Perth Glory's home win over Melbourne Victory in the last game of the ninth round of the Australian A-League was further bad news for the New Zealand Knights.
With the West Australians picking up maximum points and joining Central Coast Mariners on 12, the hapless Knights have been cast further
adrift at the bottom of the table and now nine points behind the teams closest to them.
A loss to the Mariners at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday night would further compound their woes.
They have scored just four goals in nine games, two fewer than golden boot leader Archie Thompson, who picked up another in Perth but could not get his Melbourne side home.
The Knights are the only team with a negative goal difference, their -15 differential a far cry from the +8 by third-placed Melbourne.
The ninth round was notable for the number of goals scored by players who did not start their respective games.
Perth's Brian Deane came into the game in bizarre circumstances.
Damian Mori was down to start but when referee Mark Shield blew time on, Mori was wrestling with his wedding ring.
After five minutes he admitted defeat and cried off giving Deane a much earlier start than coach Steve McMahon would have wanted.
Seventeen minutes later Deane scored the opening goal but was replaced at halftime with Naum Sekulovski pitched into action. His goal 10 minutes later was the winner after Thompson had snatched the 39th minute equaliser.
Franco Parisi was an even more dramatic substitute.
Parisi scored the only goal of the match two minutes from time as the Newcastle Jets picked up three valuable points with their 1-0 home win over Central Coast.
Substitutes scored two of the three goals at Suncorp Stadium as Adelaide United returned to winning form with their 2-1 away win over Queensland Roar.
Fernando Rech gave Adelaide their lead on the hour before Royce Brownlie, four minutes after replacing Osvaldo Carro, equalised in the 76th minute.
The final say was with the visitors as Lucas Pantelis scored the 90th minute winner after replacing Ross Aloisi 10 minutes into the second spell.
