I'VE SPENT the last two days reflecting on where Friday night’s 2-1 win against Melbourne sits in Phoenix’s short history.

No matter which way you look at it, this was the club’s best night ever, bar none.

There have been bigger wins – Perth were dispatched 4-1 and 3-0 last year. There have been more exciting matches – the very first game of the Phoenix’s existence, also against Melbourne and the Beckham curtain-raiser against Adelaide really got the blood pumping.

But Friday night’s win over the league leaders had every ingredient required to place it right at the top of the pile – a great team performance, super goals and a slice of history.

As against Sydney FC two rounds ago, it was impossible to find an unimpressive Phoenix player. Led by skipper Andrew Durante, who marked his fiftieth A-League game with a superb display, and Jon McKain, who was quite simply immense in his best performance for the club, Phoenix squeezed the life out of Melbourne’s much-vaunted front line and created the chances required to make some history for themselves. They’d never before won three on the trot. They have now. They’d never beaten Melbourne. Tick that box too.

Shane Smeltz’s goal was the stuff that sends crowds berserk. It wasn’t just the goal itself, which was impressive enough; it was the way he created the opening in the first place. He used a sublime first touch to skip away from Michael Thwaite, a couple more to move himself towards his “office” (the penalty area) and a simply stunning right-footed curling shot to beat the A-League’s best ‘keeper and send the Ring of Fire into collective delirium. What. A. Goal.

That Phoenix now sit on the cusp of the top four seems scarcely believable after their dreadful start to the season. Five rounds in, most fans were just hoping they’d somehow be able to avoid the wooden spoon; now the play-offs are a distinct possibility.

Ricki Herbert should – and probably will – stick with the same side for the trip to Adelaide this Friday. Karl Dodd returns from suspension, but if the same rationale is used as was against Newcastle last week (when skipper Andrew Durante wasn’t picked upon his return from injury) he won’t make the side, and probably not even the bench.

With Jon McKain in the eleven, centre-back cover on the bench isn’t required and you’d hardly call Dodd an impact player. He’ll now just have to bide his time as Ben Sigmund and Manny Muscat have before him.

If pushed, most Phoenix fans would probably take a draw against Adelaide, especially those who remember (unwillingly) the dreadful performance the last time the team played at Hindmarsh. The 3-0 loss that night was the low point of Phoenix’s existence; a dreadful display that will hopefully never be repeated.

History suggests 31-32 points are needed to finish in the league’s top four. With eight games to go, Phoenix have 18, meaning four wins and a couple of draws are probably required to realise that dream. With successive and very winnable home games to come against Perth and Central Coast before Xmas, a point on the road against a side that’s lost just once at home all season would be a good return.

But back to Friday for one final moment. Some football matches are forgotten not long after they’ve been played. Others live long in the memory and are recalled easily. A select few are remembered forever.

As long as I live, I’ll remember that marvellous “Mo-vember” night when Melbourne’s colours were lowered and Phoenix created a special piece of New Zealand football history.