Rukavytsya did the damage for the hosts scoring goals in the 15th and 70th minutes as Wellington's attacking forays were well contained by a solid Glory defence that did the job despite being without experienced centre back Hayden Foxe, who missed selection after succumbing to a hamstring strain.

The victory takes Glory into seventh on the Hyundai A-league table as Wellington drop to the bottom of the standings.

Rukavytsya found himself in a dangerous position as early as the fourth minute when Phoenix stopper Mark Paston came off his line recklessly, although the ball refused to sit for the Ukrainian-born striker.

The visitors seemed to be controlling the ball better than Glory, threatening Tando Velaphi's goal for the first time in the 12th minute when Lei Lei Gao turned inside Jimmy Downey in a good position and sent a curling strike over the bar.

Glory took the lead against the run of play on the quarter hour, though, exploiting a long goal kick from Velaphi that Jamie Harnwell headed forward. Rukavytsya did well to claim possession from Andrew Durante and the striker arrowed in on goal from the right, slipping a low shot below a poorly-timed Paston dive.

Although both sides were guilty of giving away possession on numerous occasions, Phoenix looked more comfortable on the ball, creating the next few chances.

In the 25th minute Shane Smeltz failed to control a headed attempt off former Glory player Leo Bertos' cross while Bertos was unlucky to see his powerful attempt cannon straight into Nikolai Topor-Stanley four minutes later.

Seven minutes after the break, Phoenix wasted their best chance to equalise when the lively Bertos sent in a long ball that had a fraction too much pace on it for Vaughan Coveny and Smeltz to control.

That attempt seemed to spark Glory into life as Harnwell, who was under an injury cloud for most of this week, saw a half chance smothered by Paston in the 54th minute before the veteran Glory man glanced a header wide of the upright after being set up by Jamie Coyne's cross three minutes later.

Two minutes later Rukavytsya missed a great chance to double the advantage as he failed to attack a quality cross from Nicky Rizzo on the left that should have given him an easy header on target.

The miss looked like it might come back to haunt Perth when central defender Dino Djulbic, in the starting line-up for the first time since his red card against Sydney in Round 3, tumbled awkwardly in a challenge on the line, straining his ankle in the process.

The injury saw Glory coach Dave Mitchell re-shuffle his line-up, sending Harnwell back into central defence to replace Djulbic and bringing fit-again striker Eugene Dadi in to partner Rukavytsya up front.

And the move soon paid dividends as Dadi and Rukavytsya combined seven minutes later to extend the lead, the French-Ivorian striker placing a beautiful through ball out the front of Rukavytsya who powered past Tony Lochhead and finished emphatically in a one-on-one with Paston.

Ten minutes from time, Wellington came closest to pulling a goal back when Durante's long-range shot spun awkwardly in mid-air, deceiving Velaphi in goal. But the goalkeeper's excellent reflexes allowed him to get a fingernail to the ball and deflect it round the upright, securing the win for the home side.