Melbourne Victory comprehensively beat A-League battlers Wellington Phoenix 3-0 to keep their play-off chances alive. They still need Newcastle to lose their two remaining matches hope  - but hope has returned to Melbourne, with the word “finals” being mentioned for the first time in a long while.

Melbourne's performance revived memories of last season, when they won the Premiership (for finishing the regular season in first place) and the Championship (for winning the Grand Final). It was a clinical demolition of the team from New Zealand, particularly in the first half when Melbourne managed to keep Wellington’s shot count to zero.

Carlos Hernandez almost opened the scoring for the hosts when his long-range effort hit the underside of the bar and fell straight down. The crowd yelled for a goal but the replay showed the ball did not cross the line. It was only a matter of time, though, and in the 31st minute Melbourne put together a series of slick passing moves around the Wellington goal for Hernandez to score the club's 100th A-League goal.

'All eyes in Melbourne will be on Gosford, hoping that Newcastle fall to keep the Victory's play-off hopes alive'

Four minutes later it was 2-0 when Adrian Caceras passed the ball back for Nick Ward to score his first goal for the club.

Wellington were far more competitive in the second half with Michael Ferrante putting in a scorching long-range effort on the hour mark. Wellington's attack-mindedness left a lot of space for Melbourne to run into on the counter-attack, however the woeful shooting that had damaged Melbourne’s season returned, with Archie Thompson missing with an empty net at his mercy.

Steven O’Dor nearly opened the match up towards the end with a header that came off the woodwork. much to the disappointment of the travelling contingent. It was Melbourne, however, who were to get the final goal, Kaz Patafta slotting home from a difficult angle after pouncing on a loose ball.