A 10-man Sydney FC have held on for a 1-0 away victory over Wellington Phoenix, becoming the first visiting side to win in New Zealand for more than a year.

Veteran Sydney captain Steve Corica capped a superb performance in his 200th national league match with the only goal of the game from a penalty.

The Sky Blues held firm despite the Phoenix attacking hard after the visitors went a man down in the 80th minute, when Simon Colosimo was sent off for a late tackle.

Wellington’s unbeaten home streak ended at 14 matches, meaning Sydney kept a share of the A-League record, which the Phoenix would have taken outright with a draw.

It was their first game at Palmerston North’s FMG Stadium, having achieved their unbeaten streak, which began in October last year, entirely at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium.

Sydney performed well in a match that was made scrappy by 100 km/h winds.

They regularly threatened the Phoenix defence, mostly through the combination of Corica with pacy striker Alex Brosque.

Brosque several times managed to get clear of the defence in the first half, including to set up the penalty in the 16th minute.

He ran onto a long ball, with trailing defender Jon McKain having little option other than to drag Brosque down.

Corica converted, for his second goal in as many matches.

Brosque’s pace continued to threaten Wellington, with Sydney’s midfield shrewdly using the headwind to chip balls over the defence, which held up for the frontman to run onto them.

Ten minutes after his goal, Brosque almost had another chance, when he sprinted well clear of the defence chasing a Corica long ball, but young keeper Reece Crowther did well to come out of his box and head it away.

Brosque almost pounced on another Corica lofted delivery soon after.

Wellington defender Andrew Durante’s defensive header failed to reach the keeper, Brosque getting there first but unable to control it enough to shoot.

The Sydney striker kept pressing in the second half, forcing a good save 10 minutes in, then four minutes later contesting a high ball with Crowther, both players falling over.

With Sydney in possession, referee Michael Hester halted play because of the downed players, denying the Sky Blues a great scoring chance.

Hester was a constant factor, handing out six yellow cards, as well as Colosimo’s red.

But after failing to make the most of Melbourne Victory spending more than a half with 10 men in a 1-1 draw at home last weekend, Wellington again failed to capitalise.

© AAP 2012

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