Ifill had a hand in three goals before rounding off an excellent performance with the team's fifth just before the hour mark.

"I'm on the record as saying I think Paul Ifill is the best player in the league," said Herbert. "He's just so influential.

"From a creative point of view if I was sitting in the stands and paying to come and watch a game he is someone I'd love to see week in week out. He's got that inspiration, he's clever and he's appealing."

The 6-0 thumping of Gold Coast United ended Wellington's bout of drawitis in spectacular fashion.

"No one can deny we were due a performance like that," said skipper Andrew Durante. "The last six weeks with the draws there's been a lot of press about that but we've deserved to win most of those games.

"There's been a lot of talk about not finishing and we showed that we can finish. We looked threatening every time we went forward. From back where I was standing, every time a ball went in I thought it was a goal and it pretty much was.

"It was fantastic. We talked all week about getting good deliveries in and making sure people are in the box in the right positions and everything fell for us and it was a fantastic effort."

The win brought Wellington a valuable three points after six successive stalemates.

"Every single player stepped up," said Durante. "We spoke about that in the changing room before the game that every player had to stand up and be counted and do that little bit extra to what they've been doing every other week.

"We did that and it's what we're capable of. Next week we go to Sydney and hopefully we can replicate that."

It was an unhappy return to Wellington for former Phoenix striker Shane Smeltz, who will be back in the New Zealand capital next month for the All Whites' World Cup qualifier second leg against Bahrain.

Smeltz rarely saw the ball and when he did he was quickly closed down by All Whites team-mate Ben Sigmund and Durante who also had a few quiet words in his ear.

"I was just asking how he was enjoying it," Durante said with a grin. "He was a bit frustrated to be honest. He wasn't in a good mood as you could imagine.

"It was just a bit of small talk in the game and (at the end) I just wished him luck for the Bahrain game."