Chris Greenacre and Leo Bertos gave the home side the perfect start with goals inside the first 15 minutes and the Phoenix looked to be cruising to victory until Vince Lia was sent off for a second yellow card with 25 minutes to go.

Mark Hughes scored from the resulting free-kick and the Phoenix spent the closing minutes of the game battling hard to deny the visitors an equaliser.

"Three points in the bag is what counts. No one really remembers how scrappy it was later on," said Durante.

"We wanted the three points. We were desperate for the three points and we did it the tough way, but we did it.

"We showed great character and dug deep when we needed to at the end."

Durante felt Lia's sending-off following his challenge on Ufuk Talay was harsh.

"He's gone in strong but I thought he'd got the ball. (Referee Peter O'Leary) has interpreted that he went in studs showing but (Lia's) intentions were to go for the ball," the Phoenix skipper said.

"The referee was a little bit up and down. He let some things go and punished other things. He decided to punish Vinnie and send him off."

Durante also believed Greenacre should have been awarded a second goal in the 12th minute of the match when Fury midfielder Gareth Edds headed a Daniel cross and the English striker prodded it home but was ruled offside.

"It went off their player so it's play on and (the goal) should have been awarded," he said.

The Australian had far more complimentary things to say about Phoenix goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, who has kept New Zealand No.1 Mark Paston on the bench since the latter's return from a neck injury.

Vukovic pulled off an outstanding reflex save to deny Osama Malik shortly after half-time when the visitors were still two goals down.

"It was incredible. One of the best saves I've seen," Durante said. "My man peeled off and the ball was going top corner and he's just so quick and he picked it out of the top corner and kept us in (the game)."

The Phoenix are back across the Tasman next week to take on Gold Coast United at Skilled Park.

Coach Ricki Herbert expected Paul Ifill to be fit to travel after he missed Friday's game with a groin problem.

He also hinted that Manny Muscat was likely to remain at left-back in Tony Lochhead's injury-enforced absence after another strong performance.

The Maltese international has played in a defensive midfield role in recent weeks - a position that was taken by Lia on Friday.

"It's a tough call at left-back because it's probably an area we haven't got (much depth)," Herbert admitted.

"Manny does such a sterling job. He is probably the answer for us over the next 10 weeks at left-back. Vinnie will obviously be missing now but in the middle of the park we've got other options."