A-League Wrap: Moss inspires Central Coast, Melbourne victorious

Phil Moss enjoyed the perfect start to his coaching career as Central Coast snatched a 2-1 A-League win over Perth Glory.

An injury-time goal for forward Mitchell Duke handed the Mariners their first win in Perth in four seasons and ensured the new era under Graham Arnold’s former assistant began on the best possible note.

Glory played out the final 20 minutes with just 10 men after marquee signing William Gallas and left-back Scott Jamieson suffered potentially serious leg injuries, with all three changes having been made by the time the latter limped off.

Melbourne Victory survived a red card to Adrian Leijer just before half-time to notch a 3-0 win over Adelaide United.

The first half ended in farcical fashion as Leijer was sent off with Melbourne leading 1-0, before coach Kevin Muscat frantically hauled off James Troisi – the Victory’s leading goalscorer – to bring on an extra defender in Nick Ansell, who was cautioned for entering the field of play too early.

But despite playing the second half a man down and conceding a penalty, the hosts claimed just their second win in 10 matches against Adelaide to move into fourth spot on the A-League table with Kosta Barbarouses, Archie Thompson and Mitch Nichols scoring the goals.

The game looked set for a significantly different conclusion just after the hour mark, as Adelaide were awarded a penalty.

Jeronimo Neumann stole possession off Melbourne defender Pablo Contreras and then appeared to go down under minimal contact from the Chilean, although referee Ben Williams did not hesitate in pointing to the spot.

But instead of equalising, the Reds saw Victory goalkeeper Nathan Coe stop a rather limp spot-kick from Sergio Cirio.

A goal for new arrival Ranko Despotovic in the final minute of injury time enabled 10-man Sydney to snatch a stunning 2-1 win over luckless Wellington in a frenetic encounter.

A pulsating game appeared headed for a draw when Phoenix equalised through Kenny Cunningham a minute into time added on but Serb Despotovic had the final say, rolling home the winner after a raid down the right from Seb Ryall.

Earlier a Richard Garcia rocket had given the Sky Blues a 1-0 lead.