The two most impressive teams from round one met head to head as the opening match of round two at Bluetongue Stadium tonight.

Mariners – fresh from beating Sydney 1-0 – were top of the table as they went into the clash against Phoenix, who staged a remarkable recovery from being two behind to Melbourne Victory last week.

But a brace of goals from Nik Mrdja and another from Adam Kwasnik - set up by the devastating Mrdja - put the game beyond Phoenix’s reach this time.

“It’s been a long time and it’s great to be back and great to be scoring goals,” said goal hero Mrdja. “It’s sensational. We’ve got two good results but it’s not finished yet and hopefully we can go on from here.

“The last 20 minutes they put us under a bit of pressure but we did well and held them off. That’s two clean sheets now and hopefully we can get on with it from here."

Defeated skipper Ross Aloisi welcomed the strong finish from Phoenix but rued the mistakes at the back that cost them the game.

“We worked on the defensive work during the week and unfortunately we had Stephen Old out this week and lost three goals,” he said.

“We can play football when we put our minds to it and put into action those things we practise at training.”

The Mariners were missing talismanic skipper Alex Wilkinson for the first time in their three-year history, finally bringing his record-breaking run to an end after tearing a medial knee ligament in the Sydney game. Tony Vidmar stepped in to take the captain’s armband in his place.

Despite a bright start from Phoenix, Mariners gave them an early warning of what lay ahead when they looked to have got an early breakthrough in the fifth minute.

Sasho Petrovski netted after a John Hutchinson freekick, but a pass from Nigel Boogaard to Andre Gumprecht crossed the byline before it was turned back for the waiting striker.

Phoenix weren’t to be let off for long though, with Dean Heffernan running down the left hand side just two minutes later and picking out Mrdja on the edge of the box.

He beat two defenders to bury it in the Wellington goal for the Mariners’ opener.

Phoenix battled back into contention immediately, forcing two corners and a couple of shots on goal but couldn’t find a way onto the scoresheet.

They came closest in the first half when Michael Ferrante played an excellent long ball up to Vaughan Coveny who was through on goal until Vidmar managed to pull off an impressive last ditch tackle to foil the Phoenix striker.

But Mariners struck back seconds after the scare when Kwasnik found himself free in the box after a fantastic pass from Mrdja.

He controlled it beautifully with his first touch before slamming home a cracking shot that was almost identical to Mrdja’s goal just five minutes earlier, the Phoenix keeper left helpless as it slashed past him into the net.

Two goals up after just fifteen minutes, the Mariners were still looking for more, repeatedly exploiting Phoenix’s weakness at right back and the Central Coast’s ever-present threat down the left wing via Heffernan and Kwasnik.

Mariners almost added a third when a long throw-in found its way to Mrdja in the box who just mis-timed his flamboyant spinning kick and was penalised for a foul on Aloisi.

Phoenix tried to regroup by retaining possession in the midfield but sloppy passing into the final third denied them any shooting opportunities.

Mariners constantly looked a danger even after they had taken their foot off the pedal. Slow build-up play created a wonderful chance for Kwasnik after a Mrdja dummy gave him time and space but it was drilled past the post. Another chance went begging when a great Mariners header was pushed beyond the woodwork.

At the other end, Mariners kept a strong defence with tight marking suffocating the Phoenix attack, and frustrating Phoenix’s South American playmaker Daniel into getting the first yellow of the game for a mis-timed challenge.

Mariners got their third just after the half hour when a corner sparked pinball in the penalty box, with shot after shot rebounding back out, until Kwasnik managed to turn the ball back into the oncoming path of Mrdja to batter it home.

Phoenix couldn’t find any reply to the Mariners’ onslaught and even a set piece from Ferrante – which looked like their best hope of scoring - simply sent the ball into orbit.

Moments later he picked up a yellow for a reckless challenge on Mrdja. By now, Mariners were shooting on sight at the Phoenix goal as the Wellington side willed the end of the first half to come soon.

With no changes to the line-ups in the second half, Mariners continued to pile on the pressure but Phoenix tried to force their way back into the game.

The Mariners defence was up to the task though and effectively snuffed out all the New Zealand attacks without incident.

Mariners had the chance to add to their tally with a Mrdja freekick, but he sliced it into the crowd instead of sealing his hat-trick.

Phoenix rejigged their line-up with the introduction of attacking Felipe at the expense of fellow Brazilian, defender Cleberson as the Wellington side looked for goals.

A re-shaped Phoenix defence still wasn’t picking up the Mariners’ attack and they were lucky not go down another goal after consecutive shots by Petrovski and Kwasnik.

Heffernan added to their worries when he pushed forward and let loose a speculative shot that shaved the bar. By now the Phoenix defence was in disarray as the Mariners dominated their penalty box.

Kwasnik and Mrdja were queuing up for a crack at goal when Mrdja danced the ball past defenders in the six yard box before skying his shot over the bar.

Phoenix desperately tried to get into the game by bringing Royce Brownlie on for Coveny on the hour mark to try something different upfront. It failed to pay dividends though, even when a perfectly flighted free kick from Daniel found its way into the box, but couldn’t find a Phoenix player to plant it in the goal.

The breakdown of the setpiece gave the Mariners the opportunity to counter, with the home side switching play beautifully from one wing to the other via Petrovski, Kwasnik and Gumprecht but the final cross failed to create a shot on goal.

Another Daniel freekick won his side a corner, and Ross Aloisi threw himself at the incoming cross from Daniel, beating Mariners’ keeper Danny Vukovic, but was denied a goal by the crossbar.

That was to be Phoenix’s best chance of the game, barely troubling the Mariners’ keeper all match.

A foul by Vidmar on Daniel on the edge of the box gave Phoenix another freekick in a danger area but Felipe’s effort was easily mopped up by the Mariners.

Karl Dodd picked up a yellow for a hefty challenge in midfield just as Dean Heffernan was swapped for Tom Pondeljak with 13 minutes left on the clock.

Despite easing back in the second half, the Mariners were always a danger on the break. Gumprecht kept the visitors on their toes with a long shot out of midfield after a lay-off from Petrovski.

Phoenix almost capitalised on an injury to Boogard who went down in his own box unchallenged but Aloisi got under the shot and sky’ed it into the palm trees behind goal.

With the Mariners temporarily down to 10 men as Boogard was treated on the sidelines, Phoenix again tried to shoot but the shot from Daniel was wildly off-target.

Phoenix kept pushing late into the game and it almost paid off when the improving Felipe cannoned in a shot that was again denied by the woodwork and the rebound follow-up from Ferrante was gathered up by Vukovic.

Matt Simon got a late run on for the Mariners with six minutes remaining, replacing Mile Jedinak.

Phoenix maintained the pressure right up to the final whistle and Brownlie came close when a ball across goal just got away from him as he slid in on it.

But despite Phoenix’s refusal to go down quietly, there was just no way onto the scoresheet for them, and Mariners emerged worthy winners to stay top of the table with a perfect two out of two record.

FourFourTwo Says: This was a tour de force for the home side. It’s early in the season but the Mariners are looking an impressive, balanced outfit. They are strong from front to back and are only likely to improve as this season continues. The jury’s still out on Phoenix. Last week’s outing was impressive and this week they might simply have been outclassed by the best team in the league. But they could also just still be the New Zealand Knights in disguise. On this performance though, the Mariners are setting the pace for the rest of the league to follow. If they can keep up this standard, they are going to be guaranteed Championship challengers.