A defensive error decided the Hyundai A-League's battle of the cellar-dwellers at Members Equity Stadium on November 2, as Wellington Phoenix prevailed 1-0 over Perth Glory to edge home team coach Ron Smith ever closer to the exit door. Wellington enjoyed their fair share of possession throughout the first half, but there was only one team creating chances on a regular basis, with Perth attempting to exploit a visiting rearguard which looked tremulous at best any time the ball came within thirty yards of their goal. As it did in the sixth minute. Jamie Coyne latched onto a loose ball and sent it forward, allowing Jamie Robinson and Anthony Danze to spear through the middle with just Glen Moss to beat. The recalled Wellington goalkeeper - Mark Paston was injured, although had he been dropped, it would have come as no surprise - stood his ground well, however, and battered Robinson's effort to safety. A bad miss by the one-time English Premier League player, but at the same time, a top stop. Seconds later, Moss was called upon again, this time pawing to safety a Jimmy Downey cross intended for Jamie Harnwell. Wellington cleared their lines on this occasion, but were far less convincing in the ninth minute, when a Simon Colosimo long throw-in caused all sorts of consternation at the near post. Steven O'Dor missed the ball completely, forcing Moss to tip the ball away from goal. He got it out to Danze, who promptly hooked the ball towards the target, hitting the crossbar. Wellington scrambled the ball to safety. On the quarter hour, the visitors were under the cosh once more from a long throw-in, this time delivered by Nikolai Topor-Stanley. The fullback's delivery exposed more Wellington defending of a dubious nature, culminating in Colosimo lashing a twenty yarder wide of the mark under pressure - a goal kick was wrongly awarded by referee Simon Przydacz, who was in charge of the visitors for the second week running. While Wellington's defensive effort survived more by good luck than good management, in attack they were well contained by Perth's rearguard, although not always. A twenty-five yard grasscutter from Vince Lia skidded past Tando Velaphi's right-hand post in the 21st minute, while seconds later, Shane Smeltz fired wildly wide after charging in from the left. The same player exploited that avenue once more on the half-hour before dashing across the edge of the penalty area and setting up Ahmad Elrich for a shot. His twenty yarder was smothered well by Velaphi, the only save he had to make in the half. He should have been forced to face a penalty in stoppage time, however. Referee Przydacz bottled the decision with which he was faced, as Smeltz was clearly held back by Dino Djulbic as he entered the penalty area. Either side of this incident, Moss was active yet again, ensuring that the teams turned around with the scoreboard reading 0-0 due to his pawing away a Topor-Stanley cross-shot, then grabbing a header from Harnwell as he directed a Billy Celeski free-kick towards the target with the last act of the first half. The first act of note in the second half saw Danze galloping through unchallenged from half-way four minutes into the spell. But he fired wide on the run from twenty-five yards. Having enjoyed the better of the game so far, Perth were dealt a hammer-blow in the 51st minute, when Wellington took the lead. Djulbic's attempt to play the ball out of defence to David Micevski fell woefully short of the midfielder, allowing Tim Brown to swoop on the ball. The Phoenix captain, deputising for the injured Ross Aloisi - whose absence wasn't noticed, angled a pass through for Daniel, who lashed the ball first-time across the diving figure of Velaphi and into the far corner of the net, silencing all 7105 Perth fans present in the process. The sight of Ricki Herbert punching the air in delight while his Perth counterpart, Ron Smith, buried his head in his hands in despair, was perhaps the most memorable image of the match, given this match was a genuine six-pointer at the bottom of the table. It may be the last one the home team's gaffer takes charge of, given Perth have a mid-season review scheduled during the week. This goal meant they were now on course to record an eighteenth successive match without a win, but they still had

time aplenty to redress that situation. But the home team were still reeling from the blow when Tony Lochhead set off down the left at a great rate of knots, a raid which culminated in the efforts of both Elrich and Brown being blocked by Perth defenders in the 54th minute. Seconds later, Robinson squandered a glorious chance to equalise, having been put through by Celeski. High, wide and not very handsome sailed the sphere, as the striker struck the soil in chagrin. After Harnwell had looked to exploit some ponderous defending inside his own penalty area from O'Dor - Moss came to the defender's aid as he unsuccessfully attempted to shepherd the ball back to his goalkeeper, Lia and Smeltz linked with Elrich just after the hour mark, Wellington's newcomer lashing an angled twenty-yard drive across the face of goal. Twenty minutes remained when Perth squandered another glorious opportunity to level the scores. Richard Johnson gifted possession to Downey on half-way, and the speedster tore down the right before flighting a well-weighted cross to the far post. Arriving late was unmarked substitute Nikita Rukavytsya, whose volley across the face of goal - an awful miss - spoke volumes as to why he started the game on the bench! Six minutes later, the awarding of a free-kick sparked a few minutes of madness which affected everybody, including the match officials. A foul by Daniel - earning his sixth booking of the season - sparked things off, and Colosimo's resulting free-kick into the danger zone was headed on by substitute Jordan Simpson. Djulbic, attempting to make up for his blunder which produced Wellington's goal, tried an overhead kick which caused Moss little trouble. The same cannot be said for O'Dor, however. Having copped a blow to the nose earlier in the match, he felt the full force of Djulbic's leg as he stooped in an effort to head the ball away, and from his damaged proboscis poured blood aplenty. His substitution was inevitable, so Wellington decided to make two more at the same time. They had made one when referee Przydacz bizarrely allowed play to resume, despite the fact both of the visitors' other newcomers were ready to come on by the half-way line, a situation which prompted Herbert to berate the fourth official, whose inefficiency was responsible for Wellington being unnecessarily reduced to ten men for approximately a minute. Nothing came of Perth's temporary numerical advantage, save for a yellow card to Johnson, who told the referee what he thought of his handling of the situation in no uncertain terms, yet do nothing about an incident earlier in the half which saw Coyne blatantly elbow Brown in the stomach as Wellington defended a corner - video evidence may well see justice served in this incident, albeit belatedly. After the completely unmarked Royce Brownlie had failed to make contact with a Lochhead free-kick, and Brown and Smeltz had combined to send Vaughan Coveny through, only for Velaphi to hurtle out of his area and clear the danger, Perth pressed for a late equaliser in the dying minutes of the match. But it was not to be, Moss deservedly keeping Wellington's first clean sheet of the season by denying a Harnwell header, following an interchange between Celeski and Rukavytsya. Harnwell had another opportunity before the full-time whistle, but failed to connect with a scissors kick after Velaphi had hoisted the ball forward and Topor-Stanley had flicked the ball on as the ball bounced around the visitors' penalty area. Wellington's 1-0 win lifted them into double figures on the points table, and kept alive their outside hopes of making the play-offs in their inaugural season. But the defeat means Perth's season is all but over half-way through the campaign, given they are now five points adrift of their conquerors in this match, and without a win for some 343 days. Perth:          Velaphi; Downey, Coyne, Djulbic, Topor-Stanley (booked, 68); Celeski, Colosimo (booked, 11), Micevski (Rukavystya, 59), Robinson (Simpson, 75); Danze (Prentice, 73), Harnwell Wellington:     Moss; Christie (booked, 85), Dodd, O'Dor (Old, 78), Lochhead; Elrich (Brownlie, 78), Johnson (booked, 78), Brown, Lia (booked, 12), Daniel (booked, 75) (Coveny, 78); Smeltz Referee:     Simon Przydacz