Paul Ifill scored his third goal in two games to give Wellington Phoenix a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw against the Melbourne Victory on Saturday night.
After grabbing both in the Phoenix’s 2-0 win against the Heart on Wednesday night, the Barbados international proved his mojo was well and truly back with a fine low drive in the 84th minute to earn his side a point at Westpac Stadium.
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 to go.
But the visitors made the mistake of trying to sit back on their lead and the Phoenix took full advantage, pressing forward at every opportunity and the breakthrough finally came.
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.
Musa’s inclusion at left-back forced a reshuffle with Troy Hearfield switching to the right and Jade North moving to centre-back.
It was a baptism of fire for the 18-year-old defender whose channel was targeted by the Victory from the start.
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.
He fared a little better in the second half and was eventually substituted for Marcos Rojas with 15 minutes to go.
Wellington Phoenix should have taken the lead in the eighth minute but Brown wasted Paul Ifill’s pinpoint cross into the box by firing into the side netting.
The Phoenix pair combined a few minutes later with Brown playing the role of provider only for Petkovic to make a great save from a close-range Ifill shot.
The breakthrough finally came in the 17th minute with a lovely passage of play involving Bertos, Vince Lia and Hearfield that ended with Brown volleying home.
The lead was short-lived though as the Victory immediately took play down the other end and Thompson scored his first goal since returning from knee surgery.
The Victory began to take a firm grip on the game and their second goal was a superbly constructed passage of play. They retained possession well and played the ball around until they finally created the space they were looking for. Hernandez fed the ball to Billy Celeski out on the right wing and he squared the ball to Kruse for the easiest of tap-ins.
The Phoenix started the second half brightly with Brown having a half-chance a minute after the re-start but the midfielder couldn’t rise high enough to meet Ifill’s cross and the equaliser went begging.
Chances for either side were few and far between until the final 15 minutes.
Some desperate last-ditch defence from Musa was enough to force a miss from Kruse who was clear on goal in the 75th minute.
Then Ifill shot straight at Petkovic before North’s header found the keeper a few minutes later.
The pressure finally told on the Victory though and it was a bit of Ifill magic that brought a share of the spoils when he twisted Vargas inside out before driving low past Petkovic.