Red-hot Wellington Phoenix recorded a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Adelaide on Friday.
The victory saw the Phoenix further strengthen their hold on second position and extended United's winless spell to six weeks.
It was just Wellington's second win on South Australian soil.
Bruce Djite gave the fast-starting hosts the lead and the Reds, who held sway for prolonged periods of the second half, had plenty of chances.
But two costly errors in defence was all it took for the visitors to strike twice, through Tim Brown, shortly after Djite's opener, and Dani Sanchez late in the first half.
The aggressive Reds opened with energy and purpose and it didn't take long before they were rewarded when Djite picked up the crumbs after Dario Vidosic was dispossessed inside the penalty area and found the bottom right-hand corner of the net in the 10th minute.
Almost immediately from the kick-off, Djite was primed to notch an early brace before Wellington's desperate goal-line clearance ended the flurry momentarily.
United nearly doubled their advantage within 60 seconds when Vidosic curled a free kick from the left of the box, which Djite almost got on the end of before Cassio struck the right post.
Wellington withstood the onslaught before equalising in the 13th minute courtesy of some sloppy defensive work from the home side.
Veteran Paul Ifill gathered a lobbed through ball, back-heeled to himself, penetrated and dished a clever left-foot pass to Brown who, given far too much latitude, slotted it from close range past wrong-footed Reds custodian Eugene Galekovic.
The New Zealand side took the lead in the 38th minute when Alex Smith's cross found Spaniard Sanchez, who made no mistake with a fine header.
|
B. Djite 10'
|
1 - 0 |
|
1 - 1 |
14' T. Brown
|
|
1 - 2 |
38' Dani Sanchez
|
| # | Player | Bookings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | E. Galeković | |
| 6 | Cassio | |
| 3 | N. Boogaard | |
| 14 | C. Watson | |
| 8 | E. Levchenko | |
| 18 | F. Barbiero | |
| 2 | O. Malik |
 37'
|
| 10 |
D. Vidošić
|
|
| 11 | B. Djite |
 10'
|
| 9 | S. van Dijk | |
| 17 |
I. Ramsay
|
|
| Coach: J. Kosmina | ||
| # | Player | Bookings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Paston | |
| 3 | T. Lochhead | |
| 22 | A. Durante | |
| 18 | B. Sigmund |
77'
|
| 2 | E. Muscat |
53'
|
| 7 | L. Bertos | |
| 6 | T. Brown |
14'
|
| 8 | P. Ifill |
86'
|
| 9 |
C. Greenacre
|
|
| 21 |
Dani Sanchez
|
38'
|
| 24 | A. Smith | |
| Coach: R. Herbert | ||
| # | Player | Bookings |
|---|---|---|
| 7 |
for I. Ramsay 63' |
|
| 15 |
for D. Vidošić 74' |
|
| 30 | ||
| 21 |
| # | Player | Bookings |
|---|---|---|
| 11 |
for Dani Sanchez 63' |
87'
|
| 17 |
for C. Greenacre 70' |
|
| 20 | ||
| 19 |
