A five minute first half blitz propelled Wellington Phoenix to a 3-1 A-League pre-season victory over Sydney FC on Friday night.
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The Phoenix scored three rapid-fire goals just after the half hour mark to put themselves out of the Sky Blues reach in front of 2874 fans at WIN Stadium.
Roy Krishna bagged the opener before Blake Powell was supplied the easiest of doubles in quick succession.
Sydney scored midway through the second half courtesy of Filip Holosko.
“Ten bad minutes cost us the game,” Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold said.
“Overall we could have been up 2 or 3-0 by the time they got their first goal. We switched off on a free-kick.
“As I said, we had an average 10 minutes where they punished us but we showed good character. We won the second half.”
“It was a much better performance than our last performance so we are building in the right direction.”
Sydney had created the better chances to start the encounter, but feel behind in the 33rd minute.
Krishna got the better of Chris Naumoff at left back and pushed his effort through the legs of Vedren Janjetovic to make it 1-0.
They were gifted a second just three minutes later.
Brandon O'Neill's errant back pass was picked up by former Sky Blue Powell in front of an on-rushing Janjetovic, which provided the striker with a simple finish.
The gifts kept coming for Powell when put his second into an empty net in the 38th minute.
Sydney pulled one back midway through the second half through Holosko.
The new marquee man gave a glimpse of what he could offer the Sky Blues this season with a tidy finish into the bottom corner.
But by then, it was game, set and match Wellington.
Despite continuing to improve throughout the second half, the Sky Blues failed to close the margin any further.
Helensburgh teenager Aaron Calver got a late cameo for the home crowd.
Earlier in the evening, the Illawarra Stingrays put up an almighty fight before ultimately going down 3-1 to the Sky Blues W-League outfit.
Jordan Baker, who will lace up with the Western Sydney Wanderers later this year, gave the Rays an unlikely early lead but the hosts couldn't hold out for the win.
An equaliser from Amy Harrison and goals to Leena Khami and Alanna Kennedy helped Sydney over the line.
