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A brilliant Blake Powell has fired in four goals to punish a misfiring Western Sydney 5-2 and stop the A-League’s high fliers reclaiming the competition lead.
Only a serious mishap should have prevented the Wanderers from disposing of the struggling Phoenix at Pirtek Stadium on Sunday.
But Tony Popovic’s men could not drag themselves out of a flat-footed quagmire against a sprightly Phoenix, who drew a pronounced line under the sand following nine winless matches.
Though they did trouble Ernie Merrick’s men going forward, it took 18 shots on goal for Mitch Nichols’ 75th-minute screamer to put them on the scoresheet, before Mark Bridge netted a second with six minutes on the clock.
It was not enough to stop the title contenders conceding the most goals in the young club’s history.
The contest had barely even begun before the New Zealand-based visitors had the Wanderers on the back foot.
With four minutes down, Tom Doyle’s wonderful cross was more than matched by Powell’s diving header straight past Andrew Redmayne.
Not a flare was in sight among the crowd.
Regardless, the Wanderers did not have to rely on misbehaving fans to lose three points on this occasion.
Romeo Castelen rolled a ball into the side netting, but orchestrated the Wanderers’ very next chance.
Nichols caught the end of the Dutchman’s cross, sending the ball with one touch to a goal-bound Dario Vidosic, whose venomous drive was expertly saved by Glen Moss.
Bridge will have desperately wished he didn’t then send a sitter wide, because it would have lessened the second blow moments later.
Doyle flew down the left and found Hamish Watson who already in the box, flicked to Powell for another instinctive left-foot finish that left Redmayne with no chance.
If Powell had been content with that no one would ever have known, given the perfection he delivered next.
Seeing a long ball coming on the right wing, the 24-year-old rushed on and took one touch with his right boot, in a sublime finish that skewed around and tucked inside the back post.
After the break, Powell struck a fourth time from a set piece to become only the fifth player to score four in an A-League match, joining the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Besart Berisha, Archie Thompson and Shane Smeltz.
But his thunder was taken away, if only for a moment, four minutes later when Nichols smacked in a long-range goal that rammed into the top corner and left a disbelieving Moss cursing.
The gloveman was even more frustrated when Bridge side-footed another past him from a classy Jaushua Sotirio pass.
The reprieve was short-lived.
With one minute of regular time left, young centre-back Jonathan Aspropotamitis was handed a straight red card for grabbing the shirt of ex-Wanderer Kwabena Appiah.
Michael McGlinchey coolly slotted home the subsequent penalty.
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