A nail-biting victory over the Newcastle Jets at EnergyAustralia Stadium last night kept the Wellington Phoenix' slim play-off hopes alive.
Apart from an early half chance and a call by Ahmad Elrich for a penalty when he was caught in a defensive sandwich, the Phoenix were, at best,ordinary for much of the first half as they again struggled to get value from their three-man defence.
Then, against the run of play, they took the lead.
Elrich took a quick free kick, and the ball was played wide to Kristian Rees.
He pumped it back to the centre of the Jets' goal, from where Vaughan Coveny rattled the crossbar and watched in delight as Shane Smeltz pounded the rebound home and took equal top spot in the golden boot race.
It was a rare attacking gem for the Phoenix against a team who enjoyed more than 60 per cent of possession and forced eight first-half corners to one.
Those attacking endeavours were eventually rewarded when the Phoenix defence was again undone and Mark Bridge was impeded by a soft Glen Moss challenge which had referee Strebre Deloski pointing to the spot.
Bridge duly obliged and took the home side back to 1-1.
Brazilian Denni, after easily beating Rees, should have given the Jets the lead four minutes before the break. He was denied only by a superb one-handed low Moss save.
Sparked, no doubt by some well-chosen Ricki Herbert words, the visitors charged to a 3-1 lead inside five minutes of the restart.
The goals came from corners, the first a cracking first of the season for Michael Ferrante from the edge of the penalty area, the second a looping Rees header.
The Phoenix cruised for the next 30 minutes, but were stung back into action when, with nine minutes to play, Scott Tunbridge headed home a ball chipped in by Jade North for 3-2.
Late bookings for Vince Lia and Tim Brown did not help the visitors as the players will miss the next game, against Sydney FC.
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In last night's other match, the Queensland Roar continued their domination over Perth Glory with a 4-1 win at Members Equity Stadium to join Central Coast on top of the A-League.
Queensland's eighth win of the season takes them to 30 points and equal on top, with Central Coast still to play against Melbourne tonight.
The loss leaves Perth anchored to the bottom and winless against the Roar in over two years after two losses and a disappointing draw this season.
