A second half strike from Wellington’s Brazilian import Daniel was enough to secure the New Zealanders all three points in the round 11 clash.

“It’s not a question of people not trying because that wasn’t the case, it’s what you do, and when you do it,” Glory coach Ron Smith said after the match.

“I said the players before the game that tonight was really a game we had to win and you’ve got to feel some desperation. I can only say that at times when we needed to be desperate we didn’t appear to be."

He addedd: “There were spells in the second half when I thought we were getting some momentum but didn’t take advantage of it by making bad choices.

“After the last four weeks where we’ve had opportunities to win games, we’ve been in front in a couple and had decent performances, tonight was a bad night where too many things went wrong and sometimes its hard to explain why.”

An unchanged Glory side from last week began brightly and could have been in front with just six minutes on the clock.

Billy Celeski’s perfectly-flighted ball from the right was chested down neatly by Jamie Harnwell for the onrushing James Robinson, but the striker saw his shot smothered by the alert Glen Moss in the Wellington goal.

Three minutes later Robinson again went close, this time flicking on a long throw from Simon Colosimo which Moss could only parry out to Anthony Danze, but his effort clipped the crossbar and rebounded away to safety.

With Celeski and Colosimo pulling the strings effectively in midfield, Glory continued to look the better side and both Colosimo and the lively Robinson went close to breaking the deadlock in the opening quarter of an hour.

Wellington’s infrequent attacking forays, meanwhile, came mainly down the left-hand side of the field, but at no stage in the first-half was Glory ‘keeper Tando Velaphi unduly troubled.

Vince Lia and Shane Smeltz both fired in strikes that ended up in The Shed, before Velaphi was finally called into action on the half-hour mark to make a regulation save from Ahmad Elrich who looked the most threatening presence in the visitors’ ranks.

The game turned a little scrappy as half-time loomed, but Glory still managed to create a couple of decent half-chances.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley produced a fine cross and only a despairing punch from Moss prevented the lurking Robinson and Harnwell from applying the crucial touch.

Harnwell then caused another headache for the overworked Phoenix defence deep into stoppage time, connecting well with a pinpoint Celeski corner only to see his header fly straight into the welcoming arms of Moss.

Glory were left ruing their inability to turn that first-half pressure into a goal when the visitors took a surprise lead with the simplest of goals barely six minutes into the second period.

An errant pass out of defence allowed Daniel space and time and the Brazilian calmly side-footed past Velaphi to bag his third goal of the campaign.

Stunned silence greeted the goal, however the Glory got back into their collective stride and Robinson came close to scoring an almost instant equalizer, only to see his low shot fly just wide.

A penalty appeal by the Glory was turned down by referee Simon Przydacz despite Karl Dodd appearing to handle the ball while tangling with a grounded Harnwell inside the box.

Glory coach Ron Smith emptied his bench in a bid to find the equaliser and they came close when another searing run from the impressive Downey resulted in an inviting cross to the far post, but a volley from substitute Nikita Rukavytsya failed to trouble Moss.

The Glory spent most of the final ten minutes camped in the visitors’ half, but for all their endeavour and neat approach play, could not find a way to break down Ricki Herbert’s well-organised side.