Reigning Hyundai A-League title-holders Melbourne Victory proved their championship mettle at Westpac Stadium on December 4, coming from behind to score a deserved 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix, despite the handicap of just ten players on the park for the entire second half. The league leaders weathered Wellington's initial storm - wayward shots by Paul Ifill and Vince Lia inside the first eight minutes - before Carlos Hernandez replied in kind at the end of a move which signalled Melbourne had come to play. They nearly hit the front in the fourteenth minute via an unlikely source. In his desperation to clear a probing ball from Nick Ward, Wellington captain Andrew Durante was at full stretch to clear the threat and successfully lobbed goalkeeping team-mate Mark Paston. Both looked on with relief as the ball bounced just past the post - it was a very close call. Melbourne were dominating possession by this time, but in the nineteenth minute, a stray Kevin Muscat pass was intercepted by Tim Brown, who slipped Ifill through. The striker evaded a couple of challenges before chipping Melbourne 'keeper Mitchell Langerak, but his effort cleared the crossbar as well. The visitors' use of the football was frequently foiled by Wellington's well-drilled offside trap, while the home team countered by making in-roads aplenty down the left through Tony Lochhead. There were sturdy challenges aplenty going in as the game ebbed and flowed, prompting referee Mike Hester to thrice wield the yellow card inside the first thirty minutes. It was the home team who were in the ascendancy just after the half-hour mark, when the first shot on target in the match was fired. Ifill swooped on a stray pass and brought Daniel into play, with the striker cutting in past one player before shooting past a second and drawing a smothering save from Langerak in the 32nd minute. Three minutes later, the action switched to the other end of the park, with Hernandez and Ward combining to release Matthew Kemp down the left, from where he floated an inviting cross into the near post area, Archie Thompson his target. The striker was denied by Ben Sigmund - the defender was lurking immediately behind the striker and averted the danger in typical no-nonsense fashion. Sigmund applied that same approach in less acceptable fashion seconds later, as Wellington defended the corner from the previous raid. Adrian Leijer was soon enjoying a close-up view of terra firma, although the means by which he reached it will doubtless prompt a reaction from the judiciary committee along the lines of, "Mr Sigmund, who do you think you are? Danny Green?" None of the officials saw the incident, but the TV cameras caught the defender employing the sort of actions which shouldn't be tolerated in life generally, let alone on a football pitch. After Hernandes, under pressure from Durante, had gone close with a shot from just outside the penalty area following another tidy interchange of passes by the visitors, the game was turned on its head five minutes before half-time by the sight of the red card being held aloft. Troy Hearfield had embarrassed Ward a couple of times throughout the first half, and had been booked on one occasion. When the Wellington man skinned the midfielder once more, Ward took umbrage again, hauling his opponent back just outside the penalty area. 8200 fans howled as one for due punishment to the offender, and Wellington players surrounded referee Hester, their anger turning to frustration and disbelief when he made no attempt to punish the offender. This was because the referee hadn't seen who was responsible for the foul. It was only on the advice of his assistant that Hester was able to apply the punishment befitting of the crime, with Ward leaving the pitch to the undisguised joy of Wellington's Yellow Fever fanatics. Now numerically challenged, Melbourne held on till half-time with the score still at 0-0, but only just! Caceres, from the resulting free-kick, whipped in a ball which Langerak did well to punch clear for a corner. Bertos fired this into the danger zone, but Durante sent his header flashing past the far post. Then, on the stroke of the interval, Lochhead and Daniel combined superbly on the left, the latter's deft back-heel allowing the overlapping fullback to take on and nutmeg an opponent by the touch-line before pulling the ball back into Caceres' stride. He poked his shot narrowly wide from a tight angle to ensure the half would conclude as it had begun, scoreless. When the teams returned for the second half, it was hard to tell which had fewer players to call upon, so strong was the visitors' start to the spell. This was emphasised just five minutes into the half, when a Melbourne counter-attack saw Hernandez play the ball wide to half-time substitute Tom Pondeljak, whose slide-rule pass invited Thompson to charge into the penalty area. Paston blocked the striker's shot with his feet, with

the rebound being cleared instantly to Daniel. He sent Ifill surging through the inside-right channel to the edge of the penalty area, from where he unleashed a drive which Langerak blocked with his feet, just fifteen seconds after his opposite number's intervention. Three minutes later, another slick Melbourne move culminated in a Hernandez piledriver which required three Wellington players to keep it out - Hearfield and Paston combined to block it, while Lia completed the clearance. A further three minutes elapsed when the deadlock was finally broken, and the crowd's delight was enough to tell you who was 1-0 up. Lochhead surged forward on the counter-attack down the left before playing the ball wide to Brown. His cross was cleared to Bertos, but the midfielder raced into the penalty area as his team-mate assessed his options, Bertos ultimately picking out a gem of a cross which allowed the fast-arriving Brown to rise above Muscat and power a header down and wide of the diving figure of Langerak into the corner of the net. Wellington looked to build on their 57th minute advantage swiftly. Langerak saved superbly at the feet of the in-rushing Brown as Ifill's probing ball in behind Melbourne's defence exposed their 'keeper, who was called upon again soon after to deal with a header from Costa Barbarouses, the youngster not appreciating the time and space he had in which to better exploit the aftermath of an uncleared Bertos corner. The visitors recovered their composure after this close call, with Muscat's constant calling and cajoling serving as a clarion call for the table-toppers, who could afford to lose this match and still be, at the very least, two points clear of the chasing pack at the conclusion of the round. Therein lies the rub - losing wasn't an option as far as Melbourne was concerned, and they began to get on top of things at the expense of a Wellington side which, even though they were leading 1-0 with about twenty minutes to go, seemed to lack the necessary confidence to finish off the job and score a vital victory to mark an A-League record-equalling fourteenth successive home game without defeat in fitting fashion. The champions' fightback began with a corner, Leigh Broxham's delivery picking out Muscat. His header down invited Pondeljak to shoot, but Durante's timely challenge saw the defender clear off his toes. Seconds later, Hernandez sent Thompson hurtling through Wellington's offside trap, with Paston racing out to clear the danger. And after Muscat had thwarted both Ifill's twenty-five yard - following a cleverly worked free-kick - and Hearfield as he raced onto a Barbarouses pass, the visitors came home with the proverbial wet sail, finishing over the top of nervous-looking opponents. Pondeljak played in Hernandez in the 83rd minute, the midfielder's stinging twenty-five yarder being parried to safety by Paston. The 'keeper had no such joy three minutes later, with Broxham's corner picking out the head of Roddy Vargas, who headed down and wide of the diving Paston to silence the local faithful and give the visitors the point their efforts in the face of adversity richly merited. They weren't satisfied with just the solitary collect, however - they wanted all three! Hernandez released Thompson down the right two minutes from time, and the striker evaded a couple of challenges before bringing out the best of Paston with a low drive from the edge of the penalty area. Still Melbourne pressed, Thompson chasing another opportunity, a raking clearance through the middle. The striker was on Sigmund's shoulder as the defender beat a hasty retreat, and Paston advanced towards the edge of his penalty area. Sigmund wasn't aware of his team-mate's progress, and knocked the ball back to where he expected Paston would be. It was then that he saw the 'keeper … both were rather relieved to see the ball creep past the post, unlike Thompson. Back came Wellington, an injury time flourish which saw Ifill unable to capitalise on Langerak's spillage of a Lochhead cross, then fire a shot which the 'keeper smothered, after Lia's fine cross-field ball had created the opportunity for the striker. The sound of the final whistle left Wellington feeling numb - this was two points lost, no question, and they had no-one but themselves to blame. Melbourne, understandably, were well pleased with scoring a share of the spoils from a difficult encounter, a result which maintains their healthy advantage atop a table which sees Wellington dropping out of the play-off spots thanks to these dropped points. Wellington:     Paston; Hearfield, Sigmund, Durante (booked, 90), Lochhead; Bertos, Lia (booked, 6), Brown, Caceres (Barbarouses, 56); Ifill (booked, 75), Daniel (McKain, 85) Melbourne:     Langerak; Sukha (Suksomkit, 75), Muscat, Vargas, Kemp (booked, 29) (Foschini, 63); Hernandez, Broxham, Ward (booked, 24, 40 - sent off); Kruse (Pondeljak, 46), Thompson, Leijer Referee:     Mike Hester