“I think Wellington are probably playing the best football in the competition at the moment and they were very, very good tonight and really put us under pressure all over the park,” a clearly relieved Vidmar said of Ricki Herbert’s Phoenix.

“So we see ourselves as quite fortunate that we got the three points. I think sometimes the way the competition goes and the longer it goes it sort of evens out at the end.

"We had some really good games this year where we’ve taken nothing out. I know Ricki will be very disappointed, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

In front of a record crowd for a domestic match in New Zealand of 18,345 – smashing the previous record of 14,421 set against the Melbourne Victory in round one of the competition – Adelaide were the party-poopers, with goals to Paul Agostino and Lucas Pantelis securing three crucial points to keep the Reds in the hunt for the playoffs.

It was a match the Phoenix could consider themselves very unlucky not to have won, particularly when Adelaide were reduced to 10 men in with 22 minutes left to play.

Agostino – inspirational leading a team run ragged in the second half – was as effusive as his coach about the performance of unlucky Phoenix, but also proud of his team’s gritty effort.

“There were a lot of last-ditch efforts that saved us from conceding," said Ago. "They threw everything at us – not only the kitchen sink, there was a lot more they threw at us.

"But sometimes you’ve got to ride your luck. We’ve had a few things go against us and tonight they went for us.”

Phoenix coach Herbert again rued his side’s lack of decisiveness in the attacking third.

“We’ve really only got ourselves to blame,” he said. “I thought we were quite comprehensive really, and we might have done enough to win the match again and again.

"But we didn’t and it’s a tough one to take. We really didn’t get forward. It was sloppy again and we shouldn’t have got ourselves 2-1 down.”

While the win puts Adelaide’s season back on track after a lacklustre run, the Phoenix’s hopes for a top four spot in their inaugural season have taken a significant blow.

But Herbert said there was still plenty to play for.

He added: “We’ll make it difficult as much as we can for teams and if we can put a roll together of six wins that’s got to be the target for us.

"We won’t stop putting the foot on the throttle. We’ll get back up again with a couple of home games and we’ve got to drive it right to the end and try to maximise as much as we can.”