Wellington have opened their A-League Men season with back-to-back wins for the first time in their 20-year history, as goals from Rafael Duran and Corban Piper gave them to a 2-0 win over Central Coast.
Riding high after an opening-day win over Melbourne Victory, it took a while for the Phoenix to get going at Hnry Stadium on Sunday, but when they did, they moved quickly: netting in the 55th and 57th minutes.
It maintained a perfect start to the permanent tenure of coach Chris Greenacre, with Wellington the only side in the competition to have won both their games across the opening fortnight.
"The result and performance is the most important thing," skipper Alex Rufer told Sky Sport.
"We want to really improve on making this place really hard for teams to come. The last few seasons, that's not been the case.
"Really happy with the first two wins."
After a tepid opening, a brief flurry of activity as the 20th minute approached left both sides scratching their heads as to how they weren't ahead.
First, a 19th-minute long ball from Mariners defender Diesel Herrington deflected through for Oli Lavale to run onto and flick beyond advancing goalkeeper Henry Gray, only for a desperate lunging Bill Tuiloma to clear it away inches before it crossed the goal line.
Three minutes later, the hosts struck when Piper sprung Duran through and the Mexican, unselfishly, squared it back to his teammate, before a VAR review found Duran was initially offside by the slimmest of margins.
Chances were coming at a premium in the cagey affair, but a two-minute Phoenix blitz early in an improved second half finally broke Central Coast's resistance.
It began in the 54th minute, when Matthew Sheridan found a yard of space and dropped the ball onto the head of Duran.
Moments later, Duran had a shot blocked away by Andrew Redmayne, only for Kazuki Nagasawa to pounce on the rebound and slide a pass to Piper for an easy finish.
"Coming off a good performance last week, we didn't reach that same performance level," Mariners captain Chris Donnell told Sky Sport.
"Didn't play to the best of our abilities today."
From there, the Phoenix cruised, set to visit Newcastle next week, while the Mariners travel to Melbourne to face the Victory.