Making his first Wanderers' start, Jordon Mutch secured the win for the visitors when he seized on a calamitous error from birthday boy Jerry Skotadis deep in United's half, stole the ball and fired past substitute keeper Ryan Scott in the 57th minute.

Having persevered to win despite their ill coach Carl Robinson remaining at the team's hotel and assistant Kenny Miller taking over, Wanderers moved into third place on the A-League table.

"I think (Robinson will) be OK," Miller said.

"He woke up this morning a little bit poorly and got a little worse as the day went on. Doctor's advice was to stay in bed.

"(Tonight) was a hard-fought win. Good teams find ways to win and I think tonight we needed to do that."

Their two-game winning run broken, United remain ninth ahead of a visit to Sydney FC on Wednesday.

"It was a very good performance," United coach Mark Rudan said. "We did everything but score.

"We started off a little bit slow, they had a lot of the ball but they didn't really do much but, then again, neither did we.

"I thought we had the better chances - it's one of those games where I can't fault the performance."

It took half an hour rather than occurring pre-game, but United were was also forced into a reshuffle on Sunday when standout goalkeeper Filip Kurto, moments after denying a deflected Graham Dorrans shot, was injured in a goalmouth scramble.

The Polish keeper will be monitored ahead of his side's trip to Sydney.

"He got hit in the head, a knee to the head," Rudan said.

"There's a history there with concussion, so we've got to go through the right processes and make sure he's OK."

Scott's first real test in the United goal came in the 49th when Daniel Wilmering hammered a volleyed effort goalward, forcing Scott to get down low with his legs to keep it out.

He could do nothing, however, to stop Mutch's effort eight minutes later.

His side pressing hard looking for a leveller, Dylan Pierias thought he'd equalised in the 65th minute when he created a yard of space from outside the penalty box and shot just wide.

Besart Berisha had calls for a late penalty turned down, before Wanderers' keeper Daniel Margush produced a strong save to deny Nicolas Milanovic a headed 91st-minute equaliser.

Australian Associated Press