Kosta Barbarouses turned up with a vital equaliser at the death to help Wellington record an impressive draw, as Melbourne City drop points for the first time this season.
The current premiers were held to an impressive stalemate in the closing game of the A-League’s fourth round, going level on points again at the top of the ladder.
Western Sydney downed Arthur Papas’ Newcastle side to join City on ten points, while Melbourne Victory and Brisbane kept each other goalless.
Sydney FC emerged from Campbelltown victorious over Macarthur, and Central Coast mounted a magnificent comeback to defeat Western United.
Adelaide United managed to bag their first win at the expense of Perth Glory in their maiden home match this term.
Melbourne City-Wellington Phoenix 2-2
A late surge propelled the Phoenix to a fantastic result on Sunday evening as they became the first club to not fall victim to the league leaders.
City went into the break with a two-goal lead, thanks to a penalty from striker Jamie Maclaren (16′) and a first-time finish from winger Marco Tilio (34′).
Left back Sam Sutton put the New Zealanders back into the contest with a wonderful long-range strike that flew into the bottom left (79′), with super sub Barbarouses then expertly guiding the ball into the bottom right (90′).
Thomas Lam was sent off for a second yellow (90+3′) in one of the final moments of the contest.
Wellington coach Ufuk Talay expressed his pleasure at seeing players like Barbarouses making an impact after coming off the bench.
“We made some changes (from last week) to make sure that players know that there’s another guy ready to take his spot. And it’s great to see the guys that didn’t start, when they came on, do a good job,” Mr Talay said to media post-match.
Adelaide Utd-Perth Glory 2-1
The Reds came out on top in an action-packed first half to give their fans a much-needed victory in their return to Coopers Stadium.
Adelaide captain Craig Goodwin gave his team the lead with a great finish into the bottom right from a very awkward angle (18′), and frontman Hiroshi Ibusuki’s tap-in doubled their advantage four minutes later.
Glory winger Giordano Colli released a phenomenal effort from range which sailed into the top right to halve the deficit (32′), though that was all they could muster.
Johnny Koutroumbis played the full game at right back for the WA outfit.
Macarthur FC-Sydney FC 2-3
The Sky Blues scraped together a crucial win to escape from Campbelltown with all three points.
Sydney went ahead early after Patrick Wood polished off the rebound folllowing a Filip Kurto penalty save (14′) before Bulls defender Matthew Millar headed the ball in from a free kick two minutes later.
Macarthur was handed a huge disadvantage when centre half Jonathan Aspropotamitis was given a straight red following a VAR check (37′), and the visitors made the most of it with former PAOK winger Robert Mak restoring their lead just before the break (45+1′).
Sydney youngster Adrian Segecic bagged his debut A-League goal with a tap-in (83′) for what proved to be the winning goal after the Bulls got a goal via substitute Anthony Charles Carter (87′).
Macarthur midfielder Jerry Skotadis played the full first half before being subbed off.
Sky Blues manager Steve Corica stressed the need to sharpen their efforts on both sides of the pitch.
‘I’m very happy with the three points, some really good stuff going forward. Defensively, there are still moments in the game where we need to tidy up,” Mr Corica said to media post-match.
Central Coast-Western United 4-2
The Mariners pounced on a red card to veteran Nikolai Topor-Stanley to put four past the reigning premiers in an epic comeback success.
The Victorian side put two past Central Coast in the first 45 minutes, first via attacking midfielder Nicolas Milanovic (17′) and second through Connor Pain (28′).
A poor challenge from Topor-Stanley saw the travellers go down a man (48′), changing the momentum of the match.
The Gosford side fought their way back in with goals to forwards Jason Cummings (67′) and Beni Nkololo (74′), before a header from defender Jacob Farrell (78′) and substitute Paul Ayongo (88′) pushed them in front.
Nectarios Triantis played the entire clash at the heart of the Mariners’ defence
Brisbane Roar-Melbourne Victory 0-0
The Queenslanders held on to an impressive draw after going down to ten men following a red card to goalkeeper Jordan Holmes.
The Roar lost Holmes in the 55th minute, setting a huge task of keeping Victory at bay which they managed to do.
Star winger Chris Ikonomidis was unable to influence the result in the 83 minutes he was on the field, while Nathan Konstandopoulos featured off the bench for the final 12 minutes.
Western Sydney-Newcastle Jets 2-0
A goal either side of the break was enough to help the Wanderers to another win this season as they go level on points with City on ten.
Midfielder Romain Amalfitano scored his debut goal for the club with an outside-of-the-boot finish (44′) and winger Brandon Borrello sealed the result after cutting in from the right and curling it into the bottom left (51′).
Kosta Grozos came on for the final seven minutes of the fixture.
A-League Ladder (teams with a game in hand)
1-Melbourne City: 10
2-Western Sydney: 10
3-Sydney FC: 7
4-Newcastle Jets: 6 (3)
5-Macarthur FC: 5
6-Adelaide United: 5
7-Central Coast: 4 (3)
8-Melbourne Victory: 4
9-Wellington Phoenix: 3
10-Perth Glory: 3
11-Brisbane Roar: 3
12-Western United: 1
