Andrew Nabbout is the hero for Melbourne Victory who have revitalised their faint A-League finals hopes with a 2-1 comeback win over Adelaide United at Marvel Stadium.
The Reds snatched an early lead on Saturday night through Norwegian striker Kristian Opseth, but Marco Rojas equalised in the 57th minute and Nabbout scored a dramatic injury-time winner.
It was interim coach Carlos Salvachua's first A-League win in six attempts since taking the reins.
"I think that we played with this heart today," Salvachua said.
"We knew the opportunity for us - one of the last - and we just put the focus in the game, this 90 minutes.
"We are the same team as yesterday; we will be the same team tomorrow - winning or losing, we are working hard, trying to develop the players, trying to improve every week."
It took just seven minutes for Adelaide to hit the scoreboard.
Talented young midfielder Riley McGree slipped a clever ball through to Opseth, who completed the move with a powerful finish.
Victory should have equalised in the 43rd minute. A quick-thinking Nabbout delivered a throw-in to Elvis Kamsoba, whose shot was deflected away to Adama Traore.
The left-back headed the ball on to Ola Toivonen, who turned a point-blank header wide.
Adelaide's George Blackwood clattered a shot off the bar in the 56th minute, with Kamsoba blazing his own chance over seconds later.
Then, Rojas struck.
Tim Hoogland played a 1-2 with Nabbout and drove a square cross into the 18-yard box, where Rojas evaded Mirko Boland's sliding challenge, took a touch past Paul Izzo and rifled home the equaliser.
Blackwood hit the crossbar for a second time in the 69th minute, while Lawrence Thomas batted away Troisi's 74th-minute free kick, then a late chance from Reds teen sensation Mohamed Toure.
As the clock wound down, Nabbout - with his left eye almost swollen shut from an earlier head clash - burst down the left flank, cut around Boland and thrashed home the winner in the 91st minute.
"We had in the first half some defence problems - we gave too many chances away (but) still we were leading - we also had our chances," Reds coach Gertjan Verbeek said.
"Second half, the defence was better and still we got quite good chances - two times (we hit) the bar.
"And in both moments that we had a big chance - also in the last minute with Toure - we can decide the game in a positive way but then, in the counter attack, they scored for 2-1. That's sad - that's a pity."
The win closes Victory's gap on sixth-placed Brisbane to six points, and fifth-placed Adelaide to seven, while the Reds remain three points short of the top four.