Melbourne City have built a healthy five-point gap between themselves in sixth and Wellington in eighth with a 2-0 win over the Phoenix at AAMI Park
Aziz Behich opened the scoring for City just before the half-hour mark, before Marcus Younis doubled their lead late-on with his fourth goal since joining City in January.
Wellington survived an early onslaught and a handball shout in the first 10 minutes before they went on a 15 minute attacking spell of their own, but they couldn’t break down City’s defence.
Behich earned the lead for City when his left-footed effort from the top of the penalty area was deflected by the lunging Isaac Hughes past goalkeeper Joshua Oluwayemi, the Socceroos left back scoring his second goal of the season.
The Phoenix tried hard to find an equaliser, but City defended the rest of the half well to hold on to their 1-0 lead at the break.
City added a second after a long period of the match being held up in midfield, Andreas Kuen sliding Younis in behind the Phoenix back four to finish off a rapid counter-attacking move.
Socceroo Matthew Leckie made his long-awaited return to the park for Melbourne City, the 35-year-old getting 11 minutes of game time in his first appearance since the end of October.
Melbourne City will head up to Brisbane next Saturday to take on the Roar, while the Phoenix head home to host Western Sydney after two straight matches in Melbourne.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Melbourne City goal: Behich 27′
Melbourne City goal: Younis 76′
