Roy on spot for winner
ROY Krishna completed a hat-trick to hand Wellington a last-gasp 3-2 win over Melbourne City and keep alive its hopes of hosting an A-League home final.
Krishna tucked home the winner from a goalmouth scramble in the 94th minute to cap a thrilling contest yesterday in Wellington that the visitors had mostly dominated.
Riley McGree scored twice for City, both times cancelling out Krishna strikes, but the home team held firm to cement fifth place and line up a shot at a fourth-placed finish.
City is almost guaranteed to finish sixth, which would set up a Melbourne derby in the first round of the playoffs.
The Phoenix will need to pick up points away to Perth and hope Adelaide slips up in Brisbane.
Red-hot striker Krishna proved the difference.
His first hat-trick of the season lifts him to 18 goals — two ahead Sydney FC’s Adam Le Fondre atop the Golden Boot race.
McGree’s selection was inspired from coach Warren Joyce. He was the only change to the visitors’ starting XI which drew 0-0 last week with Adelaide, replacing Kearyn Baccus in the midfield.
City deserved to win on weight of possession and chances, unleashing nine shots on goal to six.
Wellington goalkeeper Filip Kurto was immense, making a handful of sharp saves as he did when the Phoenix won 1-0 when they met in January.
A counter-attack led to Krishna’s opener, a nifty finish after being played through by Max Burgess in the 27th minute.
City responded with McGree carefully placing the ball past Kurto in the 42nd minute after the Polish gloveman had made successive reaction saves to two fearsome Jamie Maclaren strikes.
Krishna scored against the run of play soon after the break, rifling home a left-foot strike from the top of the box.
McGree’s equaliser was high quality, twisting to connect first time with a clearance that was moving away from goal.