A controversial late penalty has helped Melbourne Victory see off a stubborn Western Sydney outfit and keep pace with the A-League Women's top-three sides.
The Wanderers had frustrated their hosts at CB Reserve for the bulk of the contest before a Gemma Ferris challenge on Victory striker Catherine Zimmerman earned them a penalty just 10 minutes from time.
Matilda Alex Chidiac made no mistake from the spot, thumping the ball in off the underside of the crossbar to help seal a 3-1 win that hadn't looked all that likely throughout the second half.
Victory added a late goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time, a delightful Zimmerman run finding Tiffany Eliadis for the easiest of tap-ins.
But the three points keep them well in the ALW finals hunt, still fourth on the table and three points behind Sydney after they took care of Melbourne City earlier on Saturday afternoon.
The Wanderers might feel hard done by with the late penalty decision, Ferris appearing to get to the ball at the same time as Zimmerman although she crunched the Victory forward in the process.
Goals were hard to come by for Victory, although they'd looked to be purring early in the contest with an exquisite Chidiac through-ball on four minutes cutting the defence wide open for Beattie Goad to open the scoring.
But the visitors got into the game soon after, Sophie Harding levelling the scores on 15 minutes having cut in from the left wing with a brilliant run and tucking the ball past Victory keeper Casey Dumont.
It was Goad's first ALW goal since the 2016 grand final, having played abroad until returning to the competition this season.
Chidiac was again the star of the show, her goal and assist taking her tally in each category to five for the season after her mid-week call-up for the Matildas.
Victory controlled most of the action and had 17 shots to Western Sydney's six and would have been kicking themselves if they hadn't found their late goals.
