Wellington Phoenix are off the mark in the 2023/24 Liberty A-League season, after seeing off Western Sydney Wanderers with a 3-0 win at CommBank Stadium.
Venezuelan international Mariana Speckmaier, Macey Fraser and Manaia Elliott all fired home their first A-League Women’s goals in the second-half, to give new coach Paul Temple his first win as coach of Wellington on Sunday evening.
The win is only the club’s sixth in 34 games and provides the Phoenix with a major boost heading into the international break.
Meanwhile, the Wanderers languish in bottom place on the standings and were delivered a further blow when Melissa Caceres was stretchered off the field with a suspected leg injury.
Her injury saw Talia Younis come on in her place, who became the youngest player in A-Leagues history at 14 years, 11 months and 26 days, beating the previous record set by Matildas star Sam Kerr.
Both sides came into Round 2 off the back of opening round defeats to Melbourne City and Sydney FC respectively, and sought to bounce back before the upcoming break. Western Sydney started strongly and came close in the 22nd minute when Maliah Morris’ cross was diverted just wide from Bethany Gordon.
The visitors grew into the game as a tight opening stanza drew to a close, with Fraser beginning to stamp her authority on the contest.
Fraser twice tested the Wanderers goal, first firing an effort straight at Kaylie Collins after riding a number of challenges, before rocketing a long-range strike against the crossbar minutes later.
After the break, a lovely through-ball from Alexia Apostolakis found Sophie Harding, but she got the ball got caught in her feet and cost the Wanderers a great chance on goal.
Moments later, Caceres went down after an accidental collision with Grace Wisnewski, which saw her evening come to an end and pave the way for Younis to take the field.
Wellington would once again gain a foothold in the contest and this time they were rewarded on the scoresheet, as Michaela Foster’s cross was nodded home by Speckmaier, scoring her first A-Leagues goal in the process.
The Wanderers went searching for an equaliser and both Holly Caspers and Danika Matos came close, with the latter denied by a strong stop from Rylee Foster.
Their fightback was short lived as the Phoenix wrapped up the three points in style.
Manaia Elliott won the ball back in on the edge of the Wellington box, before putting it on a platter for Fraser, who smartly dummied her way past one Wanderers defender and fired an unstoppable long range effort into the bottom corner.
Minutes later, Fraser turned provider for Elliott, who twice had efforts denied, before volleying a stinging effort past Collins to wrap up an impressive victory.
Elliott almost had a second in the dying seconds, when her shot at the near post was parried onto the woodwork by Collins.
