Hemed scored his third in as many games in Wednesday night's 4-1 demolition of bottom-placed Melbourne Victory at WIN Stadium, on the end of a scintillating passage started by dynamic midfielder Reno Piscopo.

Burying the ball in the top corner, Hemed showed he has found his range since arriving at the Wellington base in Wollongong as part of the Covid travel restrictions.

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The Phoenix now move on to Sunday's game against Macarthur, as part of a double-header with NSW National Premier League club Wollongong Wolves at WIN Stadium.

And while Talay was wary of managing Hemed, after going through Covid quarantine and recovering from a hamstring strain, he expects his best is yet to come.

"We pushed out to 70 minutes, he's slowly building up," Talay said.

"He's scoring goals which is great and once we can get him to play 90, 95 minutes, I'm hoping he'll be firing.

"We've got to be realistic, he's come out of quarantine, he hasn't played any pre-season games, the only way we can build him up is by throwing him into the games we play."

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The Phoenix were sweating on the fitness of Piscopo - whose sublime first touch and pass led to releasing David Ball and on to Ulises Davila, who setup Hemed - after coming from the field at half-time.

The Phoenix are four points outside the top six on the A-League ladder.