Wellington Phoenix recorded their biggest win of the Hyundai A-League season on January 4, as they marched into 2009 with a 3-0 win over outgoing champions Newcastle Jets at Westpac Stadium. The scoreline is deceptive, however. For the best part of sixty minutes, the home team proved themselves, not for the first time this season, to be a fitting cure for insomnia. Little wonder Wellington's crowds are so poor - 7524 fans watched this match - if this is what passes for entertaining football in New Zealand's capital city. Indeed, but for the efforts of goalkeeper Glen Moss, Wellington would have been dead and buried at the hands of the cellar-dwellers long before the game was turned on its head by two goals in a five-minute spell just after the hour mark. Just two minutes into the match, Moss was called upon to get his defenders out of jail, as they went AWOL while Jobe Wheelhouse was making a darting run through the inside right channel to support Joel Griffiths' right flank raid. Moss blocked at close quarters from Wheelhouse on this occasion, while Griffiths took a tumble in between defenders seven minutes later with what was clearly an attempt to con referee Craig Zetter into awarding a penalty. The referee wasn't having any of it, however. Indeed, he very much picked and chose the incidents when he did want to have an influence on proceedings throughout this encounter - a poor display, rich in inconsistency, less so in competence. His performance did his fellow match officials a gross disservice. Wellington set out their stall for this match with the standard New Zealand men's footballing mindset plainly evident - they played not to lose. They certainly didn't set out to win the match, even though they needed to, because it was Newcastle who enjoyed the better of the attack-oriented action throughout the first half. After Griffiths had stung the gloves of Moss with a snapshot, he combined with Matt Thompson to send Tarek Elrich thundering into the penalty area. Wellington's goalkeeper hurtled out to thwart the speedster, who had a frustrating night of it. He nearly came to blows with Ben Sigmund in the second spell, but it was the defender - the only player booked in the match - who nearly gave Wellington the lead in between these raids, as the home team flexed their attacking muscles for the first time in the match in the seventeenth minute. Daniel, who was afforded a rare start, whipped in a corner to the near post where Sigmund rose to send a header flashing past the upright. Normal service - Newcastle threatening to score - resumed in the 26th minute, with young fullback Ben Kantarovski leading the charge down the right, before cutting inside to the edge of the penalty area. A lay-off for Jin Hyung Song allowed the Korean to play in Griffiths, whose rasping drive was tipped to safety by Moss. Wellington's 'keeper twice more thwarted Newcastle over the course of the next ten minutes, Elrich the frustrated player on both occasions. After Shane Smeltz had shot tamely at Ante Covic following a Daniel cross-goal header, Elrich rampaged down the left before unleashing an angled drive which Moss tipped to safety. Then, eight minutes before the interval, a quickly taken Song free-kick allowed Griffiths to whip in low cross which was cleared to Elrich. His fifteen-yarder was tipped round the post by Moss, who was grateful to grab Adam D'Apuzzo's effort at the second attempt two minutes into the second spell, after Griffiths and Elrich had teamed up on the edge of the penalty area to again prise open Wellington's defence. After Tim Brown had gone close following a Leo Bertos corner, Moss thrice more frustrated Newcastle before the hour mark. Firstly, he smothered a Griffiths effort after Wheelhouse had done the donkey work, then tipped a shot from Song round the post - Adam Griffiths headed over Wheelhouse's resulting corner. Sean Rooney then shot at Moss after more Elrich industry down the left, but this effort followed an incident which marked, without question, the nadir of referee Zetter's display. On one of their few attacking forays to this point, Wellington raided down the left via the fleet-footed figure of Bertos. His feet were too quick for three Newcastle defenders, as he wriggled his way out of a tight spot and buccaneered into the penalty area, only to be sent crashing to earth by a clumsy Adam Griffiths challenge from behind.

If ever there was a stonewall penalty, it was this one. Referee Zetter's decision? A defensive free-kick left all-comers open-mouthed, although the Yellow Fever fans weren't slow in mustering the chance most in keeping with the situation. As "You don't know what you're doing" continued to ring around 'The Caketin', Wellington launched another attack, in the 62nd minute, this time down the right via the enterprising Troy Hearfield. He battled past a couple of opponents before curling a gorgeous cross into the danger zone, just too far away from goal for Covic to get to. It was just too far in front of Smeltz for the league's leading marksman to meet with a diving header, however. Salvation was at hand, though, in the form of Bertos, who bundled the ball home on the far post to provide Wellington with the advantage in a game in which they had, to this point, barely looked like scoring. Talk about goals changing games. Wellington were transformed. Within three minutes, Daniel had battered the side-netting after more work by Bertos down the left. And in the 67th minute, the home team's new-found attacking zest was rewarded once more. Sigmund sent the ball forward, allowing Smeltz to hold off a defender as he dashed through the inside-right channel. Upon entering the penalty area, Smeltz sized up the situation in an instant, and his deft lob of the advancing figure of Covic bounced into the top far corner of the net - a gorgeous goal in its sheer simplicity, and one which more than made up for the mediocrity which had preceded it. Wellington weren't yet out of the woods, however. Straight from the kick-off, Wheelhouse stormed downfield into the penalty area before setting up Rooney at the near post. The striker collided with Moss as they arrived simultaneously, with the ball spinning harmlessly out for a goal-kick as the duo nursed their respective wounds. The second goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Newcastle, however, for rarely threatened - a wayward Elrich volley was all they could muster inside the next twenty minutes. Mind, Wellington weren't much more adventurous themselves. Daniel's 79th minute corner saw Karl Dodd's header deflected to safety, while Smeltz found himself the unwilling victim of an aerial challenge from behind which had brute force, ignorance and maiming as its objective, Newcastle substitute Ante Kovacic as its source. Given referee Zetter's performance, it should come as no surprise to learn that he awarded a free-kick and nothing else, this despite the resulting gathering of the clans as Wellington players took umbrage to their talisman's treatment. Smeltz himself had a more fitting answer, one he supplied in the 86th minute. With Newcastle resigned to defeat, their behaviour reflected such negativity, and another clumsy challenge - this time from substitute James Virgili - sent Hearfield tumbling as he sought a way through the visitors' penalty area five minutes from time. Referee Zetter didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot, which led to bewildered looks on the faces of players from both teams - his inconsistency was absolutely baffling! Just in case the official changed his mind, Smeltz didn't waste any time in putting the ball on the spot and battering it into the top right-hand corner of Covic's net - 3-0, game over! Not quite, for Newcastle should have had a penalty in stoppage time, when Dodd attempted to check the collar size on Elrich's shirt as the speedster raced into the area. Cue more disbelief - play on was the signal, while another, the final whistle, sounded soon afterwards. The victory lifts Wellington to within a point of fourth-placed Queensland Roar, who face two clashes with top-four rivals in the next ten days, while Ricki Herbert's charges head to Sydney FC next Sunday for another must-win match, which could leave them in the play-off spots with two rounds remaining. But are they good enough to qualify on this display? Wellington:     Moss; Muscat, Sigmund (booked, 53), Dodd, Lochhead; Hearfield (Barbarouses, 88), Brown, Ferrante (Christie, 77), Daniel, Bertos; Smeltz (Kwasnik, 89) Newcastle:     Covic; Kantarovski, A. Griffiths, Milligan (Kovacic, 83), Thompson; Wheelhouse, J. Griffiths, D'Apuzzo, Song (Virgili, 77), Elrich; Rooney Referee:     Craig Zetter