Melbourne Victory have stunned the Central Coast Mariners with a somewhat controversial 2-1 win at AAMI Park on Friday night.
It was the first time the Mariners have lost two straight matches this season and also Jim Magilton's first win as Melbourne Victory manager and Victory's first win in six matches.
Things were looking good for the Mariners early as Tom Rogic opened the scoring after just eight minutes, easily skipping through the Melbourne Victory defense to calmly slot home past Ante Covic.
In the 15th minute the Victory were finally level thanks to Carlos Hernandez, who was found by a fantastic cutback from Marco Rojas to hit a powerful shot off the right post and in to the back of the net.
The Mariners looked to restore their lead and targeted a percieved weak link in the Melbourne Victory back line in makeshift right back Petar Franjic, while the Victory looked dangerous on the counter.
Rogic continued to look dangerous and had two great chances in the 28th and 32nd minutes as the Victory left him wide open, but both times his shots went agonizingly wide.
Hernandez and Archie Thompson were looking dangerous but another Mariners replacement, Trent Sainsbury was standing up well in defense and keeping his opponents at bay.
Both teams had good chances late on in the half, Daniel McBreen sending a corner over the bar, while Justin Pasfield pulled off a wonderful save to prevent Hernandez scoring from point blank range, ensuring the sides headed to the break level.
Only five minutes after the break Hernandez sent in a good corner that was meant for Harry Kewell which saw pinball in the box before Kewell smash home his effort to put the hosts in front.
Just four minutes later Kwasnik nearly put the Mariners level, but couldn't keep his shot down before disaster struck for the Mariners just after the hour mark.
In the 61st minute Sainsbury was shown a straight red after Fabio lept in to Sainsbury's challenge causing anger on the Mariners bench after Adrian Leijer was not punished for a studs up challenge from behind in the first half, Mariners manager Graham Arnold claimed after the match that Sainsbury didn't make contact.
Despite that Adam Kwasnik nearly had a moment of magic in the 76th minute with a wonderstrike that just couldn't sneak in to the back of the net.
The Mariners kept trying and with Bernie Ibini-Isei coming on in the 81st minute they looked a threat to the Victory despite the man disadvantage.
Thompson and Danny Allsopp looked to threaten for the Victory putting Pasfield under constant pressure, but unlike in prior weeks the Victory were able to keep their composure at the back in stoppage time and pull off an unexpected 2-1 win that puts them right back in to finals contention.
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