Victor Sanchez scored a late winner as Western United came out on top in a seven-goal thriller with Melbourne Victory, while Adelaide United held off Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
Marvel Stadium was the stage for an A-League drama in the late kick-off, with Western United rallying from 1-0 down to lead 3-1 – only to then have a man sent off as Melbourne fought back to draw level.
Callum McManaman opened the scoring for the home team but Sanchez s first of the contest, plus a brace from Besart Berisha, put Western United in command.
However, they were reduced to 10 men when Tomislav Uskok saw yellow for a second time. Jacob Butterfield closed the gap just after the hour mark and Rudy Gestede made it 3-3 in the 82nd minute, heading in a cross from Dalibor Markovic.
Melbourne at that stage appeared favourites to get a winner, yet Sanchez was the hero when his left-footed shot found the net deep into added time.
Western United have now won four of the five meetings with Victory and are the only opponents in the competition s history to be unbeaten against them.
2 Dalibor Markovic () provided two assists in tonight s fixture; at 19y 41d, he is just the second teenager to provide multiple assists in an game since the beginning of the 2012/13 season (Aaron Calver 2 for SYD v CCM in Jan 2015, 19y 12d). Talent.
— OptaJason (@OptaJason)
Earlier on, Adelaide put an end to a three-game losing streak against Western Sydney, Craig Goodwin – who has rejoined the club on loan from Al-Wehda – opening the scoring inside two minutes before captain Stefan Mauk doubled the advantage just prior to half-time.
Substitute Bruce Kamau pulled a goal for Western Sydney, but a first loss in eight league matches was confirmed when Mohamed Toure made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute.
While Mitchell Duke struck late for the hosts, it turned out to be no more than a consolation effort.
The result sees Adelaide join their opponents on 13 points in the table, with Western Sydney missing out on the chance to move up to second place.
