Wellington Phoenix have salvaged a draw with a late own goal by the Central Coast Mariners in their A-League clash at Sky Stadium.
After a goalless first half, the Mariners struck twice in the space of five minutes in response to Phoenix forward Ben Waine's opening goal and appeared on track to leave Wellington with their hands raised.
But in the 88th minute, defender Paul Ayongo's unintentional glancing header from a Phoenix corner ensured Wellington were able to escape with a competition point, as they continue to chase the first win of their 2022/23 campaign.
The outcome was a role reversal of sorts from their opening match against Adelaide United, when the Phoenix were denied a win by a late goal.
Midfielder Steven Urgarkovic was outstanding for the Phoenix in a performance highlighted by a perfectly weighted pass in the 57th minute for Waine to score his second goal in as many games, after his strike moments earlier was erased on review by the video referee.
The hosts' 1-0 advantage was short-lived, with Sammy Silveira - just two minutes later - taking advantage of some lackadaisical defending near the edge of the box to fire a low-tracing thunderbolt past Phoenix goalkeeper Oli Sail.
Five minutes later, the Mariners went one better. Ayongo was the provider for Scottish forward Jason Cummings, whose jaw-dropping overhead kick into the back of the net was rubbed out by video replay.
Then just two minutes before the end of regulation time - after the Phoenix had gone close to finding the equaliser with a couple of chances - Ayongo couldn't redirect his defensive header from Jason Pennington's corner, deflecting off the hands of Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic for the decisive goal.
"I think we had some good moments in the first half, but we weren’t clinical," Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said. "I think we lacked a bit of composure, we wanted to rush things.
"I don’t think Central Coast really created anything or hurt us. I think we gave them two goals, which is disappointing, but we’ll look back at that and see how we can fix that.
"Very pleased to get the equaliser. We were 2-1 down, and the boys did a fantastic job to get back into the game and get a point."
Sitting provisionally sixth on the A-League ladder, the Phoenix will now head across the Tasman for the first time this season to take on Newcastle Jets on Saturday.
Wellington Phoenix 2 (Waine, Ayongo own goal) Central Coast Mariners 2 (Silveria, Cummings)
