A fourteenth minute goal from Paul Ifill proved suffice to see Wellington Phoenix past Newcastle Jets on 22 November at EnergyAustralia Stadium, where just 4,239 fans - the home team's lowest ever crowd - saw the visitors prevail 1-0 in a match played in sweltering temperatures, and which never rose to any great heights. Labinot Haliti and Ifill exchanged off-target efforts on goal inside the first seven minutes, with the latter unable to take advantage of a few other openings in the early exchanges as Wellington made early in-roads down the right flank. The left flank was the avenue down which the visitors unhinged Newcastle's rearguard in the fourteenth minute. Daniel attracted the attention of two defenders before playing the ball back to Tony Lochhead, whose inviting cross to the near post was stabbed home at full stretch from six yards by Ifill, as Ljubo Milicevic stooped to head clear. Newcastle protested in vain to referee Peter Green, who had a relatively armchair ride throughout proceedings as the heat took its toll on the quality of the spectacle - it certainly won't go down in history as one of the Hyundai A-League's all-time-great encounters! Indeed, just two more opportunities of note were engineered in the entire first half. Soon after the goal, Haliti sent a twenty-five yarder whistling narrowly over Mark Paston's crossbar, while Chris Greenacre just failed to get on the end of a Daniel through ball just shy of the half-hour mark. Newcastle rarely threatened Wellington's goal, a fact which owed much to the commanding defensive display of Ben Sigmund, who won almost everything in the air for the visitors. The home side found Ifill far harder to contain, and he came desperately close to doubling Wellington's advantage inside the first minute of the second spell. Leo Bertos and Tim Brown worked a smart one-two down the right which saw the former whip in a cross to the near post for Ifill, whose deft flick was superbly turned over the crossbar by Newcastle goalkeeper Neil Young. The unmarked Greenacre should have done better when volleying wide upon being picked out by Bertos' corner in the 53rd minute, while two minutes later, a vicious free-kick from Daniel completely deceived Young as it arced in from the left, the goalkeeper beaten all ends up by an effort

which dropped just beyond the angle of far post and crossbar. Wellington continued to press, Ifill releasing Bertos down the right just after the hour mark. The visitors' set-piece specialist showed his opponents a clean pair of heels before pulling the trigger some thirty yards from goal, and bringing about another full stretch save from Young, who was keeping his team in the contest. He did so again in the 64th minute, Bertos shooting straight at Young after Ifill and substitute Adrian Caceres had combined around the edge of the penalty area, following Greenacre's initial work down the left. Newcastle finally gave Paston something to do in the 67th minute, Fabio Vignaroli releasing Haliti through the inside right channel. The striker shot straight at the advancing goalkeeper, who was called upon twice more in the dying minutes as the home team sought an equaliser they scarcely deserved. Jin Hyung Song's 89th minute corner to the near post was flicked on by Vignaroli to Haliti, whose powerful downward header was well smothered by Paston by the foot of his post. The 'keeper was beaten in stoppage time, however, as Newcastle contrived their best move of the match. Substitute Angelo Costanzo played the ball wide to Matt Thompson, whose one-two with Haliti allowed Newcastle's captain to get in behind Wellington's rearguard and whip in a low cross beyond Paston. Vignaroli was sliding in at the near post, with Andrew Durante on his shoulder, and it was the presence of the defender which prevented the midfielder from directing the ball on target, thus confirming a rare win on the road for Wellington, their first since November 7, 2008, one which leaves Newcastle a point off the bottom of the table. Newcastle:     Young; Elrich, Milicevic, Topor-Stanley, D'Apuzzo (Kantarovski, 61); Wheelhouse (booked, 33) (Costanzo, 80), Vignaroli (booked, 35), Thompson; Song, Haliti, Rooney (Patafta, 57) Wellington:     Paston; Muscat, Sigmund, Durante, Lochhead; Bertos (Barbarouses, 70), Walsh, Brown, Daniel (Caceres, 63); Greenacre, Ifill (Hearfield, 85) Referee:     Peter Green