Wellington 2 Adelaide 2
KEY POINTS:
It has been an extraordinary week for football in Wellington and the Phoenix rounded it off with an exciting finish against Adelaide last night.
The week had started with a 2-1 win over Sydney, the club's first A-League victory, continued with confirmation David 'Golden Balls' Beckham and his
LA Galaxy will play at the Cake Tin on December 2 and then followed with news Socceroo Ahmad Elrich will join as a marquee player.
What he will join is a side that is gathering more momentum than Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards heading down a ski jump slope.
A win would have been the perfect result but a point sees the Phoenix firmly entrenched in the middle of the table. After the tribulations of the past couple of seasons, that's more than acceptable.
The Phoenix went ahead through Felipe in the 64th minute, only to concede two goals in the space of eight minutes, before Shane Smeltz headed an equaliser with only three minutes of normal time remaining. He could have grabbed the winner in the final seconds but, after rounding goalkeeper Robert Bajic, he put his shot from an acute angle into the side netting.
In all fairness, it would have been cruel on Adelaide, who created myriad chances and deserved at least a point.
They were dangerous in and around the box through powerful striker Bruce Djite and the craftier Nathan Burns and Travis Dodd, while Cassio delivered a number of calculated crosses.
Adelaide had 24 attempts at goal to nine from the Phoenix and they bossed the midfield through former Knights hardman Jonas Salley.
There was plenty of whistle throughout the match, which halted the flow of the game, but referee Ben Williams refused to produce a card until the 87th minute on what was Fifa Fair Play day.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was shown to Ross Aloisi, who had been the focus of much of the build-up after the way he was dumped by Adelaide at the end of last season.
When the Phoenix looked more threatening, it was usually through their Brazilian connection and Felipe in particular.
The diminutive striker is like a nicely tuned Ferrari. He turns heads with the ball at his feet, hums along effortlessly, has all the fancy trimmings and courts resentfulness from defenders who don't possess his class.
He was guilty of being greedy with a long-range shot in the 15th minute when Michael Ferrante was unmarked outside him but, after last week's screamer against Sydney, there were few castigating him.
One glorious interplay with fellow Brazilian Daniel almost netted an opening goal but Felipe's cross sailed agonisingly too high for an unmarked Smeltz.
It was Felipe, though, who opened the scoring in the 64th minute. Jeremy Christie delivered what looked a fairly harmless cross but Felipe met it 10m out and looped his header perfectly into the top corner.
Diego equalised six minutes later when he nodded home a rebound after Djite had hit the post with his header from a corner and Djite gave the visitors the lead in the 78th minute when he turned Richard Johnson and rifled home.
It looked like it might be enough for Adelaide to claim their second win of the season but Smeltz nodded in his second late equaliser of the season to the delight of the home fans.
The game was played in front of another impressive Wellington crowd and the 12,000 fans who turned out last night ensured the total number in three games has already outstripped the total who watched the Knights all of last season.
They will be back and they will hope there are a few more good weeks ahead.
Phoenix 2 (Felipe 64, Smeltz 87) Adelaide 2 (Diego 70, Djite 78). HT: 0-0