A superb defensive effort from Wellington Phoenix, in which Jon McKain, captain Andrew Durante and midfielder Vince Lia were peerless, provided the foundations on which they carved out a 1-0 win over Gold Coast United at Skilled Park on February 7, a result which leaves the victors within a win of securing a home semi-final. Having qualified for the play-offs thanks to results earlier in the weekend, the visitors' win left them in fourth spot on the Hyundai A-League table after the weekend's action, and killed off Gold Coast's dream of finishing top of the pile at the conclusion of the round-robin phase of the competition. Wellington began brightly, Paul Ifill's terrific work on the right in the seventh minute seeing him evade two challengers, despite the best attempts of both to bring him down. The Barbardos international's cross was blocked, but upon gathering the rebound, he skipped round Kristian Rees and whipped in a delivery intended for Tim Brown's head. Bas Van den Brink had other ideas, however, and headed clear, then scrambled clear seven minutes later after Adrian Caceres' free-kick to the far post had picked out  Durante, who hit the post from close range. Soon after, Wellington pressed again, Lia and Manny Muscat linking neatly in midfield to present the former with a shooting chance on the run from twenty yards. Jess Van Strattan was forced to turn the ball round his left-hand post as the visitors looked to leave an early calling card in his net. Their efforts went unrewarded, however, during a spell in which Michael Thwaite directed a header at Liam Reddy after Joel Porter and Anderson Alves da Silva - an inviting cross - had combined neatly on the left. After surviving Wellington's early charge, the home team got back into the contest, and in the 24th minute spurned a good opening contrived by Thwaite and Porter. Jason Culina's twenty-yarder would have raised the flags in a rugby match, but this code is far more cerebral in its rudiments! Just after the half-hour mark, Gold Coast produced the best move of the match thus far, with Van den Brink pinging the ball across to Anderson, who surged downfield before working a delightful opening with Charlie Miller which culminated in the talented but temperamental Scot rifling a fierce drive goalwards. Reddy was equal to this, but had to rely on Brown seven minutes before half-time, as the midfielder dashed back to thwart the league's leading scorer, former Wellington striker Shane Smeltz, in the penalty area, after he had got the better of both McKain and Durante in a powerful run from half-way. On the stroke of half-time, disaster struck for Gold Coast. A deft reverse pass from Ifill - how good an import has he been for this league? - sliced into the penalty area, and while Van den Brink initially had the situation in hand, he was caught out when Brown stole in on his blindside after making a clever angled run in behind the defender. The stopper's natural instincts took over, and down went Brown, prompting referee Matthew Breeze to instantly point to the penalty spot, from where Ifill rifled home the game's opening goal with virtually the last kick of the first half. The referee had had his hands full in the first forty-five minutes with some at times meaty challenges, and found reason to wield the yellow card five times, raising the prospect of the game failing to finish with the full compliment of players on the park. Thankfully, Gold Coast were too intent on trying to equalise throughout the second spell, and with Wellington defending like demons - none more so than McKain and Durante - the official had no reason to wield his cards again. And Wellington did indeed defend as if their lives depended on it - as things stood at half-time, fourth

place and a home semi-final was theirs for the  taking, and they set out their stall to achieve their objectives. Gold Coast threw everything at them in the second spell, with Reddy soon in action after half-time as he smothered a whipped Porter cross intended for Culina, then positioned himself perfectly to deal with a free-kick from United's captain four minutes after play had resumed. Wellington responded with a fine 57th minute move. Tony Lochhead's deep cross beyond the far post was headed back by Ifill to Caceres, who set up Lia for a drive from the edge of the penalty area. It was flying wide until Greenacre stuck out a leg and sent the ball mere inches over the bar, with Van Strattan knowing very little about it. Having survived that scare, the home team piled on even more pressure, with long-range efforts from Smeltz and substitute Robson Alves da Silva clearing the crossbar, and Culina thundering a twenty yard volley straight at Reddy, as the pressure on Wellington's rearguard mounted, and the rain, which had plagued the area throughout the day, returned. Eighteen minutes from time, a Miller free-kick ricocheted off the wall to Culina, whose twenty-five yarder was somehow scrambled to safety - McKain, Durante and Lia worked overtime to prevent Reddy from seeing too much of the ball, but they weren't the only ones in white shirts who put in tireless shifts. After Robson had battered a twenty-five yarder across the face of goal, Durante thwarted Smeltz with a stunning goal-saving tackle inside the 'D' fifteen minutes from time, a denial which summed up Wellington's commitment to the task at hand. Culina unleashed a sizzling twenty yarder which Reddy pawed to safety two minutes later, before Porter cracked a drive towards the target which had the 'keeper scrambling until it struck the luckless Miller on the back of the head and ricocheted to safety. As Gold Coast gasped before making a final surge, Wellington swiftly looked to double their lead and kill off the contest. Ten minutes from time, substitute Leo Bertos did Van den Brink a treat in the penalty area, only to undo all his good work with a woeful cross when fellow replacement Eugene Dadi was perfectly placed to tap in at the near post. Two minutes later, Lia sent Ifill scampering away down the right, and the striker stood up Anderson a treat before laying the ball back to Greenacre, whose deft chipped cross invited Dadi to power a header towards the target. It missed by mere inches. Back came United, the 4,202-strong crowd urging them on for an equaliser to keep alive their first place prospects. But try as they might, it just wouldn't come. Reddy greedily grabbed a close-range effort from Miller before, four minutes from time, producing an outstanding save to his right to prevent Smeltz from heading home against his former club. That was as close as Gold Coast came in the final flurry, and when the final whistle went, Wellington were victorious, courtesy a penalty on the scoreboard, but more realistically, thanks to an outstanding defensive effort, one which has given the Kiwi combination a genuine shot at hosting a semi-final in a fortnight's time - if they down Central Coast Mariners at Westpac Stadium on Friday evening, they'll clinch it. Gold Coast:     Van Strattan; Djulbic (Robson, 54), Van den Brink, Rees, Anderson (booked, 44); Caravella (booked, 40) (Barisic, 66), Miller (booked, 19) (Fitzsimmons, 85), Thwaite, Porter; Culina, Smeltz Wellington:     Reddy; Hearfield, McKain, Durante (booked, 41), Lochhead; Brown, Muscat (booked, 20) (Dadi, 66), Lia; Ifill, Greenacre, Caceres (Bertos, 57) Referee:     Matthew Breeze