Melbourne Heart will need to win their last four matches to have a genuine chance of securing an unlikely finals berth after being held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Wellington Phoenix at home on Sunday afternoon.
The visitors were unrecognisable from the side smashed 5-0 four weeks ago by the Heart in Wellington, twice leading a thrilling clash at AAMI Park.
In-form forward David Williams had a golden opportunity to snatch victory for the home side in injury time, only to have his close-range effort kept out by Phoenix goalkeeper Glenn Moss.
The Heart now have six wins, two draws and just one loss from their past nine matches, but still sit in ninth spot on 25 points, six behind sixth-placed Adelaide United.
The Phoenix are eighth on 28 ahead of a crucial next-round encounter with seventh-placed Newcastle Jets.
The visitors opened the scoring in the sixth minute on Sunday through a first-ever A-League goal from Roy Krishna.
The Fijian international striker broke down the right, shimmied past Heart central defender Patrick Kisnorbo and beat goal keeper Andrew Redmayne at the near post.
The Heart thought they had got back on level terms five minutes later, only for Jonatan Germano’s header to be disallowed for offside.
The Phoenix were unlucky to be denied a penalty in the 17th minute, when Tyler Boyd’s goal-bound strike cannoned into Kisnorbo’s arm.
The Heart levelled at 1-1 in the 29th minute when Mate Dugandzic’s powerful strike took the slightest deflection off Germano, with the Argentine claiming the goal.
Shortly afterwards, the Phoenix were reduced to 10 men after Ben Sigmund picked up two yellow cards in as many minutes for fouls on Williams and Harry Kewell.
Boyd put the Phoenix ahead for the second time in the 56th minute, slotting home after Krishna’s low cross was parried into his path by Redmayne.
Heart’s second equaliser was a fortuitous one, with Manny Muscat unlucky to concede a penalty against Kewell, making his first starting appearance since early February.
Williams converted the spot kick before he thought he had put the Heart ahead for the first time in the 80th minute, only to have his effort disallowed for a foul in the build-up on the Phoenix’s Shaun Timmins.
Heart: 2 (Germqano 29′, Williams (pen) 62′)
Phoenix: 2 (Krishna 7′, Boyd 57′)
Source: AAP
