Melbourne's A-League lead sliced

Melbourne's lead in Australia's A-League was sliced to three points after the Victory was held to a 1-1 draw at Wellington in weekend action.

Tim Brown gave the Phoenix the lead in the 57th minute and that looked to have inflicted an upset defeat upon Melbourne until defender Rodrigo Vargas headed in an 87th-minute equalizer.

The draw was enough for Wellington to match a league record of 14 home games without defeat, stretching back to October 2008.

Both Sydney and Gold Coast won to make up ground on Melbourne.

Gold Coast striker Shane Smeltz's 12th goal of the season helped his side overcome a 1-0 halftime deficit and beat Central Coast 2-1, ending the Mariners' four-game unbeaten streak.

Substitute Andrew Barisic, called up for his second game after scoring seven goals in the National Youth League, scored the winner in the 76th minute.

Sydney's Alex Brosque scored a pair of goals in the 4-1 win over North Queensland.

Former Socceroo John Aloisi, recalled to the starting lineup, took advantage of some poor defending to put Sydney ahead in the 15th minute, and Brosque doubled that advantage five minutes later with a strike from the edge of the box.

Brosque made it 3-0 seven minutes into the second half before Rostyn Griffiths scored North Queensland's only goal.

Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka was pleased his players bounced back from last week's home defeat by Newcastle.

"It has been a tough week for the players, but we were very good in the first half and used the wide spaces well and created plenty of chances to score," Lavicka said.

Newcastle kept Adelaide at the bottom of the standings with a 2-0 victory. Captain Matt Thompson scored from close range in the 46th minute before South Korean Song Jin-hyung converted an 80th-minute penalty.