An impressive display of wet-weather football saw Melbourne Victory overcome an improved but defensively naïve Wellington Phoenix combination 4-2 at Westpac Stadium on August 24, in front of just 6,110 fans - the New Zealand club's lowest crowd to date. That it was so sparse in number was due primarily to the inclement conditions, with the constant rainfall also impacting on the quality of the pitch - surface water was in evidence in various areas of the park, making the straight-forward task of passing the ball a tad treacherous at times. It was the home team which adapted quicker to the conditions, and but for a very late offside flag, you'd have put the house on Shane Smeltz opening the scoring in the fifth minute. Sixty seconds later, a harsh call against Wellington just outside their penalty area saw Evan Berger's teasing free-kick headed clear by Jon McKain, who was to contribute to at least three of the six goals which this game witnessed. Back came the home team, with Troy Hearfield seeing his fierce drive headed away by Michael Thwaite after an enterprising tenth minute raid which featured a no-look pass from Daniel, who flattered to deceive in this match - something to do with being the only player on the park sporting gloves, perhaps! Four minutes later, Hearfield teamed up with Michael Ferrante in midfield to bring overlapping fullback Manny Muscat into play. His devilishly angled cross saw namesake Kevin Muscat execute the perfect air-shot - not a wise thing to do when Smeltz is lurking behind you. Before he had a chance to pounce, Thwaite stepped in to spare his skipper's blushes. After Richard Johnson had unleashed a stinging thirty-yarder on the quarter-hour which Mitchell Langerak required two attempts to save, Melbourne's goalkeeper launched the ball downfield, and in doing so, sparked an attack which left Wellington on their knees. Danny Allsopp was the ultimate recipient of Langerak's clearance, and rampaged down the left, Manny Muscat jockeying his progress at every step. But the striker was too smart for the youngster, turning him this way and that before engineering the space required to get past him and into the penalty area. From fifteen yards out on the angle, and with McKain flying in to challenge, Allsopp unleashed a bullet which skidded under the diving figure of Glen Moss into the back of the net - a goal about which the 'keeper should have done much better, and he'll be the first to admit it. Within two minutes, Melbourne were nearly two goals to the good. Ney Fabiano set up Allsopp on the edge of the area, and he cleverly chipped the advancing figure of Moss. But the retreating Ferrante launched himself at the ball and managed to head it to safety, while ending up in the back of the net instead - he  would not have wanted to reverse the roles on this occasion! Still Wellington reeled, with Muscat felling Berger right on the edge of the penalty area in the 22nd minute - the fullback looked very much out of his depth in a defensive capacity. While Carlos Hernandez was unable to capitalise with the subsequent free-kick, the resulting corner saw Moss - far from his best game - flapping forlornly at the ball, which Berger headed back into Billy Celeski's path. From six yards out, and with a defender on the line to beat, he headed over - a real let-off for the home team. And they made it count, in the 29th minute. Wellington, when in possession, looked a far more attractive prospect this week than last, the long ball folly having been kicked into touch in favour of the passing game to which they are far more suited. All that was failing them was the execution of the final pass, but on this occasion, they got it spot-on. A raking ball forward by McKain sent Tony Lochhead galloping down the left at pace, and his precise first-time cross from the by-line picked out the head of Smeltz, who, having got in between two defenders, thundered a header past Langerak - 1-1. Parity was the way of life for all of six minutes. Because once the lively Matthew Kemp raced in off the right and angled a pass through Wellington's rearguard, the home team was in grave danger. Sure

enough, Allsopp punished their laxness mercilessly, taking the ball on in his stride before steering it beyond the exposed figure of Moss. Eighty seconds into the second half, Melbourne extended their advantage to 3-1 with a superb goal, as much in its conception as its execution. Celeski played the ball down the inside-right channel, and Allsopp - easily the visitors' best throughout - dashed onto it, rounding the advancing but stranded figure of Moss in the process. Quite what the 'keeper was doing out near the edge of his penalty area, when there were two defenders in the immediate vicinity, only he can explain, but Allsopp's subsequent cross found his front-running partner, Ney Fabiano, in the penalty area but with his back to goal and McKain on his shoulder. For a Brazilian, such a situation isn't an issue, as Ney Fabiano proved in spectacular fashion - the most deft of scissors kicks steered the ball beyond the covering defender and into the net. Reeling from this setback, Wellington sought a swift response, but Langerak was equal to Hearfield's shot on the run. It was the home team who was on the run soon after, however, chasing the shadows cast by their Melbourne opponents as the visitors looked to exploit a decidedly shaky-looking back-line. It wasn't aided by Moss' uncertainty. A Berger free-kick spilled by the 'keeper was scrambled clear in the fiftieth minute, and three efforts from Hernandez in the next ten minutes, the pick of which rattled the stanchion, all helped quieten the vocal locals. Wellington coach Ricki Herbert opted for attack as his best means of defence when making his first change of the evening, and Vaughan Coveny's introduction went desperately close to dragging his team back into the contest. A gorgeously flighted curling free-kick from the right by Hearfield picked out the head of the former All White, whose downward header - his first touch of the game - bulleted inches past the right-hand post of the scrambling figure of Langerak. The 'keeper rode his luck again seconds later. Smeltz gathered the ball on the edge of the penalty area and drifted inside two challenges before letting fly. His shot struck the retreating figure of Kevin Muscat and looped up and over the already diving figure of Langerak, rebounding off the post and onto the 'keeper's back, off which it ricocheted for a corner. This was cleared, but referee Strebre Delovski spotted Kemp impeding McKain in the penalty area and instantly pointed to the penalty spot, a call which led to a brief gathering of the clans. Just as swiftly, tempers were quelled, and Smeltz sent Langerak the wrong way from the spot - 3-2, and Wellington back in the contest in the 64th minute. That situation lasted precisely three minutes, as McKain, the hero at the other end, crudely became the villain in his own penalty area, clattering into Hernandez as the best move of the match - a sumptuous one-touch-passing interchange featuring at least six Melbourne players - opened up the left-hand side of Wellington's defence. Referee Delovski's intervention was greeted in far more subdued fashion than his previous penalty-spot-pointing exercise had been, because even Wellington fans know that when Kevin Muscat's taking a penalty, he doesn't miss. Sure enough, Melbourne's skipper calmly restored his team's two-goal advantage - 4-2. In doing so, he killed off the game as a contest, because Wellington had plenty of frustration left inside them, but no more fight after this knockout blow. They managed a brief flurry prior to the finale - Smeltz fired wide following a quickly taken Johnson free-kick - but in Melbourne they found a polished opponent who exploited the Kiwi team's defensive frailties to the fullest, and fired themselves to the top of the table as a result. Wellington:     Moss; M. Muscat (Christie, 75), McKain, Durrante (booked, 73), Lochhead; Hearfield, Johnson, Ferrante (booked, 86), Daniel (Coveny, 61); Kwasnik, Smeltz Melbourne:     Langerak; Kemp, Thwaite, K. Muscat, Vargas; Celeski (Pondeljak, 90), Hernandez (Brebner, 73), Lopez, Berger (booked, 56); Allsopp (Pace, 90), Ney Fabiano (booked, 20) Referee:     Strebre Delovski