Marco Tilio scored and Patrick Beach produced a stunning save as Melbourne City jumped up to second in the Isuzu UTE A-League standings with a 1-0 victory at Wellington Phoenix.
Tilio’s seventh goal in eight matches against the Phoenix guided City to their first away win in six games on Friday night.
The Subway Socceroos forward, who also scored in last week’s Melbourne Derby, broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half before teammate and young goalkeeper Beach pulled off an incredible stop to thwart the slumping Phoenix in Wellington.
Corbin Piper’s 69th-minute header was somehow kept out by the 21-year-old at Sky Stadium, where Sky Sport New Zealand commentator Jason Pine was left stunned; “save of the season”.
City are now second in the standings on goal difference, albeit temporarily heading into the remaining Round 21 fixtures, while Wellington are 11th and nine points outside of the top six amid a five-game drought in a blow to the Phoenix’s finals hopes.
Wellington were desperate for a response after their 6-1 rout at the hands of rivals Auckland FC in last week’s New Zealand Derby, while City were coming off an entertaining 2-2 draw against Melbourne Victory in a derby showdown of their own.
City controlled proceedings at Sky Stadium and were unlucky not to take a lead into the half-time interval.
Tilio wasted a gilt-edged chance in the 14th minute. The City star found himself unmarked in the penalty area but the diminutive Socceroo glanced his header wide of the post in a huge let off for the ‘Nix.
Wellington were living dangerously as City’s eye-catching football caused problems.
There were a couple more opportunities for the visitors before the break – Kai Trewin’s header across goal wreaked havoc, while an outstretched Max Caputo nearly got on the end of a ball in first-half stoppage time.
Tilio, though, got his goal six minutes into the second half.
The Phoenix were penalised for trying to play out from the back – Andreas Kuen played the ball into the six yard box and Tilio got on the end of it to finish emphatically into the back of the net.
Wellington, though, responded well as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
They came within a whisker of restoring parity in the 69th minute, if not for the brilliance of City goalkeeper Beach.
Piper thought he had scored with a towering header but Beach produced an incredible save to stun the Phoenix crowd in Wellington.
An exquisite flick from Benjamin Mazzeo at the death nearly added gloss to the scoreline for City, but Harry Politidis snatched his shot just wide of the post, while an offside denied the visitors from scoring their second.
