A-League: Sanchez strikes late to sink Victory, Adelaide United back to winning ways

Victor Sanchez scored a late winner as Western United came out on top in a seven-goal thriller with Melbourne Victory, while Adelaide United held off Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.

Marvel Stadium was the stage for an A-League drama in the late kick-off, with Western United rallying from 1-0 down to lead 3-1 – only to then have a man sent off as Melbourne fought back to draw level.

Callum McManaman opened the scoring for the home team but Sanchez's first of the contest, plus a brace from Besart Berisha, put Western United in command.

However, they were reduced to 10 men when Tomislav Uskok saw yellow for a second time. Jacob Butterfield closed the gap just after the hour mark and Rudy Gestede made it 3-3 in the 82nd minute, heading in a cross from Dalibor Markovic.

Melbourne at that stage appeared favourites to get a winner, yet Sanchez was the hero when his left-footed shot found the net deep into added time.

Western United have now won four of the five meetings with Victory and are the only opponents in the competition's history to be unbeaten against them.

2 - Dalibor Markovic (@gomvfc) provided two assists in tonight's #MVCvWUN fixture; at 19y 41d, he is just the second teenager to provide multiple assists in an #ALeague game since the beginning of the 2012/13 season (Aaron Calver - 2 for SYD v CCM in Jan 2015, 19y 12d). Talent. pic.twitter.com/cDamJaBDgA

— OptaJason (@OptaJason) February 27, 2021

Earlier on, Adelaide put an end to a three-game losing streak against Western Sydney, Craig Goodwin – who has rejoined the club on loan from Al-Wehda – opening the scoring inside two minutes before captain Stefan Mauk doubled the advantage just prior to half-time.

Substitute Bruce Kamau pulled a goal for Western Sydney, but a first loss in eight league matches was confirmed when Mohamed Toure made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute.

While Mitchell Duke struck late for the hosts, it turned out to be no more than a consolation effort.

The result sees Adelaide join their opponents on 13 points in the table, with Western Sydney missing out on the chance to move up to second place.