Life is full of defining moments: people, places, and experiences that changed or moulded you, or pushed you off one course and onto another. Perhaps it was the teacher that inspired you onto further study; a chance meeting that became a relationship: those literal and metaphorical Sliding Doors moments that change the direction of your life and journey forever.
Football is no different.
Over the course of a season, success isn’t defined by one single, standalone flashpoint. It’s incremental. Small moments that compound, converge; that stack up and snowball. It’s a well-timed slide tackle; a particularly acrobatic penalty save; a free-kick with just enough whip to beat the last defender, or a striker in inspired, intrepid form.
And often, it’s not until a season is over (or, at least, almost over) that these moments begin to glimmer with a fresh significance.
In that spirit, I wanted to break down the Wellington Phoenix’s A-League Men season so far. With one game to go, they sit outright top at the league’s summit (albeit having played one more game than the Central Coast Mariners, who lurk a mere point behind), with the finals looming – and so many narratives and storylines still to be inked in.
So, what’ve been the top turning points of the ‘Nix’s 2023/24 season so far?
Let’s take a look.
10. Alex Paulsen leaps far to beat Jamie Maclaren’s goalbound penalty away (1-0 vs Melbourne City, 25 November 23)
When Jamie Maclaren – a player who had chalked up 85 goals across the four seasons prior to this one, and a current Socceroo – stepped up to the spot, things felt inevitable.
Hair bleached blonde, Melbourne City’s No. 9 picked his spot and fired the ball, with power, on a course headed just inside of Paulsen’s left post. For City’s main man, however, there was just one problem – Paulsen’s big right hand was there to meet it.
Wellington would go on to clinch the game by the narrowest of margins, securing their first league win over Melbourne City for almost four years. (The Phoenix’s last non-league victory over City came via penalties, in the FFA Cup, in January 2022.) For this hoodoo-breaking reason alone, Alex Paulsen’s 12-yard heroics were enough to enshrine him in the annals of ‘Nix legend. But, more importantly for the Nix’s campaign, it would set them on the road to just their third league win of the season – and an all-important three early points.
9. Apostolos Stamatelopolous scores his second goal of the game at Sky Stadium (0-3 vs Newcastle Jets, 9 December 23)
When Jets striker squared up to Paulsen at the penalty spot, just as Maclaren had done two weeks earlier, he didn’t make the same mistake.
Sending his penalty high, and with venom, into the roof of the net, Stamatelopoulos made it 3-0 in what was an evening to forget for the ‘Nix. Their first loss of the season (and, with just two rounds to play, one of only four defeats in it), Stamatelopoulos’s goal capped 47 minutes in which Wellington had been hopelessly, utterly outplayed – bedraggled, beset, and caught out by wave after wave of relentless Newcastle counter-attacking and equally ruthless finishing.
While it didn’t pop the swiftly growing bubble of ‘Nix early-season optimism, the game – presided over by a season-low 4,395 Wellington fans – did do plenty to deflate it. (The Phoenix would respond, though, and bounce back with a pair of clean-sheet victories over Macarthur and Western Sydney.)
8. Jason Geria drags Oskar van Hattum down at the edge of the Victory’s penalty area (1-1 vs Melbourne Victory, 19 January 24)
It happened in a flash. Ben Old delivered a sweeping ball into the area; Oskar van Hattum, attempting to touch it down, saw it slip away from him; Victory defender Jason Geria, coming from the wrong side of the Phoenix winger, stepped across his man. van Hattum hit the deck, and – after a lengthy VAR check, with referee Daniel Elder spending seemingly an eternity at his pitchside monitor – the penalty was given. Alex Rufer duly dispatched it, and Sky Stadium exploded into rapture. There were mere seconds of stoppage time left to play.
Why was this hard-earned point so crucial? Well, when the match kicked off, both teams were level on points. The Phoenix, at the time, were by the letter of the law top, owing to having more wins under their belt. However, a Victory win would’ve seen the Melbourne side go three points clear outright at the top of the table. The draw, despite coming on home soil, was also made sweeter by the fact that it could have been much worse: after losing Tim Payne to a red card just before half-time, the ‘Nix had enjoyed just 36% possession, 10 shots to Victory’s 14, and four corners to their Melburnian counterparts’ 16.
After this game, Victory would stutter through an indifferent patch of form: taking just three points from their following four games. For Wellington, by contrast, their next seven games would bring no defeats, and 15 points from a possible 21.
Through that dual lens, it’s hard not to see the result that balmy evening in Wellington (and, more specifically, that penalty decision – which, let’s face it, could’ve gone either way) as a kind of Sliding Doors moment. With one game of the regular season left, the Phoenix are eight points ahead of the Victory, and unreachable.
But had Elder not deemed Geria’s penalty-area contact with van Hattum an illegal one, well – who knows what could’ve happened?
7. Oskar Zawada comes on as a substitute to score the match-winning goal (2-1 vs Newcastle Jets, 27 January 24)
Just over a week after the heroics of Old, van Hattum, and Rufer, the latter was up to his old tricks – scoring another penalty, this time picking his spot past Jets ‘keeper Ryan Scott with less than six minutes elapsed. But, after knocking irrepressibly on the door throughout, the Jets broke the Phoenix’s resolve through a Trent Buhagiar strike in the 80th minute.
Enter: Oskar Zawada. The ‘Nix’s star No. 9, then making only his 10th appearance of the season after a stop-start, injury-plagued campaign, came on as a late substitute – and made an immediate impact. Holding his run to perfection as Old broke away on a fast counter, Zawada ran onto the subsequent through ball and smashed it across Scott and inside the Newcastle custodian’s far post. On a night where the Jets looked to have salvaged a point – and were, perhaps, poised even to push for three – the ‘Nix instead continued their stunning early-2024 form, and made sure the points would be coming back to Aotearoa.
6. Keegan Jelacic bundles Ben Old off the ball and crosses for Corey Brown to equalise (1-1 vs Brisbane Roar, 2 Feb 24)
It’s the story of Wellington Phoenix’s season: that, for every late, match-winning goal they have in their locker, they always seem to be within inches of conceding a goal of equal significance at the other end of the park. And so it was, unfortunately for ‘Nix fans, that Brisbane winger Keegan Jelacic found Ben Old dawdling on the ball deep inside his own penalty area.
Rushing in, the Roar attacker engaged Old in a particularly robust challenge: harrying the Phoenix No. 8 and appearing to push, if not aggressively jostle, the player off the ball. With the clock reading 90+4, Jelacic flicked a Hail Mary cross towards the opposite end of the penalty area, where Roar defender Corey Brown met it with his head to equalise.
In a campaign marked, for the Phoenix, by strong performances – if a little overreliance on sitting in deep defensive banks after obtaining a narrow lead – Brown’s goal served as a timely reminder that, in the A-League, every team carries a threat. Right up to the final whistle.
5. Sam Souprayen jumps highest to beat the Phoenix, and continue the AAMI Park curse (0-1 vs Melbourne City, 9 Mar 24)
It’s a testament to the enduring quality of Melbourne City’s playing group that the side – winless in five, and languishing outside the playoff spots – entered the match as favourites. Unbeaten in 10 matches, the Phoenix hadn’t seen defeat since 2023; fans were surely entitled to a little optimism. With the Phoenix not having beaten Melbourne City at AAMI Park for over seven and a half years, though, expectations may not have been too high.
And so it proved, with City’s French centre-back Sam Souprayen rising highest to head down a corner from a tight angle at Paulsen’s back post. A game Wellington would, in some quarters, have been expected to at least draw ran away from them (in admittedly trying circumstances, given the 30+ degrees of sweltering heat that caused the match to be pushed back a couple of hours) ensuring that AAMI Park, historically a necropolis for the ‘Nix, would remain taboo turf.
4. VAR disallows Jordan Courtney-Perkins goal to prevent the Sky Blues taking a two-goal lead (2-1 vs Sydney FC, 16 Mar 24)
Given VAR’s inconsistent, often capricious application, fans are learning to simply roll with the punches – to take calls both bad and bizarre in their stride, and hope the next call goes for, rather than against, their team.
So, when Sydney midfielder Anthony Caceres bundled over the ‘Nix’s Nicholas Pennington from behind before putting it on a plate for Robert Mak to score in the 6th minute, Wellington fans were left fuming. But it didn’t take long until a sense of cosmic justice looked to have righted the wrong in the Phoenix’s favour.
When Jordan Courtney-Perkins turned and rippled the net with a half-volley in the 28th minute, the Sydney defender silenced the Eden Park crowd, and looked to have given the visitors a 2-0 cushion on hostile territory. But VAR, having spotted the ball bouncing up onto Courtney-Perkins arm in the leadup, disallowed the goal: a call that anyone, neutral fans excepting, would have to say was tight. Play continued, and the Phoenix kicked on to score two second half goals (the first a Hayden Matthews own goal, the second a splendid Kosta Barbarouses finish) and edge the game 2-1 to stay ahead of the Mariners – and keep the race for the Premiers Plate in their hands with five matches left to play.
3. Mikael Doka scores a wonder goal to win it late for the Central Coast in Gosford and see the Mariners go top (1-2 vs CC Mariners, 5 Apr 24)
It looked, for all money, as though Ben Old’s 78th-minute strike had done just about enough to secure the Phoenix a priceless away victory at the Central Coast stadium. In fact, after being second-best for the vast majority of the tie in Gosford, the goal – which inspired a sudden, late burst of Phoenix pressure – looked as though it could be the catalyst for a smash-and-grab win on the road as Wellington looked to snatch all three points at the death.
Mikael Doka had other ideas. The Mariners’ Brazilian right-back-turned-winger broke forward with the ball: brushing off the half-hearted attentions of Bozhidar Kraev before planting a composed shot from outside the box into a space the size of a postage stamp at the bottom-right-hand corner of Alex Paulsen’s goal.
The result saw the Mariners draw level with the Phoenix on 46 points at the top of the A-League ladder: and, owing to the greater number of wins Central Coast have chalked up (plus their superior goal difference), wrested control of the race for first out of the ‘Nix’s grip: ensuring the Mariners’ Premiers Plate destiny was firmly in their own hands.
2. Alex Rufer puts a stoppage time penalty wide of the post (1-1 vs Newcastle Jets, 19 Apr 24)
A cruel moment. But one few Phoenix fans, witnessing Alex Rufer take a short, stuttering run-up to the penalty stop with mere seconds to play, couldn’t see they didn’t – in their hearts of hearts – predict. With a chance to win the game 2-1, go three points clear at the top, and smack the ball firmly back into the Mariners’ court, the Phoenix’s inspirational captain – so decisive in dispatching his penalty against Melbourne Victory earlier in the season – fluffed his lines, and put the ball wide of Jets custodian Ryan Scott’s left post. (Scott had also guessed the correct way; even an on-target penalty was no guarantee of a goal.)
Perhaps more frustratingly for ‘Nix fans, the penalty came at the end of a game which opened with a goalkeeping howler from the previously imperturbable Alex Paulsen – another moment which, in and of itself, stakes a strong claim for inclusion on this list.
The bigger picture? With the Mariners facing two highly winnable games to finish the season – away to the Jets, and home to Adelaide United – there’s a good chance these two extra points the Phoenix were a sole kick away from claiming may have no bearing on their final league position. But, if the Mariners fail to pick up maximum points from those games, Rufer’s miss will go down as a horrendous, season-defining, and potentially Premiers Plate-bottling error; an opportunity binned during the most unforgiving part of the season.
1. Finn Surman secures the first-ever top-two finish in Wellington’s 17-year history (1-0 vs Melbourne Victory, 12 Apr 24)
It was, and remains, the most important goal the Wellington Phoenix have ever scored.
And it was fitting, somehow, that it was homegrown products Finn Surman and Oskar van Hattum – both of whom failed to make an impact under Ufuk Talay last season and looked, for all money, not up to the task of playing at this level – to snatch it.
With a head bandaged up from a collision in the prior week’s game, Surman met van Hattum’s wicked, curling free-kick to power home a 95th-minute header from close range. The Kiwi international's goal would give the Phoenix an eight-point buffer over Melbourne Victory in the first of a trio of games Wellington manager Giancarlo Italiano dubbed "three finals": skewering, in the process, Victory's own hopes of reeling in the ‘Nix and mathematically securing the first top-two finish in Phoenix history.
For the first time in the club’s 17-year existence, the Phoenix can sit back and take a long breath before approaching the two-leg semi-final that, if victorious in it, will carry them to their first A-League grand final ever. And from there, who knows?
In a season of firsts – one set not only to the tune of Freed From Desire, but to the tinkle of both records, and glass ceilings, being shattered – the Phoenix still have plenty of plotlines left to explore. And many more moments of magic to make.
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