Melbourne City defeated Macarthur FC with the help of their Australian representative forwards to protect their narrow lead as league leaders.

The defending champions beat the Bulls to go nine straight bouts without loss, ensuring a triumph in the most-anticipated fixture of the A-League’s 20th round.

Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney were forced to share the points in a match filled with late drama.

Former PAOK star Aleksandar Prijovic led Western United back to winning ways in their clash against Brisbane while Wellington downed Perth with the game’s final kick.

Arthur Papas’ Newcastle earned a much-needed success against Sydney FC while their F3 rivals, Central Coast, crushed Adelaide United in a 15-minute blitz.

Melbourne Victory-Western Sydney 1-1

Victory was held to their fourth consecutive league draw in a crazy match defined by ten minutes of utter mayhem.

Former Olympiacos and current Victory defender Roderick Miranda sparked the contest to life after he suffered a red card with minutes left (89′).

Left back Jason Davidson produced a marvellous effort from a tight angle (90+1′) to give the Victorians a miraculous lead before Wanderers midfielder Steven Ugarkovic converted a penalty to rescue the result (90+6′).

Chris Ikonomidis featured off the bench for Victory while Western Sydney started Terry Antonis, who himself was replaced by fellow Greek-Australian James Troisi.

Victory manager Tony Popovic stressed the need to convert their chances into goals so they stop dropping points.

“I think it’s been a bit of a story for the last four games anyway where we’ve improved our play, that’s clear, we’ve improved our attacking play which is great…unfortunately we’re not putting teams away,” Mr Popovic said post-match.

Macarthur FC-Melbourne City 0-1

Despite a number of high-quality chances for the Bulls, the reigning champions showed their class as they bagged a hard-fought win.
Forwards Mathew Leckie and Jamie Maclaren, both coming straight back in from Australian duty, punished the Campbelltown side for failing to convert their earlier opportunities, with Leckie’s low driven cross being tapped in by Maclaren (64′) for the match’s lone goal.
Apostolos Giannou played the first 70 minutes for Macarthur.

Brisbane Roar-Western United 2-3

Former PAOK striker Aleksandar Prijovic spurred Western United to victory in an uncharacteristically high-scoring outing for the club.
The Green and Blacks began the proceedings horribly after Roar defender Jake Hingert’s intense pressure forced a mistake from goalkeeper Jamie Young, leading to forward Juan Lescano’s goal (3′).
The keeper misfortune reversed on the half hour mark as Brisbane’s Jordan Holmes was given a straight red for a last man foul outside of the box, with midfielder Adisu Bayew equalising five minutes later with a corner header for his maiden A-League goal.
The Victorian club went ahead through an own goal from defender Scott Neville (59′) before an expert header from Prijovic doubled their lead (83′).
The Queenslanders gave themselves a fighting chance after captain Jay O’Shea’s successful penalty (88′) but it was too much to overturn.
Western played Jerry Skotadis off the bench for the final 23 minutes.

Wellington Phoenix-Perth Glory 2-1

Wellington’s last-minute winner extended Perth’s troubles, taking them to eight contests winless as their season looks resigned to failure.
Young forward Ben Waine produced a wonderful lob over the keeper on the volley to put the Phoenix ahead (37′) which was cancelled out by Nicholas Fitzegerald (49′).
Glory defender Osama Malik copped a red for a last man foul (52′) and the New Zealanders made the most of the extra man advantage as midfielder Nicholas Pennington scored extremely late (90+7′) to secure all three points.
Jonathan Aspropotamitis played the entire match for Perth.

Central Coast-Adelaide United 3-0

The Mariners blew Adelaide away to take their unbeaten run to five as they come within three points of the top four.
The Reds suffered an early blow when goalkeeper Joe Gauci was sent off for colliding with forward Marcos Urena outside of the box (25′).
After 50 minutes of valiant defending, the Gosford side finally broke through via a low volley strike from Urena (77′) before he then turned provider for both fellow striker Jason Cummings (90+1′) and midfielder Matthew Hatch (90+3′).
Central Coast substitute Matheus Moresche ended the night on a sour note for the hosts when he was handed a second yellow (90+5′).

Newcastle Jets-Sydney FC 2-0

A quickfire brace from 17-yr-old striker Archie Goodwin guided a COVID-depleted Newcastle to a huge upset over Sydney FC.
Goodwin took the game away from the Sky Blues in the span of two minutes, first popping up with a well-placed header (41′) and then executing the ball perfectly into the bottom left corner from a one-on-one opportunity (43′).
Sydney substituted Kosta Barbarouses into the game with 40 minutes left, though he was unable to turn things around for his team.
Newcastle coach Arthur Papas had nothing but praise for his side’s performance, especially given their squad was disrupted by a COVID-19 outbreak.
“The players were outstanding: their effort, their attitude, their togetherness…I’m very proud of them,” Mr Papas said post-match.

A-League Ladder (number of matches played):

1-Melbourne City: 40 (21)
2-Western United: 37 (19)
3-Adelaide United: 28 (20)
4-Melbourne Victory: 25 (17)
5-Macarthur FC: 25 (18)
6-Sydney FC: 24 (19)
7-Wellington Phoenix: 24 (16)
8-Central Coast: 22 (17)
9-Newcastle Jets: 21 (17)
10-Western Sydney: 20 (18)
11-Brisbane Roar: 17 (17)
12-Perth Glory: 13 (17)

Round 20 fixtures currently scheduled at time of publication:
Western United-CC Mariners: 19.45, Sat 02 Apr
Wellington Phoenix-Melbourne City: 17.05, Sat 02 Apr
Adelaide United-Melbourne Victory: 19.45, Sat 02 Apr
Sydney FC-WS Wanderers: 19.45, Sat 02 Apr
Brisbane Roar-Newcastle Jets: 16.05, Sun 03 Apr
Macarthur FC-Perth Glory: 18.20, Sun 03 Apr