Perth Glory have emphasised their finals' credentials in a 2-0 win over fellow challenger Wellington in an incident-packed Friday night affair at ME Bank Stadium that also saw Eugene Dadi miss a penalty on his return to Perth.
The Glory's Daniel McBreen and Todd Howarth both scored before half-time to set up the result as Wellington struggled to convert its chances in front of goal.
But the biggest culprit was former Glory man Dadi as he looked to make a statement to previous coach Dave Mitchell.
Dadi had the chance to reduce the deficit in the 73rd minute when he stepped up to the spot, but could only shoot the ball gently into Tando Velaphi's disbelieving grasp.
The result sees Perth climb into fifth position on the Hyundai A-League table, all but securing its maiden finals' position as it climbs six points above the bottom four teams after the seventh-placed Mariners could only manage a 1-1 draw with Gold Coast earlier in the night. Wellington now drops to sixth.
But the match had a curious sub-plot involving Phoenix defender Manny Muscat who was initially issued a yellow card in the seventh minute for a challenge on Chris Coyne.
Muscat, though, had the card taken off him by referee Ryan Shepheard at half-time, the official giving it to team-mate Tim Brown instead. But most of the crowd still thought he was on a caution when he received another yellow just after the hour, sparking queries as to why he wasn't dismissed.
The Glory, though, produced their first chance just 30 seconds after kick-off as the re-jigged line-up featuring a strike combination of McBreen and Andrija Jukic immediately clicked.
But despite the frantic opening pace, the intensity soon dropped as both sides struggled to string together fluent passes, although their efforts weren't helped by some fussy refereeing from Shepheard.
Although it was hardly end-to-end stuff, the Phoenix dominated the opening 20 minutes but failed to capitalise on their opportunities. A dangerous corner from Leo Bertos in the second minute passed through the box without a touch, while both Brown and Paul Ifill sent efforts wide.
The home crowd soon had something to cheer about, though, when Steven McGarry won a 50-50 ball in midfield, slipping it out to Naum Sekulovski whose searching ball found McBreen in the box.
The former-Fury man did well to chest it down before stepping inside Andrew Durante and rifling the ball home to give the Glory the lead.
Amidst the Glory's celebration Dadi was booked for dissent and the big Frenchman was fortunate to stay on the park when he lunged in at Jacob Burns just before half-time.
Referee Shepheard appeared about to give Dadi a second yellow but opted for a word of caution instead.
But the goal still seemed to take the wind from Wellington's sails and it was only a matter of time before Perth added to the lead, the Glory finding the back of the net once again four minutes before the break.
Jamie Coyne took the ball on the right, taking advantage of a slip from Phoenix defender Troy Hearfield before delivering a sensational cross that Howarth emphatically finished at the far post.
Four minutes after the break, Phoenix stopper Liam Reddy did well to deny McBreen from a one-on-one and the missed chance seemed to fire Wellington as it enjoyed its best spell of the game.
But once