A regular for the Victory during season one of the A-League, Ferrante received a warm return from the Melbourne faithful last night.

He was the only player in the squad to play a role in all Victory's first 21 matches with his performances providing a glimmer of hope during a period of despair.

But an injury sustained in the following off-season disrupted his preparations for version two of the competition, casting the midfielder to rear of Ernie Merrick’s thought processes and out of calculations for a starting berth.

After making a handful of appearances, Ferrante was discarded by the Victory in February and along with Vince Lia, trekked across to New Zealand to forge a new chapter in his career.

“Wellington is a much smaller place than Melbourne, it's really compact and I know it sounds corny, but it's a loving city,” he said.

“When we train on the beach for instance, people will stop and wish us all the best so you get that real homily feeling, which is fantastic and you can feel the vibe more than by just reading the papers, it’s actually out on the street.”

The former West Ham United youth star played a starring role in his team’s 2-1 win over Melbourne, marshalling the midfield authoritatively while outclassing the more-fancied duo of Kevin Muscat and Grant Brebner as he forced club powerbrokers to perhaps regret their decision to not renew his contract.

But he denied that vengeance was on his mind during the victory over his former side.

Ferrante said: “To tell you the truth, it’s the first time in my career that I’ve played against an old club so it was a bit of a different experience in terms of preparation.

“You take your focus off that fact so you can concentrate on performing for your team.

"I’m not here to impress Ernie Merrick, Gary Cole or Melbourne Victory. Now it's about performing well and trying to get a spot in the first XI in Wellington.”

By Simon Chiarelli