome to Westpac Stadium in Wellington for the Wellington Phoenix vs the Melbourne Victory in a round 15 A-league clash.
The Phoenix have put together a run of form to move up the table, while the Victory sit third and will be playing their third game in eight days.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, video highlights (be sure to refresh your browser) and all the football action. VIDEO will be available as soon as the final whistle goes.
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LIVE COMMENTARY… Phoenix 5-0 Victory
FULLTIME: Some performance from the Phoenix. Highlights up now
88 min: GOAL! 5-0! Huysegems gets his name on the score sheet when he turns on a Brockie cross to place it past Coe.
86 min: GOAL! A long ball is played from Riera and super sub Jeremy Brockie runs out and hits it first time across Coe. CONFIDENCE! Just what the doctor ordered for the striker as he runs over to celebrate with the fans.
84 min: Barbarouses takes off on a run and wins a corner. That's better from the Wellington product. His fan corner jump up and unveil what looks like a banner saying "Welcome home Kosta"
83 min: Formations have all but gone out the window here. Melbourne look lethargic, Phoenix look content.
80 min: Victory down 3-0, but still trying to pass the ball out from their goal box. Boyd off for Brockie as the Yellow Fever take the shirts off. Least some of the fans have got a tan over the summer.
74 min: Riera picks up the ball and floats a pass for Boyd to run onto, but the striker with a One Direction style hair cut lets it bounce and then hits a half-volley high and wide.
69 min: Boyd is dragged down by Leijer, but not before he slips the ball to Cunningham. He then carries it into the box and hits one wide, which was a debatable cross. Either way, Phoenix still attacking.
67 min: Victory have been reduced to taking long range shots. Traore blazes over. Victory need to score soon to keep this interesting, but the Phoenix are happy just moving the ball around the midfield.
65 min: Yellow Fever in great voice tonight. 7:30pm KO's on a Saturday will get that response.
60 min: Games lost a bit of pace at the moment. Huysegems takes about a week to tie his shoelaces before whipping in a free-kick. Coe comes out to punch, but the Phoenix keep possession. Boyd has an effort from the byline, and Coe takes no chances tipping it over the bar.
55 min: Albert Riera is really trucking around in midfield pulling his weight. A trait that is very much appreciated by coach Ernie Merrick.
51 min: Sub coming for the Phoenix. A chance for the youngster Ridenton as he comes on for Hernandez who trudges off. Doesn't take a psychologist to realize he wasn't happy coming off now, he was enjoying himself out there.
47 min: Sloppy start from Melbourne giving it away cheaply. Huysegems takes his time on the ball and is closed down. I think Victory coach Kevin Muscat will have got the boots out himself had his side conceded immediately after the break.
46 min: Melbourne get us underway in the second-half. The visitors have it all to do here.
HALFTIME: The Phoenix head for oranges up 3-0. The Yellow Fever are chanting "We want seven" as they leave the field.
46 min: PENALTY! The Phoenix press forward, it comes to Hernandez and he takes a soft touch pass the defender drawing the contact. He'll take it himself and sends Coe the wrong way. 3-0 to the Phoenix, and it's cruise control in Wellington.
45 min: OH MY WORD. Goal! Cunningham takes a snap shot on the edge of the area and it loops over Coe. Some hit from a mile out and it comes off. 2-0 to the Nix.
44 minBoyd wins a corner for the Nix. Slug into the back post finding Boxall, but he gets it terribly wrong and it goes up and wide.
42 min: Barbarouses again goes for the nutmeg on Muscat, but the defender shuts the door (closes his legs).
41 min: Traore comes forward and wins a corner. Finkler receives the 'who are ya' chant from the Fever as he walks over to take it. Dangerous ball goes out for another corner. Next one is glanced wide from Mahazi. He was challenged by Lia, but if he had better contact it would certainly have been a chance.
39 min: Melbourne pass the ball around the Phoenix box, and Sigmund brings down Troisi. Dangerous free-kick position. Finkler steps over the ball, and Troisi smashes one into the top corner...of the grandstand. He'll want that one back.
35 min: A diagonal ball across the field finds Barbarouses. He dribbles at Muscat, nutmegs him, but then his pass into Thompson in the box goes astray when the striker kicks air. I don't know who has more egg on their face, Manny or Thompson.
32 min: A long ball finds Boxall in the box, he's onside but his shot is blocked by the rushing Coe. It falls to Huysegems, but his shot is headed off the line. Victory survive somehow thanks to some quick reactions from Coe getting out to close down Boxall.
30 min: The Victory are all over the shop. The ball is back passed to Coe, but he splits to defenders with his pass and the Phoenix have the ball. A corner is won, but the Victory clear.
29 min: Vinny Lia gets himself ticked off in the book for a bad tackle. Apparently his first yellow of the season.
27 min: Melbourne on the counter, but Barbarouses plays his pass right into the defender. He then chases down Cunningham like a lion vs a gazelle, but he brings him down with a foul. Not his night so far.
23 min: Smart play from Finkler who slows his dribble and goes down under the challenge from Riera. He takes the free-kick himself trying to catch Moss off guard, but it drifts over the bar.
21 min: Moss has been all but a spectator. The Phoenix are pressing forward again. Lia plays a ball into the box and Huysegems goes down off the ball appealing. Stone faced by the ref. Replays show he went down very softly.
18 min: GOAL! First real chance, and Hernandez drills one across the ground and into the far corner. Boyd stepped over a pass from the wing, and the Costa Rican turned and fired. He keeps his celebration against his old team to a minimum.
15 min: Phoenix attacking the flanks. Boxall is up-ended by Traore and the Victory man earns himself a yellow. Huysegems takes the wide free-kick, but it sails over everyone. Usual decision to let the Phoenix lead goal scorer take that one and not Boyd.
13 min: The ball bounces around outside the Victory box before Boxall heads it to Hernandez, but the midfielder can't pull off the long range spectacular volley. Chewed off a bit too much there.
10 min: No chances created from either team as of yet. Victory look quick on the counter-attack, but the Nix back four have been up to getting a foot in and breaking things up.
8 min: Phoenix win the first corner of the game. Taking short and quickly, but Cunningham's cross hits a defender and goes out for a throw.
5 min: Hernandez gives Boxall some space down the right, but the defender slices his cross straight to the keeper. Not known for his crossing, but Boxall should have done better.
2 min: Vinny Lia hits the deck and stays down. He's up and slowly jogging around and has a word to the ref who obviously missed a foul in Lia's opinion.
1 min: The Phoenix get things underway, immediately go down field and lose the ball.
7:31pm: Plenty of support for Wellington old boy, Kosta Barbarouses.
7:30pm: Two teams enter the field. Bit of a gust picking up around the stadium. Shirts off tonight might be a bit nippy for the Yellow Fever once the sun goes down.
7:26pm: The visitors have made two changes from the side that played on Tuesday. Finkler and Contreras start for Nabbout and Murnane.
7:23pm: Eyes will be on Tyler Boyd as he makes his first start for the Phoenix this season. This will be the 19-year-old's 8th start for the Phoenix.
7:18pm: Wellington has turned on a great night for football and the players are beginning to trickle back into the tunnel as we get ready for kick-off. The Victory have had the better of this match up winning 11, to the Phoenix's 2 wins There has been 6 draws.
We will start commentary from around 7.15pm (NZT) with kickoff at 7:30pm. In the meantime check out the video with highlights of the earlier match this season between the Phoenix and Victory.
Teams:
Wellington Phoenix: Moss, Muscat, Boxall, Sigmund, Durante, Riera, Lia, Hernandez, Cunningham, Boyd, Huysegems Subs: Italiano, Ridenton, Bertos, Krishna, Brockie
Melbourne Victory: Coe, Contreras, Traore, Broxham, Finkler, Barbarouses, Thompson, Troisi, Mahazi, Jeggo, Leijer Subs: Thomas, Makarounas, Brown, Cristaldo, Murnane
Pre-match banter:
They may be in ninth place but Wellington have shown some great form of late. They're unbeaten in their last four outings having held the Mariners to a draw last week after a 3-1 win over the Wanderers the previous week.
Ernie Merrick has shown his side is not to be underestimated and will be looking to beat another top-three side in Victory. The Victory are no easybeats, however, having shown what they can do with a very convincing 3-1 win over the Wanderers in Tuesday.
Mitch Nichols future with the club is in question after being left out of the squad to face the Phoenix as speculation grows Tom Rogic is about to replace him at the A-League club.
After injuring his knee during his side's 1-1 draw with Newcastle last weekend, Nichols did not feature on Tuesday night in the 3-1 win over the Western Sydney Wanderers.
However, coach Kevin Muscat confirmed his absence from the squad to face the Phoenix in the New Zealand capital was tactical.
"He isn't injured, we've not selected him for tactical reasons," Muscat said on Friday.
"I've picked a team that I think can get the result."
Muscat declined to engage on whether Socceroo star Rogic was set to join from Celtic, calling it "disrespectful" to his current employers.
However, Nichols' failure to be selected for the trip across the Tasman will fuel rumours the former Central Coast Mariners attacking midfielder is on his way to the Victory.
Despite being one of the club's best performers this season, Nichols' form has dipped since being linked with J-League club Cerezo Osaka.
Various reports have suggested the Victory board have accepted a bid of $A400,000 ($NZ423,000) from the Japanese side in the hope of freeing space for Rogic and keen to conclude a deal as early as this weekend.
NZN
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