Western Sydney Wanderers have moved off the bottom of the A-League table with a 2-1 victory over Adelaide United, who miss out on the chance to progress into third spot.

The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges, but chances were few and far between until midway through the first half, when Osama Malik almost capitalised on indecision from Wanderers stopper Ante Covic before the ball was eventually sent wide.

Moments later, Tarek Elrich fired a long-range effort over the crossbar, before Isaias forced a saved out of Covic from a similar distance.

Bruce Djite also went close with a header, but right on half time, Adelaide finally edged ahead when Sergio Cirio powered an effort into the net from long range, leaving Covic with no chance.

Adelaide pushed for a second after the restart with James Jeggo trying his luck from distance, but just after the hour mark, Wanderers were back on level terms when Tomi Juric netted from the penalty spot after Nigel Boogaard had been dismissed for a professional foul.

The momentum was now with the home side, and 10 minutes later, they took the lead when Mark Bridge found the back of the net on his 200th appearance in the A-League.

Western Sydney pushed for a third, with Juric seeing a thunderous effort saved by Eugene Galekovic, but the home side were content to see out the rest of the game out to record just their fourth win of the campaign.