Reigning Hyundai A-League champions Melbourne Victory maintained their late charge in pursuit of the final play-off spot at Docklands Stadium on January 11, as they comfortably conquered a toothless Wellington Phoenix combination to the delight of the vast majority of the 25,489 fans present for their last home game of the season. Melbourne were irresistible at times in the first twenty minutes, and how they failed to engineer a goal to show for their dominance in that spell only they will know. They completely dominated a Wellington side which showed a lack of ambition in keeping with coach Ricki Herbert's pre-match comments, which suggested that avoiding the wooden spoon tag was not his main priority. Aspiring to mediocrity has been a feature of New Zealand's various A-League operations in each of the past five years, but definitely wasn't on Melbourne's agenda, something they made clear right from the outset in this clash. They tore into their opponents, with Kevin Muscat, Adrian Caceres and Archie Thompson combining to allow Nick Ward to lash a twenty-yarder into Glen Moss' midriff in the ninth minute. Seconds later, a surging run from Matthew Kemp saw Ward and Carlos Hernandez team up to good effect, before the Costa Rican's slide-rule pass invited Thompson to enter the penalty area at pace. For some reason, he opted not to pull the trigger, instead looking to set up Caceres, only for Karl Dodd to intervene. In the sixteenth minute, the home team came desperately close to opening the scoring. Daniel Vasilevski sent Hernandez racing in behind Wellington's out-paced rearguard, the playmaker checking inside before smashing a ten-yarder against the underside of the crossbar. The ball bounced back into the field of play, allowing the visitors to scramble the sphere to safety. Only a vital headed clearance by Kristian Rees denied Caceres soon afterwards, as Thompson exploited an opening on the right and delivered a cross towards the far post. Hernandez retrieved the ball, and from near the touchline, unleashed a cross-shot which deceived Moss, only for the crossbar to again come to Wellington's rescue. After Caceres had sent a shot fizzing past the post following more Hernandez invention, Wellington appeared to have weathered the storm, only to discover that the worst of it was still to come. In the 31st minute, Melbourne took a richly deserved lead. Caceres sparked it on the left, turning the ball inside to Thompson. His shot on the turn was blocked, with the rebound falling to Ward. His angled pass in behind the defence was made to measure for Hernandez to hit in his stride, and he did so with venom aplenty, his low drive arrowing across Moss before cannoning into the net off the base of the far post. 1-0 swiftly became 2-0, as Melbourne doubled their advantage four minutes later. This time, the architect of the goal was Roddy Vargas, who crowned his terrific defensive display with a sumptuous fifty-yard crossfield ball which found Caceres hurtling down the right at pace and Wellington defender Steven O'Dor horribly exposed as a result. The speedster swiftly evaded the stopper's attempts to curtail his progress, Caceres then luring Moss out of goal before rolling the ball into the path of the incoming figure of Ward. From ten yards, he swept the ball home in emphatic fashion, and left Wellington with a mountain to climb at the end of a day which saw New Zealand's Mt. Everest-conquering legend, Sir Edmund Hillary, scale his final peak. Conceding a second goal briefly stirred the visitors into life, with Vaughan Coveny being denied by the combined efforts of Vargas and the hitherto unoccupied Michael Theoklitos in the 38th minute, seconds before the defender thwarted the striker once more as Michael Ferrante and Ahmad Elrich combined to create an opening. Vargas' clearance didn't travel far, as another Elrich cross seconds later was punched out by Theoklitos, but only as far as Vince Lia. Both the Melbourne native and Ferrante were unable to capitalise on this opportunity, a fate which befell Vargas himself in stoppage time, as he failed by mere inches to get on the end of Hernandez's clever chipped free-kick. Coveny got little change from Vargas, and all the evidence anyone needed that the striker was well and truly in the defender's back pocket was presented in the 48th minute, when Felipe Campos played a ball through for the striker. Vargas' tackle, inside the penalty area, whipped the sphere clear of

Coveny as clean as a whistle. Referee Peter Green should have awarded a free-kick at the other end of the ground two minutes later, when Thompson was crudely upended on the edge of Wellington's penalty area. The visitors survived that opportunity, but such was Thompson's poor finishing in this match that when he was played through on goal seconds later, it came as little surprise to see him drag his shot well wide of the far post - it was as if he didn't want to score against the team representing the country of his birth, such was his profligacy and penchant for passing when shooting opportunities presented themselves. Such chances occurred with less frequency for Melbourne in the second spell, with Wellington picking up their game in response to the champions' best forty-five minute display of the season so far. Ferrante fired a ferocious twenty-yarder inches past the post on the hour mark, while Felipe snatched at the chance to drag his side back into the match seconds later, to which Melbourne responded via a left-flank opening engineered by Caceres and Kemp. The former evaded a couple of players before blasting an eighteen-yarder at Moss. The introduction of Daniel on the hour significantly bolstered Wellington's creativity, which had amounted to very little up to that point. Debutant Greg Draper was also given an opportunity to make his mark inside the final half-hour, but it was O'Dor who was next to catch the eye for the visitors as his timely 73rd minute challenge thwarted Thompson as he looked to capitalise on Ward's interception and lay-off. Thirteen minutes from time, Melbourne squandered a gilt-edged chance to net a third goal. Hernandez slipped Thompson through with just Moss to beat, but he opted to lay the ball off rather than follow his striker's instincts. Cue a Hernandez horror shot which flew high, wide and anything but handsome from the edge of the penalty area. Such profligacy nearly came back to bite Melbourne, because in the 79th minute, O'Dor rattled the crossbar from close range with a header from Daniel's outswinging corner. Melbourne failed to clear the danger adequately, which presented Ferrante with another shooting chance, his twenty-yarder rattling the stanchion abaft the goal. After Felipe had headed wide following Shane Smeltz's persistence on the right, Thompson inserted another entry in his catalogue of misses three minutes from time. Daniel's twenty-yard free-kick cannoned off the wall, and Melbourne's reactions were such that within five seconds, three players had careered through Wellington's offside trap, and were bearing down on Moss' goal with just the 'keeper to beat. Hernandez led the charge, and upon getting to the edge of the penalty area, he swept the ball across to Thompson, who fired the ball wide under pressure from the fast-closing figure of Moss. Wellington's 'keeper was given no chance in the 89th minute, as Melbourne swept to a 3-0 lead in emphatic fashion. Thompson burst through the offside trap onto Hernandez's pass, and tore downfield, only to be tackled by O'Dor just outside the penalty area. The ball rolled into the path of substitute Kaz Patafta, whose unerring finish thundered beyond the diving figure of Moss and ballooned the back of the net. The visitors sought a late consolation goal, with Ferrante skimming the crossbar with his twenty-five yarder, while Smeltz was denied a shooting opportunity by good defending from Kevin Muscat, whose sweeping role in this match proved a barrier far too experienced for a shot-shy Wellington combination to penetrate. Melbourne, Thompson excepted, were anything but shot-shy by comparison, and will be hoping Newcastle stumble at Wellington's final opponents, the Central Coast Mariners, this weekend to ensure that their top-four prospects remain alive heading into the final round of the campaign, when they visit Sydney FC knowing that nothing less than three points will do if they are to have a chance of retaining their title. Melbourne:     Theoklitos; Ryall, Muscat, Vargas; Vasilevski, Broxham, Hernandez (Berger, 90), Ward (Pace, 81), Kemp; Thompson, Caceres (Patafta, 74) Wellington:     Moss; Rees, Dodd (booked, 63), O'Dor; Elrich (Daniel, 61), Brown (booked, 54), Campos (booked, 90), Ferrante, Lia; Smeltz, Coveny (Draper, 66) Referee:     Peter Green