Wellington Phoenix got a busy week - three games in seven days - off to the perfect start at a rain-soaked Westpac Stadium on 23 January, pummelling Perth Glory 4-0 to leave their Hyundai A-League play-offs destiny very much in their own hands. The form team of the four contenders vying for the last two spots, Wellington nearly opened the scoring just twenty-eight seconds into this encounter, Vince Lia, Andrew Durante, Dylan MacAllister and Marco Rojas combining to present Tim Brown with a headed chance which he directed narrowly past the far post. Perth responded via Tommy Amphlett in the fifth minute, but he dragged his volley past Danny Vukovic's left-hand upright after Steven McGarry had held off two challengers to create the opportunity. Wellington responded with a string of crosses, Rojas, Tony Lochhead and Nick Ward all firing the ball into the Perth goalmouth. Scrambling defence thwarted these threats, and that posed by Ben Sigmund - his shot was deflected for a ninth minute corner. Rojas' delivery was cleared to Troy Hearfield, who picked out Ward with his cross. The former Perth player's header crashed against the crossbar, off which it ricocheted skywards. What goes up must come down, and unfortunately for Perth 'keeper Tando Velaphi, he didn't deal with the dropping ball at all well under pressure from Brown, fumbling the ball into his own net to gift the home team the opening goal. That sparked a scrappy period of play which was broken only by what would have been one of the most sensational goals in A-League history, had the crossbar not intervened to spare Velaphi's blushes. Moments before smothering a Naum Sekulovski speculator, Vukovic launched one of his own, a raking clearance from his own penalty area which bounced once before sailing over Velaphi's head, the 'keeper turning to see the sphere cannon back into play off the woodwork. MacAllister, following in, overran the rebound - a real let-off for the visitors. Perth were also having problems dealing with the box of tricks that is Rojas, who set up Lia in the 24th minute. Both his shot, and that of Ward soon after, were blocked by Perth defenders, with the corner resulting from the latter's attempt seeing Rojas pick out the head of MacAllister. He directed his effort over the angle of post and bar. Sigmund's timely 25th minute challenge in the penalty area thwarted Branko Jelic in the penalty area, leaving the Perth striker appealing for a penalty. Referee Peter O'Leary quite rightly wasn't having a bar of any such request - indeed, the official handled the game well in what were challenging conditions for both teams. Soon after, Jelic was inches away from meeting a cross at the near post after McGarry and the overlapping Josh Risdon had combined down the right, while just after the half-hour mark, Vukovic raced off his line to smartly deal with the surging run of Mile Sterjovski, as Perth sought an equaliser. How they hadn't fallen further behind seconds earlier defies logic! From a short corner, Rojas picked out Durante with a cross which the Wellington captain headed against the upright. Brown was onto the rebound in a flash, and played it across goal to the unmarked MacAllister, three yards out and with the goal at his mercy. Somehow he missed … Eight minutes before half-time, Velaphi dealt well with a deflected thirty-yarder from Hearfield, but relied on Scott Neville to block a Ward drive after the midfielder had been picked out by Rojas. Perth spurned a glorious chance to equalise on the stroke of half-time. A neat one-two between Risdon and McGarry down the right saw the fullback skip past Lochhead before whipping in a cross. Todd Howarth came hurtling in to meet it and sent a bullet header flying past Vukovic, but just past the post as well.

Had the under-strength visitors scored at this point, it would have made for a very interesting second half, to put it mildly. Instead, three minutes after the resumption, the outcome was effectively sealed when MacAllister hammered home a thirty yard free-kick through a gap in the defensive wall, the deflection off which left Velaphi helpless. 2-0, and Wellington with their tails up, particularly the 5,115 hardy souls who braved the inclement conditions to watch the match. Both Ward and Rojas fired tame efforts at the target soon after the goal, while the young winger ignited a left-flank raid by beating two players in the 54th minute before feeding the overlapping Lochhead, whose cross was headed over by Lia. Seconds later, Rojas ran Perth's defence ragged once more, getting to the byline before dinking over a cross intended for MacAllister, who was arriving on the far post. But for Josh Mitchell's intervention, he would have scored - the defender headed over his own crossbar while ending up in the net himself. Wellington's pressure wasn't to be denied a third goal, and when it materialised, in the 59th minute, it was a gem! Sigmund's timely tackle broke up a Perth attack, and sparked a counter-attack which saw Rojas terrorising opposing defenders yet again. He got to the by-line before pulling the ball back into the stride of Lia, who flicked the ball up before unleashing a sumptuous fifteen yard volley beyond the despairing dive of Velaphi and in by the post - 3-0, and surely now, no way back for Perth. With the points seemingly in the bag, and mindful of their heavy playing schedule this week, which includes a return trip across the Tasman, Wellington eased off a tad after this goal, an airshot from Sigmund and a save at the feet of Brown by Velaphi the sum total of their attacks over the course of the next half-hour. Perth duly took up the chance to attempt to drag themselves back into the contest, only to find Durante in typically obdurate form. His timely 65th minute tackle on Jelic, as the striker latched onto a pass from Howarth near the edge of the penalty area, left the visitors in no doubt that this task was beyond them. It didn't deter Perth, however, and after Vukovic had dashed off his line to save smartly from Jelic, the visitors' first corner of the match, in the 81st minute, saw McGarry's inswinger crash off the far post. Wellington scrambled the loose ball out to Howarth, who picked out Sterjovski with his cross, the striker's header being parried to safety by Vukovic, who was intent on keeping a clean sheet with goal difference looking increasingly likely to be a factor in the race for the play-offs. After Howarth had lashed a shot narrowly past the post following the combination play of McGarry and Sterjovski down the right, Wellington wrapped up the points on the stroke of full-time with a fourth goal. Daniel, one of three second half substitutes for the home team, looked to pick out Brown with his cross, but the midfielder went down in the aerial challenge and appealed for a penalty. Referee O'Leary was having nothing of it, however, as he was playing an advantage, the ball having landed at the feet of Lia on the far side of the penalty area. His cross picked out another replacement, and despite the best efforts of Velaphi, Chris Greenacre's header bulleted into the net to conclude a 4-0 victory for Wellington, who lie seventh with games in hand on the Melbourne teams who currently occupy the last two play-off placings. Wellington:     Vukovic; Hearfield, Sigmund, Durante, Lochhead; Brown, Muscat, Lia (Daniel, 64); Ward, MacAllister (Greenacre, 64), Rojas (Cornejo, 72) Perth:          Velaphi; Risdon, Neville, Mitchell (booked, 34), Sekulovski; Amphlett (Taggart, 55), McGarry, Fondyke (Edwards, 83), Howarth; Sterjovski, Jelic (B. Griffiths, 83) Referee:     Peter O'Leary