Guilherme Finkler scored inside the final five minutes to give Melbourne Victory a 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets in the A-League this morning.
The hosts had the better of the early chances, but Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Finkler both missed the target with their shots in the opening 10 minutes.
Joel Griffiths had the best chance of the first half for Newcastle, but Nathan Coe came to the edge of the area to boot it clear for Victory.
The home side were on the attack again at the start of the second half when Khalfallah curled the ball in for Kosta Barbarouses, but his header failed to test Ben Kennedy.
Khalfallah continued to find his way through for Melbourne and kept the ball himself a few minutes later, but Kennedy made a diving save to deny the midfielder, while another effort struck the crossbar.
Jacob Pepper tried to put the Victory under pressure against the run of play, unleashing a powerful strike from outside the box, but Coe parried it away.
The Melbourne keeper had to remain alert late on as the Jets pressed for a late winner, but Coe prevented Griffiths getting his head to a corner before denying the striker again from a Zenon Caravella cross.
Andrew Hoole tried to find the top corner with a curling effort inside the final 10 minutes, but his finish was a fraction wide.
The miss proved costly as the hosts finally broke the deadlock a few minutes later as Finkler fired in a free kick from just outside the area after Besart Berisha had been brought down.
Jeronimo Neumann came off the bench late on to try to find an equaliser for the visitors, but Coe saved his low strike on the line before stopping a rebound from Scott Neville.
The result moves Victory back up to second in the table, four points behind leaders Perth Glory, while Jets stay ninth.
Sian Cowper
