Teenage striker Ben Waine has scored a long-range screamer to help inspire the Wellington Phoenix to an upset 3-1 win over Perth Glory at HBF Park.
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Phoenix scored all of their goals in the second half of Sunday night's match, with Waine's 56th-minute strike the most remarkable.
The situation arose after Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy had charged almost 12 metres outside of his box to stop a Jaushua Sotirio fast break.
Reddy did well to stop that danger, but the ball rebounded to 19-year-old Waine, who calmly unleashed his shot from 33m out while the Glory goalkeeper was madly dashing back into his box.
Glory levelled the scores two minutes later via a Joel Chianese thunderbolt from outside the box that sent the 9229 crowd into raptures.
Wellington regained the lead in the 66th minute when a sloppy save from Reddy saw the ball land in the path of Louis Fenton, who completed the simple tap-in.
And it was 3-1 in the 75th minute when Sotirio latched onto a beautiful through ball from Mexican Ulises Davila to slam home the sealer.
Phoenix's second win on the trot lifted them to within four points of sixth spot.
Glory are three points adrift of Wellington, with their finals hopes hanging by a thread.
"I was really happy to score that goal," Waine told Fox Sports.
"It all started with the run from Jaushua. I was just happy to be in the right place at the right time."
The creativity of Glory duo Chris Ikonomidis and Carlo Armiento caused the Phoenix all sorts of problems in the first half.
Armiento's through balls set up numerous chances, with Bruno Fornaroli wasting a golden chance when he shot straight at the keeper from close range.
Ikonomidis was making his first start in 14 months after recovering from an ACL knee injury, but it was clear to see he had lost nothing of his dazzling skills.
The biggest talking point of the half came in the 14th minute when Glory were denied a penalty despite the ball clearly striking Fenton's hand in the box.
Fenton's arm was in the air when it was struck by the ball as he was sliding in for a tackle.
The VAR had a look at it and called referee Daniel Elder over, but he waved it away.
Ikonomidis was subbed off at half-time as part of a plan to manage his minutes, with his replacement Chianese soon cancelling out Waine's opening stunner.
Glory skipper Diego Castro was introduced into the fray shortly after that in his first match back from a knee injury, but it was all Phoenix from that point on as the visitors picked up the win that keeps their finals hopes flickering.
Australian Associated Press
