A debut double-strike from Wellington Phoenix's new striker, Eugene Dadi, earned the former Perth Glory man's new club a first-ever victory over Brisbane Roar on January 9, as Wellington delighted the 8,927 fans present at Westpac Stadium by kicking off the new year with a 3-1 win. The scoreline flattered the victors a tad - they played well within themselves in the second spell in particular - but was good enough to fire Wellington well into play-off contention, with fourth place their reward for winning the first Hyundai A-League encounter of 2010 come the final whistle. Wellington made the first incisive attack of the match in the seventh minute, Tony Lochhead tipping the balance of the early exchanges in their favour when evading two challenges inside his own half and sprinting over the half-way line before threading a pass through for Leo Bertos. His angled run was supported by a darting thrust from midfield by Vince Lia, who duly received the ball and unleashed a twenty yard curler narrowly past the right-hand post of the stranded Griffin McMaster. Brisbane responded three minutes later, Reinaldo swooping on a stray pass on half-way and surging downfield, drawing two defenders before slipping the ball into the path of Sergio Van Dijk. Liam Reddy produced a fine parried save low to his left to thwart the striker. Another Wellington error - Troy Hearfield was guilty of an awful cross-field pass in the thirteenth minute - was pounced on by Adam Sarota, who led the charge downfield before playing in Reinaldo, who had loomed up on his right. The striker's eighteen yard drive was directed straight at Reddy, who saved in similar fashion from Van Dijk three minutes later as another Brisbane counter-attack caught Wellington on the hop, Matt McKay leading the charge this time round. The home team immediately fine-tuned matters, and began to stem the tide and turn things round in their favour. A Bertos corner in the twentieth minute was volleyed over by Paul Ifill - an earlier delivery had seen Jon McKain volley over from a tight angle after Dadi's header had been needlessly punched out by McMaster with no opponents within five yards of him. The balance of play certainly tipped in Wellington's favour in the 26th minute, when they opened the scoring. Andrew Durante teamed up with Lia to play the ball wide to Manny Muscat, who had a super game in midfield for the home team. He deftly side-stepped Ivan Franjic's challenge before curling a cross over the head of Dadi and Josh McCloughan and straight onto that of Tim Brown, whose supporting run from midfield was rewarded by a four-yard header which left McMaster beaten all ends up. 1-0 to Wellington, much to the delight of the home faithful, who had seen Ifill and Dadi produce some delightful pieces of skill inside the opening half-hour, only for their industry to be undone either by a sub-standard subsequent pass or a lack of support from team-mates. Ten minutes before half-time, Dadi was thwarted inside the Brisbane penalty area by a splendid tackle from McCloughan as he looked to do justice to a through ball from Lia, while seconds later, Ifill should have done better with his finish after out-muscling Luke Devere to meet a pass from Bertos, after the winger had worked a one-two down the left with Lochhead. Brisbane came close to drawing level either side of the half-time whistle. Sarota sent a twenty-five yarder sizzling over the crossbar three minutes before the interval after fine work by Reinaldo had seen him take on three Wellington defenders and still retain possession, while McCloughan directed a header past the post four minutes into the second half after early pressure from the visitors had forced a corner, taken by McKay. Any hopes the visitors held of getting something out of this match were dealt a hammer blow in the 56th minute, as Dadi marked his debut with one of the goals of the season. Brisbane's problems began when McMaster cleared the ball straight to Ifill, who should have done better with the opportunity than merely to earn a corner from it - he was clean through on goal, deep inside the penalty area, with a back-pedalling goalkeeper to beat. But a corner was the outcome, and Bertos delivered it well beyond the far post to Durante, who headed it back towards the penalty spot. Lurking there, with his back to goal, was Dadi, who launched

himself into a bicycle kick which fair slammed into the back of the net - 2-0, and how! A fabulous strike, one guaranteed to endear him to the fans of his new club, never mind be repeated repeatedly in the days to come. Brisbane sought a swift riposte when the otherwise anonymous Tommy Oar picked out Reinaldo with a cross in the 59th minute. The striker, at full stretch, only narrowly missed the target. Unlike Dadi in the 62nd minute, as he made the game safe for Wellington with his second goal of the game - not bad going for a debutant! This time, Hearfield ignited the move with a ball down the right to Bertos, who jinked this way and that before getting the better of Michael Zullo and firing a cross beyond the far post. Ifill arrived on cue, and volleyed the ball back inside to Dadi, who, from six yards, neatly steered the sphere first time into the top right-hand corner of McMaster's net - 3-0, game over. That was certainly the attitude Wellington adopted for the final thirty minutes of this match - they virtually switched off the engine and coasted home, conceding needless free-kicks galore and producing very little of note in response to Brisbane's growing pressure, as the visitors took full advantage of their opponents' indifference in an effort to get back into the match. Thankfully for Wellington, Muscat didn't switch off - he had a huge game, breaking up Brisbane attacks with timely tackles and interceptions in his new role in front of the back four. He couldn't rebuff them all, however, and it was a timely tackle from Lochhead which prevented Reinaldo from pulling a goal back for the visitors in the 63rd minute, while Reddy turned McKay's shot round the post from straight in front eight minutes later, as Wellington indulged in a spot of ball-watching. The home team were roused out of their slumbers by Muscat in the 77th minute, when he broke up an attack and picked out Dadi with his clearance. The striker evaded one challenge before sweeping the ball across field into the stride of Brown, who stormed into the penalty area before blazing wildly wide of the target - a woeful finish! Eight minutes from time, Wellington failed to clear a free-kick, allowing McKay to unleash a volley at the target. It struck Reinaldo, who instantly controlled the ball and swept a shot on the turn inches over the crossbar. It gave Brisbane renewed hope, and two minutes from time, they gained their due reward when McKay deftly controlled the ball before picking out Van Dijk inside him. The striker's vicious finish arrowed through the legs of a lunging defender and in off the left-hand post of the unsighted figure of Reddy. Wellington's 'keeper had been rather keen to keep a clean sheet against his former club, and reminded his former team-mates about it throughout the match. Upon conceding the goal, however, he grabbed the ball and exchanged unpleasantries with Reinaldo, who wanted to get it back quickly to aid Brisbane's pursuit of a second goal. Referee Peter O'Leary, anticipating such childish behaviour, was swiftly on the scene and booked both players for their respective displays of petulance - the official had a good game as he starts a year in which he hopes to become New Zealand's first-ever World Cup Finals referee. The final say, however, was with the players, the goal having reminded Wellington that they still had a job to do to see this game through. In stoppage time, Bertos - back to his best in this match - buccaneered down the left and took on two opponents before sending substitute Adrian Caceres through the inside left channel. With Dadi free on the far post and hoping to complete his hat-trick, the replacement opted to go for glory himself, only to shoot straight at McMaster in the final act of note of a match which Wellington certainly deserved to win, but did so without playing to their full potential against a Brisbane side which has just five games left to force their way back into play-off contention. Wellington:     Reddy (booked, 88); Hearfield (booked, 68), McKain, Durante, Lochhead; Brown, Muscat, Lia (Walsh, 82); Ifill (Caceres, 77), Dadi, Bertos Brisbane:     McMaster; Franjic, Devere, McCloughan, Zullo; Sarota (Cernak, 64), Murdocca (Dodd, 80), McKay, Oar (Mundy, 66); Reinaldo (booked, 88), Van Dijk Referee:     Peter O'Leary