Wellington have had two big penalty shouts contentiously denied in a dramatic 0-0 A-League Men draw with Central Coast.
A win to either the Phoenix or Mariners would have had them breathing down the neck of the top six.
The Phoenix were the better team on the day and were contentiously denied penalties in the 32nd and 64th minutes in front of 14,064 fans at Christchurch’s Apollo Projects Stadium.
Ninth-placed Wellington and 10th-placed Central Coast are both on 18 points, three points outside the top six.
The Phoenix were still without injured captain Alex Rufer and veterans Marco Rojas and Tim Payne, while Lukas Kelly-Heald was also sidelined.
Mikael Doka smashed a shot over the bar in the 17th minute, wasting a wonderful build-up from Brian Kaltak and Storm Roux.
Two minutes later, exciting Wellington youngster Nathan Walker forced a near-post save from Dylan Peraic-Cullen.
Teenage Mariner Arthur De Lima turned a header wide on the half-hour mark.
Kazuki Nagasawa went down under contact from Kaltak in the 32nd minute with the Phoenix hoping for a penalty that didn’t arrive.
Wellington came out of the break with a spark and Nagasawa had a shot blocked in the 50th minute.
Matthew Sheridan made a crucial interception to stop De Lima shooting in the 55th minute and Mariner Christian Theoharous dipped a shot over the bar a minute later.
The Phoenix appealed for another penalty when Nagasawa went down under contact from Diesel Herrington.
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But after a lengthy VAR review, the shout was waved away.
The Phoenix kept pressing for an opener and Hideki Ishige forced a wonderful save fron Peraic-Cullen in the 84th minute, while Corban Piper turned a header wide a minute later.
The Mariners have a tight turnaround, travelling to face in-form Western United in Tarneit on Wednesday while the Phoenix return to Wellington to host Brisbane on Thursday.
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