Sydney increases A-League lead despite draw

Sydney increased its lead in Australia's A-League despite being held to a scoreless draw by Perth Glory on Sunday.

Second-place Melbourne, which trailed Sydney by three points going into the weekend, missed a chance to move closer when it lost 3-2 to Newcastle. The results left Sydney with 39 points, four ahead of Melbourne.

Goals by Matthew Thompson, Michael Bridges and Labinot Haliti secured Newcastle's win, with Melbourne's goals coming from skipper Kevin Muscat and Costa Rica international Carlos Hernandez a minute into stoppage time.

Jets coach Branko Culina was thrilled with the result against a strong Victory lineup.

"It was terrific," Culina said. "An outstanding performance by an outstanding team who showed today if they really want something, there's nothing stopping us."

Striker Shane Smeltz's 19th goal of the season in stoppage time gave Gold Coast United a 1-1 draw with Adelaide United. The draw moved Gold Coast to 34 points _ one behind defending champions Melbourne and five behind Sydney.

Gold Coast skipper Jason Culina, back from a knee injury which prevented him from playing in Australia's midweek Asian Cup game in Kuwait, provided the pinpoint cross for Smeltz to score.

Travis Dodd gave Adelaide the lead in the 20th minute Saturday.

Central Coast drew 1-1 with North Queensland. Nik Mrdja scored in the third minute for Central Coast and Jeremy Brockie replied for the Fury in the 19th.

Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna wasn't impressed with his team's performance in the second half.

"The first-half performance was very positive, we created chances and had good shape," McKinna said. "There wasn't a lot of positives in the second half. The big thing is we never lost."

Wellington beat Brisbane 3-1 _ the Phoenix' first win over the Roar in nine matches.