Queensland Roar has given its premiership aspirations a huge helping hand with a 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium while Sydney FC are now within striking distance of third place in the Hyundai A-League.

Queensland's victory - courtesy of Matt McKay's winner, the third goal scored in an excellent opening half-hour - helps the Roar cut the gap between themselves and the Mariners to one point although the Central Coast does still have a game in hand.

"I thought we played well, we deserved it and we most probably could have had a couple more in the second-half," said Roar coach Frank Farina afterwards. "We're very pleased with the three points … but it's no more special than any other win."

McKay, Queensland's reigning player-of-the-year, again pressed his claims for higher honours with the winner after Tony Vidmar, who had levelled the scores when he turned the ball into his own net, got a brief touch to send the midfielder's rasping drive hurtling past Danny Vukovic.

"Deflection - you take anything you can get," McKay shrugged.

Ace poacher AusItaliano John Aloisi's third goal of the season had earlier handed the Mariners the lead.

Queensland Roar 2 (Vidmar o.g. 21, McKay 28)
Central Coast Mariners 1 (Aloisi 13)
16,442 at Suncorp Stadium

Sydney FC midfielder Steve Corica has struck deep into injury time to give his 10-man side an invaluable 1-0 win over Newcastle in a lively Hyundai A-League clash at the SFS.

Corica headed home a delightful Terry McFlynn cross in the 92nd minute to send the crowd into raptures and keep the sky blues' season alive.

Playing a man short for the last 38 minute after Ruben Zadkovich was sent off, the home side looked on track for a scoreless draw as the game moved into the final minute of time added on.

But a movement started by Ufuk Talay and involving Mark Rudan and McFlynn down the right led to Corica sending a well-directed header into the right-hand corner of the net.

Sydney was good value for the win after making most of the running despite playing without a full complement for most of the second half. 

Sydney 1 (Corica 90+2)
Newcastle 0
10,732 at the SFS

A sensational comeback from Melbourne has secured the defending Hyundai A-League champions a 2-2 draw against Adelaide at Telstra Dome and kept their hopes of a title defence alive.

Needing a win to stay in touch with the top four, Melbourne threw caution to the wind and while it was dominant for large parts of the game, Adelaide took its chances and led 2-0 after Paul Agostino scored once in each half. Kevin Muscat's 71st-minute penalty got the Victory back in the contest and a cruel own goal from Richie Alagich in the second minute of added time saw the home side gather a much-needed point.

Melbourne Victory 2 (Muscat 71p, Alagich (og) 92)
Adelaide United 2 (Agostino 18, 49)

Crowd: 22,466

The Wellington Phoenix moved themselves off the bottom of the Hyundai A-League table with a convincing win over Perth Glory at Westpac Stadium on Friday night.

Despite sustaining some early pressure from the visitors, Wellington ran out 3-0 winners after a dominant performance, thanks to a brace of goals from Shane Smeltz and a third from the Brazilian, Felipe.

The win was crucial for the Phoenix’s playoff aspirations, and effectively ended any realistic chance Perth had of pushing for a place. Coincidentally, it was also the Phoenix’s first victory in the league since their visit to Perth earlier in the competition.

In a game that showed plenty of passion and emotion, it was also the Phoenix’s fourth consecutive game where they were up against 10 men. Perth had both Nikolai Topor-Stanley and skipper Jamie Harnwell sent off with straight red cards in the 26th and 73rd minutes respectively.

Wellington Phoenix 3 (Shane Smeltz 28’pen, 72’, Felipe 32’)
Perth Glory 0
Crowd: 8039 at Westpac Stadium, Wellington

A-League Table after Round 16

(Sydney and Central Coast have a game in hand)

A-League.com.au