NATHAN Burns marked his return to the A-League on Wednesday night by inspiring Wellington Phoenix to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Melbourne Victory.
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Playing in front of a Wellington crowd for the first time in 983 days – the Blayney native having returned from the J-League – Burns did not score himself but played a role in both of Phoenix’s goals.
While Victory struck first for a 1-0 lead, the visitors had to deal with playing a man short after defender Rhys Williams was shown a red card.
Burns was injected in the 22nd minute and looked dangerous, but it was in the second half that he really had an impact.
In the 64th minute his shot was not properly dealt with by Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas and team-mate Roy Krishna pounced to equalise.
Then in the 87th minute, Burns’ cross was turned into the net by Victory defender Mark Milligan. The own goal gave Phoenix the win.