Saturday football wrap
Melbourne Victory continues to move from strength to strength, the Victorians maintaining their position atop the Hyundai A-League table as Sydney FC and Adelaide United also enjoyed wins.
At Bluetongue Stadium, Melbourne showed off its premiership credentials through a 3-0 win over Central Coast, powered by goals to Carlos Hernandez, Matthew Kemp and a Nigel Boogaard own goal.
Scores were deadlocked at half-time but the Victory came out all guns blazing after the break as Hernandez slipped the ball past Danny Vukovic in the 57th minute.
Playing an inspirational game, Kemp doubled the advantage in the 71st minute while Boogaard accidentally guided the ball into his own net from a Kemp cross with 13 minutes remaining.
Second-placed Sydney FC continued to keep pace with the Victory, though, via a 1-0 win over Wellington at the unfamiliar FMG Stadium in Palmerston North.
The Phoenix were aiming to claim Sydney's record for unbeaten home matches, but away from Westpac Stadium, the Sky Blues earned a hard-fought win through Steve Corica's 16th minute goal on a cold Saturday evening.
In the final match of the night, Adelaide United snapped a six-game winless streak by edging out Brisbane in a 1-0 result at Suncorp Stadium, through Fabian Barbiero's 75th-minute goal.
The Reds had Eugene Galekovic to thank for securing the points, though, as the goalkeeper spectacularly denied Massimo Murdocca late in the match.
In the National Youth League, Central Coast captain Panny Nikas netted his ninth goal of the season as the Mariners stayed in top spot with a 2-1 win over Melbourne at Bluetongue Stadium.
Nikas slotted home from the penalty spot in the 85th minute after referee Kurt Ams ruled Melbourne goalkeeper Sebastian Mattei pulled down Mariners striker Dylan Macallister.
Melbourne officials were furious with the decision, but Nikas stayed calm and sent Mattei the wrong way to seal the victory.
Finally, in the Westfield W-League semi-final, a ten-woman Sydney FC side has stormed into the grand final through a 3-0 victory over Canberra United in Sydney today.
After Sydney defender Alesha Clifford saw red on 11 minutes, the Sky Blues reorganised and right on half-time Matilda Sarah Walsh stroked home the opening goal.
On the hour mark Sydney deservedly made it 2-0 after Leena Khamis found herself free in the box to head home Julie Rydahl's set piece.
And, captain Heather Garriock capped off a marvelous day for the Sky Blues with a third late on to send Sydney into its first ever Westfield W-League grand final.
For Sydney, Walsh and Garriock were superb and despite the one-woman advantage for most of the game, Canberra - last season's grand final runners up - simply could not make the numerical advantage count against a more confident opponent.