Wellington Phoenix have moved into the A-League top six after marquee striker Tomer Hemed converted a penalty at the death to secure a dramatic 2-1 win over Adelaide United at WIN Stadium in Wollongong on Sunday.
The Phoenix were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time after goalkeeper Joe Gauci was judged to have gone into the back of substitute Jaushua Sotirio.
Hemed sent the young shotstopper the wrong way, cooly burying the high-pressure spot-kick into the bottom left corner to claim a valuable three points.
Phoenix striker Tomer Hemed celebrates after converting a late penalty to win the game against Adelaide.
Losing this game wouldve put a very big dent into our season but its a very valuable three points against a very good opposition, Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said.
I thought it was a penalty. Jaushys headed the ball and the goalkeepers gone into the back of him and he [Hemed] has stepped up and been very composed and put that in the back of the net to win us the game.
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The last-gasp win saw the Phoenix overtake Western Sydney Wanderers and move into sixth place on goal differential, although Western United and Brisbane Roar are lurking below and have at least three games in hand.
Adelaide went ahead through an unmarked Stefan Mauk after connecting with a brilliant cut-back pass from Ryan Strain in the 51st minute but their lead only lasted seven minutes as 19-year-old Ben Waine continued his rich vein of scoring form by netting his fourth goal in as many games to strike to level in the 58th minute.
Waine, who hit the crossbar with a header two minutes into the frenetic game, kept his composure by rounding Gauci and firing home to become just the fourth player in Phoenix history to score in four consecutive games, joining Ulises Davila, Roy Krishna and Jeremy Brockie to achieve such a feat.
Phoenix striker Ben Waine continued his rich vein of scoring form by netting a 58th minute equaliser.
Thats why hes up there. Its his job to score goals and for us, its very pleasing. Its not just the goals, its the work that he does off the ball when were pressing; covering spaces and holding up the ball.
Strikers feed off scoring goals and I just hope he continues down that path.
Desperate for three points, the Phoenix pressed hard for a late winner at 1-1, with David Ball forcing a strong save out of Gauci, who was kept busy throughout the pulsating 90 minutes, while Hemed also lashed wide of the target with two minutes remaining.
But the clubs big off-season signing stepped up when it counted, putting away the penalty seven minutes into stoppage time after referee Adam Kersey showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Im very pleased with Tomer, Talay said. Hes been out for a while but hes got through the game and hopefully he can build on that as well.
When it was 1-1, we were chasing the game because we needed to stay in contact with the guys in front of us. When you put the ball in the box anything can happen and thats why its very important to continue and I thought we showed a lot of character this evening to end up with those three points.
By winning the game, the Phoenix denied Adelaide the chance to move to the top of the table and also kept themselves firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Its nice to be sitting in the six but we want to be sitting in the six in round 26.
Wellington Phoenix 2 (Ben Waine 58, Tomer Hemed pen-90+7) Adelaide United 1 (Stefan Mauk 51)
HT: 0-0
