Football: Wellington Phoenix stay top of men's A-League after draw ...

An injury-time penalty to captain Alex Rufer means Wellington Phoenix remain top of the men's A-League, thanks to a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory.  

Two months on from a 1-1 stalemate between the league's two leading sides, in which the Phoenix secured a point despite not having a shot on goal, neither side could beat the other for the second time this season.  

The draw came with Giancarlo Italiano's side having to play the entire second half with only 10 men, as Tim Payne was shown a straight red card for a raised foot after a sliding challenge on Zinedine Machach.  

The Victory looked to have sealed the win with a late goal to substitute Connor Chapman, albeit thanks to a huge deflection from a shot by Nishan Velupillay.  

But with time almost up, Victory right-back Jason Geria was adjudged by the video assistant referee to have brought down Oskar van Hattum inside the area.  

A ball over the top from Ben Old saw van Hattum make a run into the area, before contact with Geria had the Phoenix man go to ground, even if there were doubts over whether or not he'd be able to get there first.

And with just the Phoenix's third shot on target, Rufer made no mistake from the spot, beating Paul Izzo to equalise and seal the point needed to keep the Phoenix top of the league.  

However, if there's one consolation for the Victory, it can come in the shape of ending the scoring run of Kosta Barbarouses, who'd found the net eight times in his last five games before Friday's encounter.   

Despite the Victory having a superior goal difference to the Phoenix (11 to 7), the Kiwi side remains top of the table as the A-League makes use of a new system where wins act as the first tiebreaker.  

While still unbeaten from their first 13 matches of the season, the Victory have won just six games, compared to the Phoenix's seven.   

The Phoenix return to the pitch next Saturday, when they travel to face Newcastle Jets away from home next weekend.