Melbourne Victory overcame the first-half dismissal of Rody Vargas to edge out Gold Coast United 3-2 at AAMI Park and go third in the A-League table. Melbourne took an early lead when Archie Thompson was fouled by Paul Beekmans in the box and Harry Kewell made no mistake from the spot.

The hosts doubled their advantage in the 22nd minute with another penalty given for Jonas Salley's challenge on Marco Rojas and this time Carlos Hernandez converted.  However, Victory suffered a setback just after the half-hour mark when Vargas' tackle on Golgol Mebrahtu earned him a red card.

Gold Coast hit back and were awarded a penalty of their own conceded by Diogo Ferreira on the stroke of half-time and Dylan Macallister found the back of the net. The visitors levelled two minutes into the second period when Peter Jungschlager finished Ben Halloran's cross but Melbourne eventually came out on top thanks to Hernandez's second goal of the game when he fired home Thompson's pass and leave Gold Coast bottom of the table.

Wellington Phoenix picked up just their second win of the season after they defeated Sydney FC 2-1 at Westpac Stadium. Paul Ifill put Wellington in front after seven minutes when he latched onto Tony Lochhead's long ball and Tim Brown doubled their lead with a stunning long-range volley. Bruno Cazarine's scrappy goal reduced the arrears for Sydney with 20 minutes to go but Wellington closed out a much-needed win.