Wellington have weathered plenty of second-half pressure to score a 2-0 upset win over A-League high fliers Melbourne Victory in Auckland.
The home side had the upper hand in the opening spell on Saturday night and were rewarded with goals to Roy Krishna and Roly Bonevacia.
But the Victory turned up the heat after the interval and Phoenix keeper Glen Moss, in his 100th A-League appearance for the club, had to produce several sharp saves.
The result ended the Victory’s four-match winning streak, which had begun with their 3-0 defeat of the Phoenix a month ago and had taken them to the top of the table.
In front of a 10,852 crowd, the two sides produced an entertaining, open match despite the bumpy and patchy surface at QBE Stadium.
The Phoenix, dispensing with their traditional yellow and wearing light grey jerseys that were at times hard to distinguish from Melbourne’s white, thought they had taken the lead in the 13th minute.
But Bonevacia’s effort was ruled out, with referee Alan Milliner not allowing the quickly taken free-kick.
The Phoenix managed to hit the front five minutes later after Manny Muscat won possession in an advanced position.
Krishna was able to get the ball in the area and was pushed wide but found the net from the sharpest of angles.
The Victory were dangerous when they looked for the pacey Kosta Barbarouses down the right wing, but were creating few real chances.
At the other end, the Phoenix almost made it two, after Bonevacia rounded two defenders with some slick footwork but keeper Danny Vukovic reacted to turn his shot away.
Bonevacia scored right on halftime and the chance was created by Krishna’s penetrating run up the middle.
The ball was worked wide to Michael McGlinchey, whose ball into the box fell to Bonevacia and the midfielder made no mistake from close range.
The Victory lifted a gear in the second half and pushed forward in search of goals.
Fahid Ben Khalfallah found the net but Besart Berisha, in front of Moss, was ruled offside.
Moss was then called on to produce two good saves in quick succession from Gui Finkler and Oliver Bozanic.
The keeper was again in action shortly after, beating out a header from a corner.
While the Phoenix had limited chances in the second half, Krishna continued to show his speed up front, producing a shooting opportunity for Bonevacia that drew a save from Vukovic.
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