Wellington Phoenix moved into fourth place in the Isuzu Ute A-League on 30 March after overcoming Brisbane Roar 3-0 in front of 1600 fans on a wet Moreton Daily Stadium playing surface, on a night when goalkeeper Oliver Sail could do no wrong. The conditions made life challenging for both teams, although it was the locals who adapted better to them early doors, who went close to opening the scoring in the thirteenth minute when Luke Ivanovic was narrowly astray with a curling effort past the started figure of Sail, who was caught out as a result of Nicholas Pennington's poor attempt to clear ricocheting through to the unmarked striker just outside the penalty area. The visitors responded via their first raid of note in the 21st minute, James McGarry and Gael Sandoval combining for the benefit of David Ball, who cut inside and let fly, only for Macklin Freke to grab his attempt to break the deadlock. Three minutes later, Juan Lescano, who, with Ryo Wada, fired shots past the post either side of this opportunity, played the ball wide to Nick Olsen, who cut inside and let fly, only for his shot to strike Ivanovic right between the shoulder blades. Ouch! Wellington's next attack saw the deadlock broken in the 28th minute. Sandoval delivered a gem of a corner right into the heart of the goalmouth, to the extent that Ben Waine, lurking in the shadows of the crossbar, somehow failed to chest the ball home from point-blank range. The ball instead went skywards. What goes up must come down, and as it did, the striker nudged Scott Neville as he attempted to head clear, an action which resulted in the defender heading the ball into the roof of his own net. The defender was livid, and his mood wasn't aided by the Video Assistant Referee taking an eternity to make a ruling on the incident, then getting it wrong in Brisbane's eyes. Wellington weren't complaining - 1-0. Olsen was causing Wellington's rearguard problems aplenty on the left, and in the 34th minute his lobbed cross resulted in Neville's looping header landing on the roof of Sail's net, as the home sought an equaliser. Soon after, Louis Fenton's vital block foiled a James O'Shea drive, the rebound from which prompted a Wellington counter-attack, Sandoval leading the charge. The Mexican picked out Waine before continuing his run downfield, and when Waine eventually delivered his cross, it was Sandoval who was on the end of it. Unfortunately for Wellington, he directed his attempt straight at Freke. Right on the stroke of half-time, Matti Steinmann set up Lescano for a shot which the striker dragged past the post. Just after half-time, another bid to level the scores by the Argentine proved fruitless, Olsen's good work going unrewarded when Lescano's shot on the turn was blocked. Louis Zabala latched onto the rebound and let fly, the top far corner his target. Sail had other ideas, however - a brilliant fingertip save. Wellington scrambled the ball to safety, stormed downfield, and doubled their advantage in the 48th minute. Sandoval led the charge before feeding Ben Old, who evaded a challenge but was then thwarted by the covering block of Anton Mlinaric. Unfortunately for the defender, the rebound went straight towards Waine, who swivelled and slammed home a textbook shot on the turn into the bottom far corner - 2-0. After Sandoval had stung the gloves of Freke with a shot on the run, Brisbane looked to reduce the deficit. In the 55th minute, Zabala and Ivanovic worked a one-two on the right before the former delivered a cross which zoomed across the bows of freshly introduced substitute Cyrus Dehmie.

Following in behind him was fellow newcomer Henry Hore, but Sail was perfectly placed to keep out both his effort and one from Steinmann sixty seconds later, after which Brisbane's hopes of getting something from the game were struck a mortal blow in the 57th minute. Kai Trewin was closed down by the indefatigable figure of Waine, whose industry, combined with an untimely stumble by the defender, opened the door for Old to take charge of proceedings. He duly swept into the penalty area before wrong-footing the covering defender and drilling a shot high into the net between Freke and his near post - 3-0. With the points seemingly in the bag, Wellington eased off, this being the second of seven games they'll be playing in a 23-day period, the last of which will see them gracing home turf at Sky Stadium on Easter Sunday. Brisbane didn't need a second invitation, and the final half-hour of play saw the home team largely laying siege to the Wellington goal, only to find Sail in unbeatable form. But not before Ball and Waine had combined in an attack which saw the latter fail to direct his effort on target after engineering space for a shot. Cue the Alamo, with Scott Wootton blocking a Hore drive before substitute Eli Adams dragged a twenty yarder past the post following good work by Jesse Daley and O'Shea to create the opening. Concerted Brisbane pressure in the 71st minute culminated in a shot on the turn between two defenders by Ivanovic being turned round the post by Sail. The resulting corner was cleared, Sandoval sending Waine racing through with just Freke to beat. But the retreating figure of Daley made terrific ground to do just enough to deny the striker in the act of shooting. Back came Brisbane, Adams and Daley combining with Trewin to send Dehmie haring through the Wellington backline. The striker rounded Sail but could only find the near post side-netting with his acute-angled shot. The home team pressed again, and Sam Sutton found himself in all sorts of trouble on the edge of his penalty area in the 77th minute. Dehmie swooped and promptly let rip, only for Sail to get his team-mate out of the mire with another splendid fingertip save. The resulting corner was cleared to Daley, whose cross to the far post picked out Hore. Sail dived to his right to keep out his header, then looked on with relief as Dehmie drilled a twenty-yarder narrowly over the bar sixty seconds later. Sail then produced a quite superb save eight minutes from time, flying to his left to turn an Olsen piledriver to safety. Brisbane must have been wondering if they were ever going to find a way past him by this stage, but they never stopped trying. Sadly for the home team, Sail was in "Thou shalt not pass" mode, as O'Shea, twice, and Adams found out the hard way in stoppage time, during which a rare Wellington raid culminated in Sutton's twenty yard strike being foiled by Freke, whose opposite number was the star turn in a contest which Wellington won 3-0 - definitely a scoreline which doesn't reflect the twists and turns of this particular encounter! Brisbane:     Freke; Mlinaric (booked, 45), Neville, Trewin; O'Shea (booked, 72), Steinmann (Daley, 61), Zabala (Adams, 61), Wada (Hore, 49), Olsen; Lescano (Dehmie, 49), Ivanovic (booked, 16) (Brindell-South, 80) Wellington:     Sail; Fenton, Surman, Wootton, McGarry (Elliot, 80); Sandoval (Piscopo, 76) Pennington, Sutton, Old (Manuel, 88); Ball, Waine Referee:     Shaun Evans