Melbourne Victory moved up to fourth on the Isuzu UTE A-League table as a magnificent solo goal from Nikos Vergos settled a thrilling 3-2 win over Wellington Phoenix at Sky Stadium on Saturday night.
Victory began the day in fifth spot on the table but jumped ahead of Western Sydney Wanderers and into the top four thanks to their third win in four games.
Subway Socceroo Nishan Velupillay opened the scoring after just four minutes before Phoenix youngster Corban Piper equalised in an all-action opening 10 minutes at the ‘Cake Tin’.
Zinedine Machach restored Victory’s lead just before half-time, and set the stage for Vergos to put daylight between the two sides with a high-calibre strike off the post and in at the end of a driving run that began in the Victory striker’s defensive half.
Paulo Retre set up an epic finish in Wellington with a curling effort bent into the top-left corner from the edge of the penalty area but despite reducing the deficit back to one goal, the hosts couldn’t find an all-important third goal as Victory held firm to take three points home from across the ditch.
These two teams met in last season’s Semi-Finals but while Victory continued their charge toward a top-four finish, Saturday’s defeat left Wellington stranded in 11th place on 24 points – nine points behind sixth-placed Sydney FC with three games to play.
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It took just four minutes for Victory to open the scoring at Sky Stadium as Subway Socceroo Nishan Velupillay continued his terrific run of form with a calm finish into the bottom-right corner.
Picked out by fellow Socceroo Daniel Arzani’s inventive reverse pass, Velupillay used his defensive marker as a shield as he bent a low shot past Josh Oluwayemi into the back of the net.
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But the Phoenix responded on the 10-minute mark, as 22-year-old Corban Piper equalised with the third goal of his debut Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Wellington took the ball swiftly from one side of the pitch to the other with a sweeping counter attack that ended at the feet of Sam Sutton, whose low cross picked out Piper streaming into the six-yard box who finished off the move on the slide.
Wellington looked set to head into half-time on level terms but in the first minute of stoppage time, Velupillay’s perfectly-weighted corner delivery met the head of Zinedine Machach, who put Victory back on top on the road.
Victory burst out of the blocks after half-time and, having been picked apart by a first-half Phoenix counter-attack, repaid the favour five minutes after the break.
But on this occasion, the storming attacking move was a product of the individual brilliance of Nikos Vergos, who drove all the way through midfield and to the edge of the box, where he took aim and fired a left-footed effort off the post and in.
Trailing by two goals and staring down a fifth defeat in eight games, the Phoenix searched for a moment of quality to get back into the contest – and substitute Paulo Retre duly obliged with a stunning first-time effort whipped into the top-left corner.
Tim Payne was the architect of the chance with a driving run down the right wing and his cutback pass found Retre all alone on the edge of the penalty area; Retre elected to take on the shot with his first touch and left Mitch Langerak no chance of making a save as Wellington halved the deficit with 15 minutes of regular time to play.
Having clawed back to within a goal, Wellington pushed hard for an equaliser but a third goal wasn’t to come for the hosts as Victory claimed all three points in an entertaining five-goal affair.
