Craig Goodwin scored one goal and set up another to help Adelaide to a 2-1 win over Western Sydney, consigning the hapless Wanderers a fifth successive defeat on Friday night.
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Goodwin set up Vince Lia to give the Reds an early lead, then cancelled out a wonderfully-struck Rolieny Bonevacia free-kick with smart finish of his own midway through the second half to finish the job.
The result saw Adelaide move level with the fifth-placed Wellington on 22 points, some 10 points clear of the chasing pack for the finals with 13 games to play.
Meanwhile, the Wanderers' season is hanging by a thread, 13 points out of the finals-playing positions with their streak of losses at ANZ Stadium stretching to six.
The hosts' woes started in the eighth minute when Lia latched onto a Goodwin ball from the edge of the box.
After Goodwin wriggled free on the left he pulled the ball back for Lia who made no mistake with a low drive into the back of the net.
But Lia went from hero to villain four minutes after halftime when he fouled Wanderers midfielder Nick Fitzgerald just outside the box.
From the subsequent free-kick, Bonevacia curled the ball beautifully over the wall and into top-left-hand corner and level the scores.
However, Socceroos wideman Goodwin cancelled out that strike 16 minutes later when Nikola Mileusnic picked him in the box and he beat Nicholas Suman, in the Wanderers goal with a cool finish.
Markus Babbel's side were convinced they'd won a penalty 15 minutes from time when Mathieu Cordier was downed in a challenge from Ryan Strain in the box.
However, referee Alex King waved play on, before the VAR reviewed the incident and stuck with the on-field call.
Australian Associated Press
