Wellington Phoenix saved their unbeaten home record with a 1-1 draw against Perth Glory today but missed a chance to cement a spot in the top six of the A-League football competition.
In a scrappy match, the Phoenix conceded a 69th minute goal, scored by Wayne Schroj, before star striker Paul Ifill equalised in the 82nd minute to stretch his side's unbeaten home record to 13 matches.
A hesitant and inaccurate Phoenix, perhaps feeling the strain of their mid-week 3-0 win over Newcastle, struggled to string passes together in the face of some tight marking by Perth.
Forced to take the aerial route, the Phoenix were unable to deliver good ball for strikers Costa Barbarouses and Paul Greenacre, who were up against much taller defenders.
Perth used quick breakaways but found the Phoenix defence well marshalled by skipper and centreback Andrew Durante, who again excelled with his tackling.
Ben Sigmund, Manny Muscat and Tony Lochhead also played their part blunting the counter attacks.
Goalkeeper Reece Crowther, in his second start for the Phoenix, confidently dealt with anything that came his way.
It was not until the 20th minute that the Phoenix began to exert some pressure after Barbarouses slid a shot wide.
Two fruitless corners followed quickly and then Barbarouses and Greenacre had unrewarded looks at the Perth goal.
At the other end, Perth striker Branko Jelic headed wide, striker Mile Sterjovski volleyed high and skipper Jacob Burns saw his shot from the top of the box hit the bar in the dying seconds of the first half.
Perth had the better start to the second half and clinically took their chance when Sigmund conceded a free kick at the edge of the box.
Shroj curled his free kick over the Phoenix defensive wall to beat Crowther.
Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert then brought on Leo Bertos, Adrian Caceres and Troy Hearfield and the move paid off as his team began to regain composure and pressure the Perth penalty box.
Bertos finally unlocked the Perth defence with a through ball to Caceres, whose shot was blocked by goalkeeper Tando Velaphi, but Ifill was on hand to slam the rebound home and claim his fifth goal of the season.
With 17 points after this match, the Phoenix remain contenders for a top six playoffs spot but are in a dogfight with at least five other teams with half the regular season to go.
