Reigning Hyundai A-League champions Melbourne Victory played out a 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix in front of 20,938 fans at the Telstra Dome on 24 November, despite fielding just ten men for nigh on an hour in this fourteenth round affair which neither team could afford to lose. The home team lost the services of captain Kevin Muscat ten minutes before half-time, referee Peter Green deeming the central midfielder guilty of two bookable offences inside sixty seconds, the second of which saw him win the ball when tackling Wellington captain Tim Brown, albeit with studs showing in the challenge. There was rich irony in this, as during the first fourteen minutes of the match, the visitors had been guilty of repeated game-stopping infringements - ten in all, many of them needless and petty. It was from one of these indiscretions that the game's first opportunity arose, a quickly taken seventh minute free-kick from Muscat which caught all-comers napping as it fizzed narrowly past the right-hand post of Wellington goalkeeper Glen Moss. Despite the enterprise shown by both teams, defences dominated when the ball got into the final third of the pitch at both ends of the park, in part due to poor option-taking by the attacking side whenever they got within sight of goal. A classic instance of this came on the quarter hour, when Wellington squandered a grand chance to open the scoring. Shane Smeltz charged at the Melbourne defence, with Felipe Campos looming up on his right in support. The pass with which the newly-crowned NZ Footballer of the Year supplied the Brazilian was a poor one, forcing him to the by-line, thus allowing Roddy Vargas to avert the danger far more easily than would have been the case had Smeltz played a ball into his team-mate's stride as Felipe powered into the penalty area. Smeltz made amends when next involved in the play, in the 21st minute. Receiving a pass from Vince Lia, he took on four opponents before playing the ball across to Daniel, whose twenty-five yarder curled narrowly over Michael Theoklitos' crossbar. Melbourne retorted with their most lively attack of the match thus far. Daniel Allsopp's reverse pass sent Archie Thompson racing to the by-line, from where he pulled the ball back for his incoming midfielders to capitalise upon. Tony Lochhead beat them to the punch, however. Kiwi-born Thompson wasn't going to take no for an answer, and five minutes later, he was in the thick of things again. Matthew Kemp and Adrian Caceres linked on the left, with the latter standing up his opponent superbly - a great piece of close control to create space - before crossing towards the far post. Thompson's header was astray, but within seconds, Caceres was in again, this time going solo. His tame shot, easily dealt with by Moss, suggested he would have been more prudent in utilising better-placed team-mates rather than seeking glory - a week earlier than necessary, according to the fixture list! In the 32nd minute, Muscat and Caceres teamed up to present Carlos Hernandez with a shooting chance. Moss saved low to his right, then watched anxiously seconds later as another Melbourne raid came close to breaking the deadlock. Lia blocked a Muscat shot, with Thompson latching onto the rebound and crossing to the far post for the back-pedalling figure of Grant Brebner, whose header looped onto the roof of the net. After Muscat had received his marching orders - to say he was not best pleased with the decision is something of an understatement, Allsopp directed a header wide of Moss' right-hand post on receipt of a Hernandez free-kick, to which Wellington responded through Smeltz, whose deflected shot was greedily grabbed by Theoklitos. Two minutes before the interval, the home team took the lead. Michael Ferrante's foul on Hernandez earned the Wellington player a yellow card, and gave Melbourne possession half-way inside their own half. Not much danger there, one would think, but one kick later, Thompson was racing down the left before cutting inside across three opponents and letting fly. Karl Dodd deflected the striker's effort, but straight towards Allsopp, who turned on the gift and steered it into the corner of the net - 1-0 to the title-holders, despite being down a man. Wellington started the second half by squandering a glorious chance to equalise. Daniel and Lia played a neat one-two on the left which culminated in the Brazilian's inviting cross to the far post. Three of his team-mates were queuing up for just such a chance, with Ahmad Elrich best placed to take advantage.

Ferrante couldn't resist the temptation, however, and stepped in ahead of his team-mate, only to volley woefully across the face of goal - it was akin to a defensive clearance! He attempted to make amends seven minutes later with a curling effort, but Theoklitos was as little troubled by that as he was by a Smeltz volley in the 56th minute - both flew the wrong side of the woodwork as far as Wellington was concerned. Seconds prior to this opportunity, chances came at both ends in a frenetic 55th minute of action. Elrich's cross from the right saw another wayward Ferrante volley career towards Smeltz. Steve Pantelidis thwarted the striker on this occasion, his clearance up field sending Hernandez hurtling into Wellington's half. He looked up and angled a cross-field ball from right to left, which Thompson deftly flicked on into Allsopp's path. The goalscorer cut inside and let fly with a twenty yarder which Moss saved well low to his left, clinging to the ball as Thompson closed in looking to turn home anything which spilled from the goalkeeper's grasp. Wellington levelled matters in the 58th minute with a super strike. Elrich - with Felipe, a growing influence - was released by Kristian Rees down the right, and picked out his Brazilian colleague with his cross. Felipe chested the ball down into the path of Lia, who, from inside the 'D', unleashed an unerring volley low into Theoklitos' bottom left-hand corner, the 'keeper scarcely moving prior to seeing the ball nestling in the net. At 1-1, it was game on, and with Wellington's numerical superiority beginning to tell, you had to fancy them to go on and score a vital victory. Initially, they threatened to do just that, the goal giving them a surge of confidence which had hitherto been absent. Lochhead saw a shot blocked by Kemp after Melbourne had failed to clear a Felipe free-kick, while the diminutive Brazilian slipped Smeltz into the Melbourne penalty area on the hour, only for Vargas to produce the tackle of the match to save the day. Felipe was very much in the mood now, having been anonymous earlier, and he evaded a challenge before playing in Lochhead on the left. The overlapping fullback's inviting cross just cleared the head of Smeltz on the far post, as the home team weathered the storm. They responded via the counter-attack, Hernandez releasing Thompson in the 66th minute. Dodd denied him with a splendidly timed tackle as the striker tore into the penalty area, repeating the dose two minutes later as Thompson threatened once more. The game was in the balance at this point, with Wellington players queuing up on the far post as Ferrante fired over a cross. Theoklitos adroitly thwarted them, then denied Brown's header from Daniel's resulting corner. After Elrich had rattled the sidenetting on receipt of a Ferrante pass, Melbourne launched an 81st minute raid from which they should have regained the lead. Leigh Broxham sent fellow substitute Leandro Love down the left at pace, and his low cross was touched by Thompson into the path of overlapping fullback, Daniel Vasilevski. His low angled cross-shot needed the merest of touches to turn it home, but despite the flurry of legs belonging to Melbourne and Wellington players alike as they converged on the sphere, none was forthcoming, much to the relief of Moss. After seeing Felipe fire two efforts over the top at the other end of the park, Wellington's goalkeeper grabbed a Kemp free-kick which Vargas only just failed to make contact with in the 88th minute. Back came the visitors, Elrich crossing to the near post where Smeltz rose to power a header across the face of goal. From Theoklitos' resulting goal kick, the home team stormed downfield and earned a corner, which Kemp delivered to the near post. Thompson rose in salmon-like fashion to unleash a snap header which careered past the upright, the final act of a match which both teams desperately needed to win, giving their respective league positions and the fact that games are now running out for those outside the top four to make an impact on same. Melbourne:     Theoklitos; Vasilevski, Pantelidis, Vargas, Kemp; Hernandez (Love, 80), Brebner (Berger, 85), Muscat (booked, 34, 35 - sent off), Caceres (Broxham, 44 (booked, 82)); Thompson (booked, 62), Allsopp Wellington:     Moss; Rees, Dodd, Lochhead; Elrich, Brown, Ferrante (booked, 42), Daniel (Christie, 88), Lia (Coveny, 80); Campos, Smeltz Referee:     Peter Green