Wellington Phoenix got their A-League season back on track with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Melbourne Heart in Wellington on Wednesday night.
Paul Ifill scored twice in the space of 11 minutes to lift the Phoenix to their first win at Westpac Stadium since September 24 but the Heart also did themselves no favours with skipper Matt Thompson sent off in the 70th minute for a second bookable offence after bringing down Ifill.
There was a moment's silence for the Pike River miners prior to kick-off and once play got under way there was plenty of endeavour shown by both sides in the opening 45 minutes but for no reward as the score remained scoreless until just after the hour mark.
If anything it was a reshuffled Phoenix side that had the most chances in the first half but again things just did not fall for them in the attacking third.
Vince Lia had a long range screamer fly just over the crossbar in the seventh minute and Tim Brown, Daniel, who replaced Chris Greenacre in the starting line-up, and Ifill also had opportunities to get the home side on the board as the first half wore on.
The Phoenix's best chance of the opening spell fell to Ifill in the 16th minute when a defensive error at the back by the Heart saw the Phoenix forward pounce and force a save from Clint Bolton.
The Phoenix continued to press forward but still had nothing to show for their efforts with Daniel failing to get either of his headers on target.
Alex Terra wasted a golden opportunity for the game's opener in the 37th minute when a poor header by Ben Sigmund was collected by Adrian Zahra who threaded a superb ball into the box for Terra who then blasted over.
Wayne Srhoj had the only other real chance for the visitors when he mis-timed his strike after Mark Paston's weak punch clear.
The second half began much as the first with Ifill getting an early chance after a good run down the left flank by Troy Hearfield and an accurate cross in from Daniel. But again the Barbados international's shot went wide.
As he has done so many times before, Paston kept his side in the hunt with two good saves in as many minutes as the Heart went in search of a breakthrough.
First Gerald Sibon's through ball picked out Terra but his shot was smothered by the Wellington keeper then Josip Skoko found Sibon in the box but Paston at full stretch denied the big Heart forward.
It was the Phoenix and Ifill's luck which changed for the better from the 62nd minute. In just 11 minutes the game was turned on its head with Ifill finding the back of the net twice and Thompson shown a second yellow card for a clumsy challenge on Wellington's talisman.
A deflected cross from Lia into the box gifted Ifill his first goal since a penalty in round 11 then in the 70th minute the Heart were reduced to 10 men when Thompson was given his marching orders.
Ifill doubled his side's lead four minutes later when the Heart coughed up possession in the middle of the park and Brown ran hard into the danger area, squared the ball to his team-mate who wrong-footed Aziz Behich and drove low past a diving Bolton.
Another decent save from Bolton denied Ifill a hat-trick but it was win the Phoenix desperately needed and the relief was almost palpable when the final whistle blew.