Jamie Maclaren has broken his goal-scoring drought in sensational style to lead Melbourne City to a 4-1 romp over a 10-man Wellington and a step closer to a third consecutive A-League Men premiership.
City need just three points from their remaining three games to claim the premiers plate after Maclaren's brace and Marco Tilio's double delivered a seven-point buffer over Adelaide at the top of the table.
Maclaren now has 20 goals for the season, four clear of second-placed Jason Cummings (Central Coast) as he eyes a fourth consecutive golden boot.
He sits just two behind all-time leading ALM goalscorer Besart Berisha (142 goals).
Fifth-placed Wellington lost their third straight game and will be without Joshua Laws for at least a week after he was sent off in the 65th minute for a high boot on Andrew Nabbout.
Wellington should have scored in the fourth minute when Oskar Zawada dragged a golden opportunity wide while City goalkeeper Tom Glover denied Alex Rufer and Zawada in quick succession in the 26th.
Then Maclaren struck.
Goalless in five matches amid a lingering toe injury, the Socceroo danced through the Wellington defence in the 34th minute before drilling a strike into the bottom corner.
Wellington unsuccessfully appealed for a penalty in first-half injury time when Zawada was brought down by Curtis Good.
The Phoenix equalised via Steven Ugarkovic's fierce deflected shot in the 49th minute, but it spurred City into some of their best football in weeks.
In the 52nd minute, Nabbout toyed with Wellington's defence and dragged a clever ball through the box for Maclaren to hook home.
Callan Elliot made a terrific clearance off the line to deny Nabbout in the 55th, but six minutes later, the attacker charged down the left wing and picked out Tilio.
The Socceroo coolly brought the ball down then lifted a left-footed chip into the net.
Once Laws received his marching orders, Wellington were just hanging on.
The dam wall broke in the 83rd minute after City pulled off a lovely build-up which ended with Jordan Bos squaring the ball for Tilio to bury his seventh goal of the season.
