In front of a crowd of 20,113 fans on Melbourne Cup eve at Etihad Stadium, Victory crushed their struggling opponents, to move up to third on the A-League ladder.

Berisha scored two first-half penalties within three minutes, before completing his hat-trick in the 82nd minute after Rojas' double. Mitch Austin added a sixth late on for good measure.

The only consolation for bottom-placed Wellington, who were reduced to 10 men when Dylan Fox was sent off on 59 minutes, was Roy Krishna's penalty which was their first goal of the season.

Wellington looked to have the right ideas in the first half beginning at the eighth minute when ex-Victory duo Kosta Barbarouses and Gui Finkler combined after dispossessing Jason Geria. The ball was crossed in low to Krishna whose tame back heel landed in Lawrence Thomas’ hands.

On 20 minutes, Oliver Bozanic’s found Daniel Georgievski in the box who was bundled over by Roly Bonevacia. The spot kick was subsequently converted by Berisha placing it into the top left corner.

The madness continued two minutes later as referee Alan Milliner gave the second penalty after Berisha was taken down by Dylan Fox who was booked. The Albanian converted in similar fashion to the first kick, placing it low to Glen Moss’ right.

Georgievski looked lively striving forward as well as Rojas and Bozanic, while Phoenix continued to look strong despite finding themselves 2-0 down.

As 10 minutes remained in the first half, Fox almost redeemed himself after heading a ball wide from a corner to leave the score 2-0 at the break.

Six minutes into the second half, Barbarouses almost pegged one back after trying his luck from outside the box with the final ball going wide.

Moments later Georgievski’s good night came to an end after going down with a collar bone injury clashing with Jacob Tratt.

Things looked to progress from bad to worse for Wellington as Fox’s persistent fouling ended his night, receiving a second booking for a foul on Austin.

Despite the setback, Nix got a lifeline as Krishna was taken down in the box by Alan Baro, the Fijian got up to convert the third penalty of the night once again to the left of the net.

Victory seemed as if it was going to retain the two goal lead as Michael McGlinchey’s ball ricocheted off James Troisi leaving Berisha to pounce on it near the halfway mark, the Albanian was clean through however put the ball wide when it mattered.

But with 20 minutes remaining Rojas put the game beyond all doubt as Berisha left behind the ball outside the box allowing the Kiwi to collect the loose ball and make it 3-1.

Six minutes later a long ball was poorly dealt with by Tratt, as Moss ran out to collect it, it landed to Rojas who slotted his second goal to kill off the Nix.

Berisha completed his hat-trick at the 82nd minute as Rojas found himself free on the right. The Kiwi crossed it into the box to a free Albanian capping off a horrendous final 20 minutes by Wellington.

Austin made it 6-1 in stoppage-time courtesy of Rojas’ assist, leaving Wellington dead last with just one goal scored in four games.

Wellington now return home next week to play Newcastle Jets as Victory travel to fierce rivals and high-flying Sydney FC to build on its season.