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The 19-year-old sealed the win at Westpac Stadium with a diving header 15 minutes from the end after fellow debutant, Belgian striker Stein Huysegems, had slotted home the opener shortly before half-time.

Fenton, who started out at the Phoenix's school of excellence in June and was only handed a full-time contract last month, looked completely at ease in his A-League surroundings. 

He ran strongly at the Sydney defence, regularly beat his man, and linked well with the front pair of Jeremy Brockie and Huysegems before topping off his maiden outing with a smartly-taken goal.

"It was just a great ball from Manny (Muscat) and I kind of just ran on to it and it hit my head and went in. I didn't know too much about it really," said Fenton, who ran straight to the Phoenix crowd to celebrate.

"I didn't know where I was running. It was just all emotion and I didn't know what was happening really, to be fair.

"I don't think it's really sunk in yet," added the Wellington teenager. "I have to kick on. This is only the start hopefully. Now I have to keep on getting better and improving every game."

The pressure has also eased on Huysegems after he got on the score sheet. But it looked like it might not be the Belgian's day when he missed a couple of early chances then saw another one rattle the upright before getting the breakthrough in the 43rd minute.

"Of course when you score a goal it's beautiful. The emotions that go through your body are beautiful," said the 30-year-old.

"As a striker you always feel pressure to score goals and it's good that in my first game I've already got my first goal. The pressure is gone," he added.

The pressure certainly eased for Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert once Huysegems found the net. Given the number of chances created by Wellington they should have been comfortably ahead at half-time.

An Alex Smith header forced a good save from Ivan Necevski in the 12th minute, Benjamin Totori also hit the woodwork, while captain Andrew Durante had a goal disallowed when Ben Sigmund impeded the Sydney keeper.

"You're always thinking that maybe it will come back and hurt you at some stage," admitted Herbert. "But we were lively in the first half. I thought we were excellent tonight.

"Another night we might have bagged a few. But we kept going.

"I thought (Huysegems) was terrific. I've said for a while that he's probably a month away from (being right on his game). He's got a great touch. I thought he linked everything well. He took his goal well and had other opportunities.

"(Fenton) was playing against a Premier League fullback in Brett Emerton. He was great and it was good for him to score too."

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