Heart attack buries Phoenix
09/19/2010 06:03:23 AM
Melbourne Heart have claimed the second win of their inaugural Hyundai A-League campaign, but narrowly missed the chance to climb into the top six, by beating Wellington Phoenix 2-1 at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.
The majority of the 5698 fans in attendance were cheering wildly when the hosts led 2-0 thanks to goals from John Aloisi and Alex Terra.
But Tim Brown's goal with 16 minutes left meant the Phoenix held onto sixth spot despite the defeat.
After an indifferent first half the tempo lifted after the break and it was the home side that opened the scoring when Gerald Sibon and Wayne Srhoj played a one-two before Sibon fed Aloisi to score at the far post.
Aloisi then missed a golden chance to make it 2-0 when he hit the bar from a metre after Danny Vukovic had parried Terra's header into the former Qantas Socceroo's path. But Terra did double the advantage in the 66th minute after Sibon won the ball from Nick Ward.
But with the momentum firmly in Heart's favour the Phoenix pulled a goal back when Paul Ifill crossed for Brown to volley home, Brown helped by Dean Heffernan completely missing the ball in flight.