A-League wrap: Ifill saves Phoenix, Heart and Sydney finish scoreless

Paul Ifill struck to give Wellington Phoenix a 2-2 draw against the Melbourne Victory, while Melbourne Heart and Sydney finished 0-0.

After grabbing both in the Phoenix’s 2-0 win against the Heart on Wednesday, Barbados international Ifill scored with a low drive in the 84th minute to earn his side a point.

The result meant a seventh game on the road without a win for Victory – a club record – but one that didn’t look likely after they appeared comfortably in control with 15 minutes left.

Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert made just one change to the side that started against the Heart, with James Musa making his A-League debut in place of the suspended Ben Sigmund.

Archie Thompson managed to get away from Musa to score the Victory’s equaliser after Tim Brown had volleyed home in the 17th minute.

And the pressure was applied again – this time by Billy Celeski – to give Robbie Kruse the simplest of tap-ins to put the Victory 2-1 up five minutes before the break.

Chances for either side were few and far between until the final 15 minutes, when the pressure finally told on the Victory as Ifill twisted Rody Vargas inside out before driving low past Petkovic.

Elsewhere, Melbourne Heart and Sydney FC have both missed the chance to improve their finals credentials, playing out a goalless draw at a wet AAMI Park on Saturday night.

Both sides had goals disallowed for offside in a match where the entertainment value was probably not reflected in the goalless scoreline.

In the space of four second-half minutes, John Aloisi put the ball in the net for Heart while Mark Bridge did the same for Sydney, but the linesman’s flag denied them both.

The other crucial points came with two acts of desperation in either half from the respective sides.

Simon Colosimo pulled off a spectacular goal-line clearance early in the game for the hosts against his former side, while a superbly timed sliding tackle from Stuart Musialik on 72 minutes thwarted another ex-Sydney man in Aloisi.

Sydney defender Sung-Hwan Byun was sent off, but his departure was too late to affect the result.

Heart had the better chances for the game and should have really come away with the points, with 17 shots to nine. But the result at least breaks a run of three losses and keeps them in fifth, ahead of next Sunday’s clash with Gold Coast.

Sydney did not bring their best football with them on their first-ever trip to AAMI Park, but some reasonably strong defence ensured they departed with something for their efforts and they have now gone four games without defeat.

They move above Perth on the table and into ninth, four points out of the finals race ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Wellington at home.