Wellington Phoenix scored their second comprehensive home victory in as many matches at Westpac Stadium on 4 November, as they neutralised Newcastle Jets 3-0 to climb up to sixth place on the Hyundai A-League ladder. The home team were good value for their victory in this rescheduled tenth round fixture, and could have won by a greater margin against opponents who remain in last place on the table, but are just three points behind their conquerors on this occasion. The opening period of the match was, frankly, awful. There was no continuity of play, stray passes were de rigeur … it looked to all intents and purposes like an awkwardly timed league fixture taking place on an uncomfortable midweek evening. 4100 fans braved the elements, and witnessed just four incidents of note inside the first twenty minutes, three of which featured Daniel. After a timely Angelo Costanzo tackle and thwarted Chris Greenacre in the third minute, the Brazilian Kiwi executed two free-kicks which gave Newcastle cause aplenty for concern. The first, in the ninth minute, was headed over the bar by Andrew Durante, while six minutes later, young Costa Barbarouses directed his glancing header straight at Ben Kennedy upon receipt of his team-mate's set-piece. Daniel himself then engineered an opening, one which Newcastle's Nikolai Topor-Stanley headed onto the roof of this own net in the nineteenth minute in his eagerness to maintain the status quo on the scoreboard. That parity lasted for another eight minutes, before the deadlock was broken in thrilling fashion. Vince Lia strode forward from midfield in the 27th minute and unleashed a viciously struck low thirty-yarder which Kennedy did exceptionally well to tip round the post at full stretch. Daniel's resulting delivery from the resulting corner was cleared to Barbarouses, who was operating on the fringes of the action just inside the penalty area. He drilled a low drive through the crowd which Kennedy did well to get down to. Instead of holding it, though, he only parried it, straight into the stride of Tim Brown - 1-0. Newcastle were reeling from this blow, and but for a magnificent reflex save by Kennedy, things would have been worse. Barbarouses played the ball wide to Paul Ifill, whose measured return ball allowed the youngster to execute a textbook volley which had "Goal" written all over it until Kennedy's stunning stop stymied the locals. It served to give the visitors a bit of self-belief, and after Kennedy had grabbed a Greenacre header from a Barbarouses cross, Newcastle laid siege to the Wellington goal in the final five minutes of the first half. Only a superb tackle by Durante denied Bridges in the penalty area in the 41st minute, while seconds later, Wellington goalkeeper Reece Crowther got down well to deny a Labinot Haliti effort. Kaz Patafta supplied this opening, and repeated the feat seconds later, only for Durante and Ben Sigmund to stand firm in the face of adversity as Newcastle looked to scramble an equaliser. They almost did so in stoppage time. Only desperate defending kept out the combined efforts of Haliti, Bridges and Patafta as Newcastle pressed in search of a degree of parity which was again denied them early in the second spell. On that occasion, Bridges loomed large on the left and fired in a cross at which the giant figure of Crowther flapped feebly. Topor-Stanley was able to turn the ball back into Haliti's stride, and his goalbound shot struck a Wellington arm in the penalty area.

However unintentional the obstruction was, it was a stonewall penalty, but referee Ben Williams wasn't having a bar of Newcastle's pleas, which were forcibly and flamboyantly led by the decidedly frustrated figure of Haliti. His anxiety increased still further in the 53rd minute, as Wellington doubled their lead with a quite superbly worked second goal. Ifill powered past three defenders down the left before drilling a low cross into the vicinity of the near post for Barbarouses, for whom this was a maiden A-League start after several appearances as a substitute. The youngster showed tremendous awareness of what was going on around him as he latched onto the ball and instantly back-heeled it, right into the path of Greenacre. The striker instantly steered the ball wide of the stranded figure of Kennedy and into the net by the far post - 2-0, a goal of great quality. Newcastle sought a swift reply to get themselves back into the contest. Jin Hyung Song and Tarek Elrich linked on the right, with the latter's cross rewarding Haliti's well-timed 57th minute run to the near post. But the striker's header flashed across the face of goal … It was as close as the visitors would get to scoring. Because anything they tried in the next half-hour or so was invariably thwarted by the combined efforts of Sigmund, Durante and Lia, playing his best game to date in a Wellington shirt in this match. Wellington, meanwhile, were content to coast through the rest of the match, punctuating their possession with the odd attack of note, such as in the 58th minute, when Kennedy splendidly tipped a deflected twenty-five yarder from Ifill round the post - Newcastle's 'keeper had a tremendous game. The game's true star turn, however, was Barbarouses, and in the 84th minute, his pass saw Brown surge into the penalty area into a tight spot between defenders. Down went the game's first goalscorer - a little too easily, it must be said, but with enough "artistic element" thrown in to fool referee Williams into pointing to the spot. Justice, thankfully, was served on this occasion, Greenacre's spot-kick being tipped round the post in fine fashion by Kennedy, who was called upon again four minutes later, this time to deny Ifill at close quarters after Brown had swooped on a loose ball, surged forward and fed the striker. Barbarouses fired the rebound across the face of goal and beyond the far post. In stoppage time, Lia and substitute Troy Hearfield combined on the right, with the newcomer outmuscling a defender before crossing to fellow replacement Leo Bertos. He was unable to convert the chance, but seconds later, Wellington were celebrating their third goal of the game. Lia won possession in midfield and played the ball forward to Bertos, whose expertly angled pass invited Ifill to dart in behind the defence and wrong-foot the advancing figure of Kennedy before slotting home the game's final goal, much to the delight of the Wellington faithful, who will be hoping a third successive home victory when they gather again on Sunday for the visit of Perth Glory. Victory in that match will fire Wellington into at least fifth place. Cellar dwellers Newcastle, meanwhile, head for home and a Sunday clash against another team in resurgent form, North Queensland Fury. Wellington:     Crowther; Muscat, Sigmund, Durante, Lochhead; Barbarouses (Caceres, 88), Brown Lia (booked, 51), Daniel (Bertos, 77); Ifill, Greenacre (Hearfield, 87) Newcastle:     Kennedy; Elrich, Costanzo (booked, 20) (Hoffman, 60), Topor-Stanley, Thompson; Song, Milicevic, Wheelhouse, Patafta (Abbas, 54); Bridges (Petrovski, 73), Haliti Referee:     Ben Williams