A brace of goals from Nik Mrdja and another from Adam Kwasnik, all in the first half, buried the ghosts of last season's impotent start to the season.

The Central Coast outfit now has a perfect back to back winning record this season after last weekend's 1-0 win over Sydney in the harbour city.

"The first half was, I think, the best half of football the Mariners have played," said McKinna.

"There were three great goals, great football, great support and in the second half Wellington came at us, we had some chances early on to wrap the game up completely.

"In the end, we’ve won 3-0 and kept a clean sheet and there are no major injuries, just a little tightness, so it’s a fantastic night."

Heffernan and Mile Jedinak were substituted late in the game with minor injury concerns, but neither is expected to miss the Mariners’ match against Queensland Roar in six days time.

"Obviously, we knew that the beginning to this season would be important," added McKinna. "Last year we were chasing the competition after a few rounds.

"Some teams are going to have to lose and draw at the weekend, so we’re going to skip a wee bit further away from them.

"It’d be nice if they were all draws but I don’t think we’ll get a weekend like last weekend.

"We’ve got a hard trip to Queensland next Thursday, recovery tomorrow will be enjoyable, the boys will enjoy themselves tonight and Monday we come back to work and get ready for the game on Thursday."

Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert accepted his team’s performance in the first half was simply not good enough.

“We were pretty poor, to be honest," he said. "We knew how they would come at us and we worked during the week at training on ways to counter that.

"But we simply didn’t play to our strategy. Needless to say, we’ve got plenty to work on.”

Skipper Ross Aloisi also lamented Phoenix’s poor showing in the first half.

He said: “The Mariners are a very good side and the reality is that if you give a good side chances, they’ll take them.

"Guys like Nik Mrdja and Sasho Petrovski simply don’t miss. We’ve got to ensure that we don’t give the opposition any chances to score and that we're switched on from the opening whistle.”

Herbert took heart from a brief improved spell late in the second half from Phoenix after the introduction of Felipe in attack.

“We’re doing some good things and certainly creating scoring opportunities,” he said.

“The guys’ heads are down at the moment but there’s a lot of character in this group and we’ll regather and put things right.

"We’re still developing combinations and communication and those things will come. It’s a tough loss, but one that we’ll learn a lot from.”