What began brightly, albeit in the wrong country, quickly became a stilted affair as neither side managed to spark the match into life - possibly partly due to the attendance in South-West Sydney barely scraping over 5,000 people.

The only goal of the match fell to Adam le Fondre, who drew-back ground on counterpart Roy Krishna in the golden boot race by converting a controversial penalty, after Filip Kurto was adjudged to have fouled Alex Brosque.

But claims of diving aside, the real controversy was over the choice of venue, with many fans pointing out relocating the Nix home fixture so close to Sydney's home base was a vastly unfair decision.

The decision was originally sparked in the aftermath of Wellington's dismal fan attendances last campaign, during a porous home run exacerbated by former coach Darije Kalezic's perceived dull tactics.

While Phoenix were regularly notching numbers little over 5,000 last season, the arrival of Mark Rudan and a phenomenal uptake in form has resulted in crowds coming back to the New Zealand club.

In particular, Wellington's emphatic crowd of nearly 20,000 at their last match in Auckland's North Harbour Stadium, made the decision to retain the fixture perplexing for many observers.