An early Macarthur FC penalty's been cancelled out by a sublime Kosta Barbarouses goal just before halftime, in today's A-League home game for the Wellington Phoenix

The unlucky Issac Hughes accidentally handled the ball in the sixth minute - after scoring an own goal last week in Auckland.

Valerie Germain's spot kick was initially saved by Josh Oluwayemi but the Phoenix keeper couldn't stop the follow-up.

But after constant pressure from the home side, Barbarouses latched on to a sublime Marco Rojas through ball to finish with applomb in the 44th minute - 1-all at the break.