Closer than it should have been. The Jets' keeper was good, but should still have been made to worker harder by a Phoenix team with an advantage of one man, at first, and then two men later on. I missed the first incident and was getting all self-righteously worked up about the ref blowing up for what looked a good tackle by Dodd. But there is no doubt it was a good decision. The second sending-off was just as clear: a horrible attempt at assault that, thankfully, the Phoenix player saw coming and evaded.
Not too much of a contest after that. The Phoenix were relatively patient, but of limited creativity: Fred looked rusty and a bit out of alignment with his team-mates, but the talent is clearly there in abundance. Daniel came off the bench and stayed relatively central. And (this hurts) Ferrante was impressive given time and space. His nous was welcome when panic could have set in. Smeltz scored a cracker of a goal in an otherwise relatively quiet game for him. But Bertos, unfamiliar in a central role, and Hearfield, off the bench, were excellent. Direct, aggressive and (in Hearfield's case) good shooting.
I should write more, if only to comment on the box in which I was happily residing, but work beckons.
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