A-League wrap: Heart shoot to second

Melbourne Heart have vaulted up to second on the A-League table with an impressive come-from-behind 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory.

After falling behind to an Archie Thompson goal on 21 minutes, Heart turned the game around thanks to a sublime five-minute spell from Matt Thompson, who scored goals in the 37th and 39th minutes.

A memorable result for the home side was sealed just after the hour when substitute Alex Terra manufactured a spectacular goal inside the box.

Carlos Hernandez slotted a typically brilliant free kick in injury time, but it proved little more than academic.

While the win gives Heart significant cross-town bragging rights and puts them six points clear of Victory near the halfway point of the season, more importantly it sees them move above Brisbane Roar into second having played the same amount of games as the defending champions.

With six wins in their past seven matches they find themselves in the highest table position in their short history and with genuine claims of being championship challengers.

Victory will regret having not put the match to bed early on, with Hernandez missing a penalty. They remain in sixth place, but continue to fail to live up to pre-season expectations with just three wins from 12 games.

Elsewhere, it was the Dani Sanchez and Mirjan Pavlovic show as Wellington Phoenix grabbed an early Christmas present with an impressive 5-2 win over Newcastle Jets in Wellington.

Sanchez was all class for the 70 minutes he played as he bagged a first-half double with clinically taken goals in the 16th and 34th minutes.

Chris Greenacre, on his 34th birthday, slid in for a third in the 39th minute leaving the Jets reeling by half-time.

The visitors pulled one back through Sung-Hwan Byun early in the second half from a direct free-kick but Pavlovic, who replaced Sanchez, made the game safe with two goals in two minutes before Ryan Griffiths headed home a late consolation for the Jets.

The Central Coast Mariners extended their gap at the top of the table to five points with a 3-1 win away to Perth Glory.

The match turned when Perth’s Josh Mitchell was sent off after 26 minutes, with the Mariners netting three-goals in a 15 minute burst early in the second half.

Bernie Ibini, Pedj Boic and Matt Simon all got on the scoresheet, and although Steve McGarry pulled one back for the hosts with seven minutes remaining, the result was never in doubt.