Krishna’s brace not enough for victory

Roy Krishna’s stock continues to rise.

The off-contract Wellington Phoenix striker scored his third consecutive brace — the first player in A-League history to achieve that milestone — in a rollercoaster 3-3 draw with second-placed Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Sunday night.

The result moves the Phoenix to within one point of the fourthplaced Melbourne City, extends their unbeaten streak to nine games and further strengthens their credentials as championship contenders.

However, they will be disappointed to return to Wellington with just the solitary point, after conceding an 88th minute equaliser through All Whites forward Kosta Barbarouses.

‘‘Very much like the last time we played them, in a 1-1 draw, it was a very good spectacle. But look, it was quite tough to take, being on the other side after being up 3-1 at halftime,’’ Phoenix coach Mark Rudan said.

It was the Victory who scored first, with Swedish striker Ola Toivonen sprinting behind Phoenix captain Andrew Durante, collecting a ball from Barbarouses and neatly chipping the advancing Filip Kurto.

But the Phoenix responded almost immediately, with David Williams beating Thomas Deng to a Louis Fenton cross just two minutes later.

They began to apply more pressure and found themselves leading when Krishna converted a 20th minute penalty, after he was clipped in the box by Josh Hope. Krishna was at it again eight minutes later, when Lawrence Thomas parried a shot from Williams into the path of the Fijian. He has now scored 11 goals in 14 games.

Down 3-1, the Victory took it to the Phoenix in the second half and it didn’t take long for James Troisi to pull one back, after a one-two with Toivonen on the edge of the box allowed him to get in behind the Phoenix’s back three before curling a left-footed effort past Kurto.

But just when it looked like the Phoenix would hang on for a rare away win against the Victory, Barbarouses struck to salvage a point for the defending champions.