Adelaide United climbed to the top of the Hyundai A-League table on goal difference on October 28, after delighting 11,740 fans by annihilating Wellington Phoenix 4-1 at Hindmarsh Stadium, handing the newcomers their heaviest defeat yet in their maiden season.
The scoreline flattered the visitors, who stunned the local faithful by taking the lead in the third minute. Vince Lia picked out Shane Smeltz - by some distance Wellington's best-performed player - on the edge of the penalty area, where the striker made space in which to thrash a low drive inside Daniel Beltrame's near post.
Adelaide drew level just 75 seconds later. Wellington were still celebrating mentally when they conceded a free-kick on the left. Jason Spagnuolo, who had been denied the opening goal of the game inside the first forty seconds of the match when team-mate Diego Walsh blocked his goalbound shot, delivered the set-piece to the far post, and found Dez Giraldi unmarked. He couldn't miss from four yards - 1-1.
Wellington, no strangers to wind at the best of times, enjoyed the prevailing gusts at their backs in the first spell, and sought to restore their advantage. But after forcing a string of corners, it was Adelaide who almost took the lead in the sixteenth minute.
Lucas Pantelis whipped a free-kick in to the far post from the right, where Giraldi had got goal-side of his marker. The goalscorer prodded the ball towards the target, and the spin on it almost took it past Mark Paston.
The debutant Phoenix ?keeper pawed the ball out to Travis Dodd, whose shot was blocked. The rebound fell perfectly to Nathan Burns, who couldn't believe his luck as Paston flung himself to his left to turn the striker's shot round the post in splendid fashion.
Wellington bounced back from this, and in the 26th minute came within inches of regaining the lead. Daniel flighted in a lovely free-kick from the right which Smeltz met with a glancing header. The ball flashed past the far post with Beltrame beaten all ends up.
Two minutes later, Smeltz was causing problems again, this time following an Ahmad Elrich cross into the danger zone. As the scorer was poised to pounce, a timely headed clearance by Robert Cornthwaite put paid to his hopes of changing the scoreline.
On the half-hour, Pantelis plundered the left flank for the home team, before linking with Spagnuolo and Burns, who featured in a one-touch interchange with Pantelis and Dodd before being put through into the Phoenix penalty area. The combined efforts of Paston and Jeremy Christie thwarted the danger Burns posed on this occasion.
Seven minutes before the interval, a raking Paston clearance found Felipe Campos, who was sporting a new hair colour, the brightness of which hardly reflected the display of his team. The Brazilian's pass allowed Smeltz to pull the trigger, his low drive being smothered by Beltrame.
Adelaide squandered a glorious chance to take the lead two minutes later. Diego stormed through from half-way, weaving through four challenges before laying the ball off to Giraldi. His measured first-time cross found Spagnuolo arriving on the far post, but his ten-yard header careered over the crossbar.
Unperturbed, the title contenders pressed again, Cassio and Spagnuolo leading the charge down the left. No-one in a red shirt was in the goalmouth when the cross came over, but Paston and Steven Old almost got into a tangle as both endeavoured to clear things up.
Neither Wellington player will remember this match with any great fondness - they won't be the only ones, mind. In Paston's case, it was his debut, and such was his display - three of the goals were attributable to his misjudgements - that an instant recall for Glen Moss (why was he benched to begin with?) seems merited.
The first of Paston's horror blunders occurred three minutes into stoppage time, having thwarted Giraldi seconds earlier. This time, Christie felled Pantelis on the left, giving Cassio the chance to let fly with a twenty-five yard free-kick.
This he did, and Paston spilled it straight to the feet of Burns, who didn't need a second invitation to make the half-time score 2-1 in Adelaide's favour.
The destiny of the game hinged on two 49th minute incidents - one at each end of the park - which served to emphasise how valuable a reliable goalkeeper can be to a team.
Wellington enjoyed the first opportunity, Daniel whipping in a wicked free-kick from the right which appeared to have beaten Beltrame all ends up at his near post. But the ?keeper pulled off a superb save to grab the ball from somewhere behind him and prevent it from crossing the line.
Beltrame wasted little time in savouring his save, swiftly throwing the ball out to Dodd, who started charging down the right. At the same time, Pantelis was bursting through the inside left channel further forward, and Dodd, spotting him, launched a raking diagonal ball into his path.
Christie was striving to keep pace with the midfielder, while Paston was advancing towards the situation with minimum conviction and even less idea of where he was in relation to his goal posts. As he reached the ball, near the edge of the area, Pantelis instantly sized up the situation and deftly flicked the ball across Paston, who waved it past him.
The look of horror on the ?keeper's face as he watched the ball go into the net via the far post was priceless. So was the look on Pantelis? face, but his stemmed from sheer delight at having struck his third goal in as many games.
This one proved decisive, and effectively condemned Wellington to a fourth successive defeat, as well as prompted questions about coach Ricki Herbert's selection philosophy re his goalkeepers. Until this match, Glen Moss had been first choice, and of the goals he had conceded in nine matches, only two - three at the most - could have folk pointing the finger in his direction re culpability.
Paston's selection raised eyebrows - it's not only this writer who opines that Moss is the better all-round custodian. He is certainly the more reliable of the two, and it is no coincidence that his absence coincided with Wellington's heaviest-ever defeat in their brief existence, a reversal in which Paston was responsible for three of the goals.
He was fortunate not to concede more, as having extended their advantage to 3-1, and sensing opposition there for the taking, the home team went for broke.
Diego, on half-way, sent a slide-rule ball through for Pantelis to gallop onto, as he raced through the inside right channel in the 51st minute. He spotted Burns arriving on the far post, but the striker somehow scuffed his shot with the goal at his mercy - a real let-off for Wellington.
Twelve minutes later, a Diego corner to the far post was headed down by Milan Susak to Giraldi, who set up the defender for a shot with the outside of his right foot. The side-netting bulged.
Seconds later, Paston smothered a twenty-five yarder from Cassio, before Richie Alagich and Cornthwaite combined to play the ball into Giraldi. He chested it down for Dodd and began surging up-field as his fellow front-runner switched play to Cassio. The Brazilian's cross from the left sought out the fast-arriving figure of Giraldi at the near post, and he only just failed to make contact with the ball.
With the exception of Smeltz, Wellington offered scant resistance. The striker was ploughing a lone furrow for the cause for little reward. Minutes after Adelaide had gone 3-1 in front, Lia, Daniel and Elrich combined on the right to present the club's leading marksman with a volleyed chance. Beltrame dived to his left to deny him.
Later, Christie and Lia linked on the right, with Alagich heading the latter's cross away. It sat up perfectly for Smeltz to volley goalwards once more, but Beltrame's save was even more spectacular on this occasion.
Soon afterwards, Daniel missed a golden chance to pull one back for Wellington, having been picked out by Elrich's free-kick to the far post. The Brazilian's downward header bounced across the face of goal, which was at his mercy, particularly given Beltrame was down in, quite literally, a screaming heap - he landed awkwardly and tore muscle from bone in an incident which will sideline him for weeks.
At least he had the comfort of knowing that the game was all over bar the shouting by the time he hobbled off, for Adelaide had made it 4-1 just prior to this incident. A Cornthwaite tackle broke up a promising Wellington attack on half-way, and Burns promptly took charge of the situation.
After wriggling out of a couple of challenges, he laid the ball off to substitute Kristian Sarkies, who chipped the ball in behind the Wellington defence. Sensing the danger, Paston advanced off his line, but his progress lacked conviction, as the trajectory of the ball meant it was destined to land outside his penalty area.
That mattered not to Spagnuolo, who raced in and lifted the ball over the hesitant goalkeeper before running round the stranded figure of Paston to tap the ball into an empty net - 4-1.
And they could - perhaps should - have had more. Seconds after the goal, a lovely move featuring Cassio, Pantelis and Sarkies culminated in Diego being denied at the second attempt by Paston, while Burns was denied by the combined efforts of Christie and Old eight minutes from time, the defenders getting their out-of-position goalkeeper out of jail on this occasion.
Lia was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for a filthy challenge on Diego in the 83rd minute, while Burns and Cassio both spurned opportunities to increase Adelaide's advantage before Sarkies was denied by the offside flag in what was virtually the last act of the match.
United's come-from-behind triumph took them to the top of the table on goal difference, and last season's beaten Grand Finalists look very good value to be right in the thick of things again come February.
Wellington, meanwhile, are in danger of following in the footsteps of their ill-fated predecessors, the New Zealand Knights. Four consecutive losses tells its own story, as does the goals against column - the league's worst, by some distance.
At this rate, former All White defender Ricki Herbert will be making a comeback in a player-coach capacity! It must be doubly frustrating for Wellington's mentor, given his pedigree in the finer points of defensive duties, to see a team under his charge performing fundamental functions so poorly in an area of the modern game which is so crucial to any team.
Were it not for the goals of Shane Smeltz, the league's second-highest marksman, the competition's newcomers would be well and truly struggling. Defeat at Perth this Friday, in the second of three consecutive games on the road for Wellington, will leave them rock-bottom on the table at the half-way point in the campaign.
Victory, however, could prove the catalyst for an improved showing during the run-in to the play-offs, something which, given the closeness of the top six teams at this point in the campaign, is not beyond any of the contenders just yet.