Wellington Phoenix suffer late heartbreak against reigning A-League Women premiers Melbourne City
Sunday, 7 December 2025
At ctrl:cyber Pitch, Melbourne: Melbourne City 1 (Rebekah Stott 86’) Wellington Phoenix 0. HT: 0-0.
Melbourne City scored with their only shot on target to hand Wellington Phoenix their first defeat of the A-League Women season.
Rebekah Stott, a controversial omission from the recent Football Ferns squad to face the Matildas, headed home from a free-kick in the 86th minute to stun the Phoenix 1-0 at ctrl:cybr Pitch on Sunday afternoon.
The late goal was a sucker punch for Bev Priestman’s team.
They have lost all seven games they have played against Melbourne City but were the better team on Sunday and will be disappointed they were not celebrating their second straight victory.
They had several opportunities to take the lead before the hosts converted with their only real chance of the game, and hit the crossbar in first-half stoppage time.
The Phoenix were forced to hand a starting debut to back-up goalkeeper Aimee Danieli after Victoria Esson picked up an injury while on Football Ferns debut.
The inexperienced goalkeeper didn’t make a save as the Phoenix defence restricted Melbourne City to one shot on target, which they scored from.
It took 75 minutes for City to register a shot but their only other chance was blocked by Marisa van der Meer and put out for a corner.
The Phoenix’s best chance came right before halftime when Grace Jale played the ball out to Manaia Elliott on the right.
The right wingback cut the ball back for Brooke Nunn but the English import could not keep her shot down and was denied by the crossbar.
Nunn turned provider for the Phoenix’s next best chance of the game in the 81st minute but Emma Main put her shot wide to the left after riding the tackle from Laura Hughes.
Those misses came back to haunt the Phoenix when Melbourne City made the most of a set-piece opportunity with four minutes remaining.
The cross from Alexia Apostolakis was knocked back across the face of the goal by Taylor Otto, towards Stott, who had been left unmarked by the Phoenix.
She was never going to miss from there and headed the ball past Danieli to snatch all three points.
Adding to the Phoenix’s woes, star striker Sabitra Bhandari picked up a fresh injury in her first game back after missing the past two rounds and had to be replaced midway through the second half.
Lucía León and Zoe Benson made their Phoenix debuts late in the game.
What they said
Bev Priestman (Phoenix coach): “I’m frustrated and I think the team are but this game can’t define us. We did a very good job against a very good Melbourne City team and now we have to grow from this. We have to put the ball in the back of the net and that’s a different game.”
The big picture
Seven games, seven defeats. The Phoenix have lost every time they have played against Melbourne City in the A-League Women.
The Phoenix have dropped to seventh courtesy of their first defeat of the season. They are four points off leaders Melbourne Victory and one point outside the top six.
What’s next
The Phoenix will be looking to bounce back from their first defeat when they come up against the ninth-place Perth Glory late on Friday night.
The Glory have lost their last four matches after starting their season with a win against Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Phoenix will remain in Australia between fixtures to limit the travel.