A late goal from David Ball has snared Wellington Phoenix a 3-2 win over Newcastle Jets in their A-League clash in Gosford.
The English forward struck with a powerful header in the 88th minute to secure all three competition points and extend their unbeaten run to seven games.
The result lifts the Phoenix - who also have games in hand - to sixth on the competition ladder, putting them in line for a return to the A-League finals.
After 18 days without a competitive fixture, Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay was pleased with how his side pressed for the full 90-plus minutes of the contest.
"We conceded two goals that we're pretty disappointed with, but scoring the winner late shows the character in the boys," Talay said after the game.
"It showed the first 10-15 minutes that we hadn't played a game for a couple of weeks…but overall pleased to get the three points tonight."
The Phoenix are now three points above Sydney FC and have games in hand over all of the other teams in the top six. A win over the last-placed Brisbane Roar on Saturday would put them as high as fourth.
"We're slowly, slowly going in the right direction," Talay said.
"We'll take it game by game. I don’t think we can look too far ahead, there's still a lot of games to go.
"We've got a few catch-up games to make up as well, but games in hand don't really mean anything unless you win those games."
Talay made just one enforced change to the XI which started their previous four A-League matches, with Ben Waine replacing injured attacking midfielder Reno Piscopo to make a rare start.
Jaushua Sotirio gave the Phoenix the lead via the penalty spot in the 25th minute, with Daniel Penha netting minutes from halftime for the Jets.
In stoppage time in the first half, Waine repaid his coach's faith by streaking clear and curling a shot beautifully past the Jets' goalkeeper to regain the lead.
In the 64th minute, Oliver Boumal blasted a shot into the roof of the Phoenix in controversial fashion, after it had appeared Wellington midfielder Lewis had been fouled in the lead-up to the play.
But two minutes from time, Sam Sutton's pinpoint cross found Ball's head to seal a hard-fought win.
The Phoenix move on to face the Roar at Redcliffe on Saturday.
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Jaushua Sotirio 25' pen, Ben Waine 45+1', David Ball 88') Newcastle Jets 2 (Daniel Penha 43', Olivier Boumal 63')
