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Wellington Phoenix have moved up to fifth spot on the A-League Men ladder after holding on for a 1-1 draw with Perth Glory.
Perth Glory have been forced to settle for a point after being denied by the crossbar in the dying minutes of their 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix at Macedonia Park.
Glory striker David Williams opened the scoring in the 22nd minute of Friday night's match with a classy header, but Phoenix forward Oskar Zawada levelled it up in the 31st minute.
Perth had a late chance to snare all three points, but Luke Ivanovic's 88th-minute header under pressure struck the crossbar.
The result lifted Wellington (11 points) to fifth, while Glory (seven) remain last.
"I thought there were a lot of positives," Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich said.
"There's a real clear identity about the way the team is moving the ball around and defending.
"The performance was for the most part very good.
"We just lacked moments of quality and cutting edge in that final third, and (there were) one or two defensive lapses - one of which we got punished for."
The Phoenix entered the match undermanned after Ben Waine and Tim Payne were ruled out with illness, while Ben Old (hernia) joined Finn Surman (shoulder) and Oskar van Hattum (adductor) on the sidelines.
Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay was happy to come away with a point.
"I don't think it was our best performance, but overall the boys worked hard," Talay said.
"It's not easy coming to Perth, that kick-off time was 12.30am NZ time, and it was a lot warmer than we expected.
"So happy we walk away with a point, and we continue the momentum of not being beaten since coming back from the World Cup break."
Some Glory fans in the 3977 crowd were streaming out of the stadium as part of a league-wide protest when David Williams opened the scoring.
Salim Khelifi fired in the cross and Williams glanced the header on target from the slightest of angles to send the home fans into raptures.
The lead lasted less than 10 minutes, with the Phoenix rewarded for a wonderful piece of team play.
A charging Bozhidar Kraev dished off a pass to Yan Sasse, whose deft touch put the ball into the path of Zawada.
The Polish striker made no mistake with the finish, sliding the ball past goalkeeper Liam Reddy to level the scores.
Zawada almost scored a second goal in the 36th minute, only for his powerful volley to be well saved by Reddy.
Glory's Aaron McEneff unleashed a 30-yard floating strike on the stroke of half-time, but Phoenix goalkeeper Oliver Sail managed to palm it away in unconvincing fashion.
Neither side could find a winner in the second half, with Ivanovic's late header the closest chance.
Referee Alex King, who was injured when fans entered the field during last week's Victory-City derby, was the video referee for Friday's match.
