Ten man Melbourne hold Wellington to 1-1 draw

Wellington Phoenix have been held to a 1-1 draw at home by a ten man Melbourne Victory.

The league leaders had midfielder Nicky Ward sent off in the first half and had to play with a man down for much of the contest and it looked like they would head home empty-handed when Phoenix vice-captain Tim Brown headed home in the 57th minute.

But the Victory fought back and managed a late equaliser through centre-back Rodrigo Vargas who scored with a header of his own to give the reigning champions a handy point away from home.

Wellington Phoenix: 1 (Tim Brown ’57)
Melbourne Victory: 1 (Roddy Vargas ’86)
Venue: Westpac Stadium
Crowd: 8,200

The Phoenix started the brighter side and were causing the Victory defence some slight concerns in the opening few minutes but it was the visitors who had the first real chance when the ball to midfielder Carlos Hernandez outside the area who was unmarked but his volley swung wide of the mark.

In the 14th minute, the Phoenix almost found themselves a goal down when skipper Andrew Durante went to cut out a Melbourne advance only to see the deflection beat goalkeeper Mark Paston but thankfully bounced inches to the side of the post.

With just over ten minutes left, the Victory broke down the left side through Matthew Kemp and his cross was a nice ball for Archie Thompson but the speedy striker’s header was not clean and the Phoenix stayed in the contest.

The Victory went close once again when Hernandez hit a dipping ball just over the crossbar moments later.

In the 40th minute, Melbourne midfielder Nicky Ward was shown his second yellow card for pulling the shirt of Troy Hearfield and sent form the pitch much to the applause of the Wellington crowd.

The Phoenix were agonisingly close to a goal on the stroke of half-time when Tony Lochhead flew down the left flank before sending a cross in to Adrian Caceres at the front post but the Melbourne defence knocked it over the bar to round out the first half.

Ten minutes after the break, the ten men Victory broke forward and Thompson found himself free in the area before he cut it back for Hernandez who had a free left-foot shot but the Phoenix defence came from all over to keep the shot out.

Three minutes later, the home side hit the front when Leo Bertos crossed in from the right flank with his left foot and Tim Brown headed home powerfully to make it 1-0.

The Victory were pressing late and had all of the play in the final ten minutes and Hernandez went close when he let fly from outside the area.

Moments later, the visitors equalised when defender Roddy Vargas flew in for a header from a corner and Phoenix keeper Paston couldn’t hold on and it was almost a lot worse for the home side when Thompson flicked on no more than a minute later but this time an advancing Paston was happy to see the ball trickle past the upright.

Neither side could break the deadlock in the dying stages and the Victory would be happy with a draw after playing much of the game with ten men.