Melbourne Victory 1 Wellington Phoenix 1: Toivonen rescues unconvincing point for champions

Ola Toivonen scored his fifth A-League goal in six starts to salvage Melbourne Victory a 1-1 home draw with an impressive Wellington Phoenix on Friday.

Sweden striker Toivonen turned home Terry Antonis' misdirected effort in the 77th minute to extend the champions' unbeaten streak to eight games and, at least temporarily, send them top on goal difference.

Victory, winners in six of their previous seven outings, had fallen behind to David Williams' classy curling finish 15 minutes earlier and were fortunate not to have already been out of the contest.

Roy Krishna failed to make the most of an early opportunity to put the New Zealanders ahead while Sarpreet Singh was unable to beat Lawrence Thomas in a one-on-one late in the first half.

Former Australia international Williams eventually made their dominance count with his second goal in as many matches, but Toivonen popped up late to rescue a share of the spoils.

Victory will slide back to second if Perth Glory claim at least a point at rock-bottom Central Coast Mariners on Monday, while the draw sees Wellington edge ahead of Melbourne City and into fourth.

What a goal from @willo_15!

 @FOXFOOTBALL #ALeague #WhereHeroesAreMade #MVCvWEL pic.twitter.com/yTNJ7UXQF1

— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) December 28, 2018